How do people normally do this?

[guitarplyrstevo]

How do people usually connect two tower speakers with powered woofers to their reciver WITH an additional subwoofer? I am trying to connect two Polk LSi25's (1 powered 10" woofer in each tower with their own LFE input) to an Onkyo TX-NR906 with a Polk PSW1000. The problem is the Onkyo 906 has only 1 subwoofer preout so I'm not sure how I can connect 3 woofers to that. I was thinking maybe I could just split that one subwoofer cable but would there be any quality lost in doing that?

Any help will be appreciated. Thank you

 

[Midcow2]

How do people usually connect two tower speakers with powered woofers to their reciver WITH an additional subwoofer? I am trying to connect two Polk LSi25's (1 powered 10" woofer in each tower with their own LFE input) to an Onkyo TX-NR906 with a Polk PSW1000. The problem is the Onkyo 906 has only 1 subwoofer preout so I'm not sure how I can connect 3 woofers to that. I was thinking maybe I could just split that one subwoofer cable but would there be any quality lost in doing that?

Any help will be appreciated. Thank you

I, and a lot of other Def Tech audiophiles, have two powered subs in the front towers and a separate sub. I actually run them as small and still get alot of bass from them. I originally had them set at large and based on forum recommendations I changed to small and think it sounds better. My center also has a sub in it. So in total I have four subs

However, if you want to bi-amp your front speakers you can just split the LFE or "sub out" because it is at preout level. You will not see any degradation if you can connect 3 subwoofers to your sub preout.

 

[MDS]

There are a couple of options:

1. Midcow's suggestion - split the sub pre-out 3 ways and connect to the sub and the two other powered woofers. If you set the front speakers with the powered woofers to Small, then sub will play LFE (the .1 channel) and bass below the xover for all channels set to Small. Your powered woofers won't be playing any frequencies below the xover.

2. Receiver sub pre-out to the sub only and regular speaker connections to the front speakers. If you set the fronts to Small they would only play the bass below the xover. The sub would play the bass below the xover from all channels set to Small and the LFE.

3. Receiver sub pre-out to the sub only and regular speaker connections to the front speakers but set the fronts to Large. In that case, the sub plays the LFE and bass below the xover from other channels set to Small and the fronts play full range (all frequencies).

If the receiver has a 'double bass'/'LFE+Main'/'Plus' setting (whatever your receiver calls it) and set the front speakers to Large, the front speakers will play the full range, the sub will play LFE and bass below the xover for other channels set to Small, AND the sub will play the bass below the xover for the front speakers.

Try each option and see what you like best.

 

[guitarplyrstevo]

There are a couple of options:

1. Midcow's suggestion - split the sub pre-out 3 ways and connect to the sub and the two other powered woofers. If you set the front speakers with the powered woofers to Small, then sub will play LFE (the .1 channel) and bass below the xover for all channels set to Small. Your powered woofers won't be playing any frequencies below the xover.

2. Receiver sub pre-out to the sub only and regular speaker connections to the front speakers. If you set the fronts to Small they would only play the bass below the xover. The sub would play the bass below the xover from all channels set to Small and the LFE.

3. Receiver sub pre-out to the sub only and regular speaker connections to the front speakers but set the fronts to Large. In that case, the sub plays the LFE and bass below the xover from other channels set to Small and the fronts play full range (all frequencies).

If the receiver has a 'double bass'/'LFE+Main'/'Plus' setting (whatever your receiver calls it) and set the front speakers to Large, the front speakers will play the full range, the sub will play LFE and bass below the xover for other channels set to Small, AND the sub will play the bass below the xover for the front speakers.

Try each option and see what you like best.

I don't understand number 2. If you set the fronts to small, why would bass from the towers be played below the crossover? I thought when your fronts are set to small, the frequencies are split between the sub and the towers? Correct me if I'm wrong because I am confused.

So bass would play from the 10" woofer from the towers if there is no LFE plug in? Would it just be a passive woofer? Because right now I have the left tower with no LFE and there is hardly any bass and the right tower has the LFE and there is a lot more bass. So the woofer would be playing lower frequencies from the regular speaker terminals?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

If you want to hook all 3 LFEs up, you need to buy 2 Y-Cables (Y-Splitters):

View attachment 6282

Get the One-foot Y cable, 1 Male/2 Female RCA for $15 each:

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/subwoofer/index.htm

or something similar. There are cheaper places, but I like BJC.

 

[MDS]

I don't understand number 2. If you set the fronts to small, why would bass from the towers be played below the crossover? I thought when your fronts are set to small, the frequencies are split between the sub and the towers? Correct me if I'm wrong because I am confused.

Sorry, I worded that incorrectly. Should have done a better job of proof-reading. If the fronts are set to Small then the bass below the xover for the front channels would go to the sub and the fronts would only play bass above the xover.

