How to hook up powered sub? (1 Viewer)

[JaymeF]

I have a Kenwood HTIB I believe its htb-454 .. anyways, I think it is a great system, although it seems to be lacking in the bass area.. it's pretty good for movies, but music seems to lack.. especially in the low range. I want to get a powered subwoofer but I don't know if I can hook it up to my receiver.

Do powered subs still hook up with regular speaker wire, or do you have to use RCA's?

 

[Frank Zimkas]

If your receiver has a "Sub-Out" jack all you need is a single RCA style connector.

 

[JaymeF]

and if it doesn't am I screwed?

 

[Frank Zimkas]

No, You can always connect it using the main terminals and run your speakers off the sub. It will depend on what features the sub has. First thing to do is check the manual for your HTiB, and see what options you have for adding a sub.

 

[JohnnyG]

If you're connecting the subwoofer in-line with the main left/right speakers, you also require the ability to set the front main speakers as 'Large' and set the subwoofer to 'Off' (or 'No'). I'm pretty sure the Kenwood HTIB systems use a fairly conventional receiver, so this shouldn't be a problem. It probably has a subwoofer output jack too.

If you have to connect a sub in-line, try to find a sub that has a high-pass filter on the speaker outputs. Quite a few models don't, leaving the main speakers to play full-range. Worse, this is often not mentioned at all in the specs.