Subwoofer setup

[timber]

Hi. Thanks for the great forum. I've learned a lot but can't find an answer to my specific question.

I have a Harman Kardon 3490 receiver, which has no bass management on it, but does have RCA subwoofer preamp outs (it passes the fullrange signal however according to the manual) . I have a pair of Usher S-520 speakers, and I have a small subwoofer based on a Dayton subwoofer amp, which has both RCA and speaker wire inputs. I mainly listen to music, though movies and TV do go through the system.

My question is what is the right way to set this up- specifically do I run the speakers from the sub (vs receiver's speaker outs), and if so do I run an RCA to the sub, or use regular speaker wires?

I just want to make sure the speakers don't bottom out and have a bit of backup at the low end. My thinking is that if I run them from the receiver, then they will get the full signal, but if I connect them to the sub then I can use the amp's crossover to only pass the higher end to the speakers and have the sub handle the rest. So if I do it this way, will I have to run speaker wire to the sub, or can I/should I use the RCA cords from the preamp out?

It probably makes little difference in the end, but I just hate knowing I could do things 'better'.

 

[jostenmeat]

I am under the impression that pretty much all bass mgmt with subwoofers are low pass only. This of course means that your mains will receive full range no matter how you slice it.

If this is true for your subwoofer (likely), then I'd just use the RCA out, though I guess it doesn't really matter.

I hope someone would prove me wrong, but I doubt that will happen, we'll see.

 

[timber]

Thanks for the reponse. I can't post a link, but it looks like the speaker outputs on this sub amp are indeed simply passthroughs. So the crossover on the sub only limits the upper level of the sub's speaker, meaning I'll always get my main speakers attempting to play the lowest frequencies.

In order to do what I want (have the main speakers play only the mids and uppers, while the sub takes the lows, according to my set crossover point) I'd need a receiver with bass management then, right? Do I really want this or is it just my misconception that these bookshelf speakers need 'help' in the low end. I don't really listen too loud anyway.

 

[jostenmeat]

In order to do what I want (have the main speakers play only the mids and uppers, while the sub takes the lows, according to my set crossover point) I'd need a receiver with bass management then, right? Do I really want this or is it just my misconception that these bookshelf speakers need 'help' in the low end. I don't really listen too loud anyway.

If you don't listen loudly and/or that you sit close to them, I wouldn't worry about it.

You can buy outboard/dedicated BM whether a miniDSP or Behringer, etc. The issue here is that you need to buy outboard amplification too, assuming your HK has preouts. If no preouts, you'd need to buy all three then, the prepro, BM, and amp. Going by what you have for speakers + sub, I doubt you want to go that far with expenditures. However, that would give you not only a xover, but much, much more calibration flexibility.