 

[mtrycrafts]

If you want to hook all 3 LFEs up, you need to buy 2 Y-Cables (Y-Splitters):

View attachment 6282

Get the One-foot Y cable, 1 Male/2 Female RCA for $15 each:

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/subwoofer/index.htm

or something similar. There are cheaper places, but I like BJC.

So the low driver in that speaker, the powered ones, needs an RCA input? What frequency does that operate? Does it have its own crossover control?
Or, speaker input to the whole speaker and that also feeds the powered driver?

 

[bruin62]

sorry to butt in but I have two powered front speakers the only way I have them hooked up is by running the speaker wire from the speaker to the reciever speaker jacks.I thought thats all you had to do?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So the low driver in that speaker, the powered ones, needs an RCA input? What frequency does that operate? Does it have its own crossover control?
Or, speaker input to the whole speaker and that also feeds the powered driver?

No, the "LFE" or Low-Level Input does NOT need RCA Input, but it is an option.

Basically, the speaker will SUM all the BASS from all the sources. There is one crossover for the speaker.

You could just use the regular speaker wire and set the speaker type to LARGE/FULL RANGE + Subwoofer. The crossover will then send the low frequencies to the subwoofer driver and the other frequencies to the midrange & tweeter.

If you hook up both the RCA LFE + Speaker wires, the subwoofer will be active every time it gets any LFE signal from any channel. For example, if the LFE is from the Center or Surrounds, the powered subwoofer in the front Left + Right will also get the action.

If you hook up just the speaker wires, the powered sub may only get the action if the LFE is from the front Left + Right.

So potentially you get more bass if you hook up both the RCA LFE + speaker wire.

I don't do this right now because I already have enough bass from just the speaker wire in my current room. But when I move to a bigger room and have five BP7000SCs, I plan on hooking up both the RCA LFE Inputs + Speaker wires.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

sorry to butt in but I have two powered front speakers the only way I have them hooked up is by running the speaker wire from the speaker to the reciever speaker jacks.I thought thats all you had to do?

Very nice setup by the way! I love your tower surrounds. I don't see any wires though?

Do your speakers have BOTH the LFE/Low-Level Inputs + the usual speaker wire posts?

Again, you don't NEED to hook up both. I'm not hooking both up right now either. But if you ever need more bass, then you may want to try it.

 

[zumbo]

I skimmed the thread, so pardon me if I missed this recommendation.

Run LFE from receiver to the PSW1000.

Then, use a Y-splitter from the output of the sub to feed the LSi25's.

Set speakers to small.

One of the splitters AcuDefTechGuy recommended would be a good suggestion.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I skimmed the thread, so pardon me if I missed this recommendation.

Run LFE from receiver to the PSW1000.

Then, use a Y-splitter from the output of the sub to feed the LSi25's.

Set speakers to small.

One of the splitters AcuDefTechGuy recommended would be a good suggestion.

Oh, yeah, that would only require ONE splitter, instead of 2.

 

[mtrycrafts]

No, the "LFE" or Low-Level Input does NOT need RCA Input, but it is an option.

You could just use the regular speaker wire and set the speaker type to LARGE/FULL RANGE + Subwoofer. The crossover will then send the low frequencies to the subwoofer driver and the other frequencies to the midrange & tweeter.

If you hook up both the RCA LFE + Speaker wires, the subwoofer will be active every time it gets any LFE signal from any channel. For example, if the LFE is from the Center or Surrounds, the powered subwoofer in the front Left + Right will also get the action.

If you hook up just the speaker wires, the powered sub may only get the action if the LFE is from the front Left + Right.

So potentially you get more bass if you hook up both the RCA LFE + speaker wire.

I don't do this right now because I already have enough bass from just the speaker wire in my current room. But when I move to a bigger room and have five BP7000SCs, I plan on hooking up both the RCA LFE Inputs + Speaker wires.

So, in a stereo application, you run those speakers, left and right as large, no sub, use speaker wire, whatever the speakers internal crossover is set at for that driver, it will be powered driver for that frequency and below?
If so, then you could still set them as large in a multi ch. setup, no sub for those two channels, and it will get the normal low frequency band in those channels with a powered low driver?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So, in a stereo application, you run those speakers, left and right as large, no sub, use speaker wire, whatever the speakers internal crossover is set at for that driver, it will be powered driver for that frequency and below?
If so, then you could still set them as large in a multi ch. setup, no sub for those two channels, and it will get the normal low frequency band in those channels with a powered low driver?

Yeah. I think the only reason to use the RCA LFE inputs for the powered subs in the main front L+R speakers is get ALL LFE signals from all the channels + dedicated subwoofer, not just from the front L+R speakers.

Now if you set it up for NO SUBWOOFER, then yes, the receiver/amp should send ALL the LFE signals to the front L+R speakers anyway.