Subwoofer Hookup for Newbie

[LoveWarrior]

I am hoping someone can help a newbie here. I just received some nice equipment and do not want to mess it up!

I need to hook up the Polk Audio subwoofer (PSW505) to my Harmon Kardon (HK 3390) and am not sure how to hook it up.

There seems to be three different options. Can someone let me know what is best? It appears that the LFE input to the subwoofer would be best, but I do not know what jack on the Harmon Kardon I need to hook up to. I wish I could included URLs to the manuals of both units, but the forum will not allow this for newbies.

Anyway, any help would be most appreciated.

 

[Soccerkid830]

I am hoping someone can help a newbie here. I just received some nice equipment and do not want to mess it up!

I need to hook up the Polk Audio subwoofer (PSW505) to my Harmon Kardon (HK 3390) and am not sure how to hook it up.

There seems to be three different options. Can someone let me know what is best? It appears that the LFE input to the subwoofer would be best, but I do not know what jack on the Harmon Kardon I need to hook up to. I wish I could included URLs to the manuals of both units, but the forum will not allow this for newbies.

Anyway, any help would be most appreciated.

It looks like on the lower left corner of your receiver there are two sub preouts. Plug one of these type cables of the needed length into the outputs on your receiver, seen here:

 

[markw]

Clese. Using the pre-outs is the right idea.

That receiver is a two-channel unit and lacks the single LFE/Subwoofer output that AVR's have. Use both the right and left preamp outputs and feed them to both the right and left subwoofer inputs so the bass information from both channels is fed to it.

Any interconnect that's long enough to go between the receiver and the sub will work fine. They don't have to be "official" subwoofer cables.

 

[LoveWarrior]

Soccerkid830: You rock. So, I can plug an audio cable into either output? The bottom one is labeled "Mono" ... does that make a difference?

The receiver manual says ... "If you have a powered subwoofer (which I do), connect these jacks to the line-level inputs on the subwoofer. The same fullrange signal is output through both jacks. Thus, you have the option of
connecting each jack to the line-level input on a separate subwoofer, or
to use these full-range outputs to feed a remote room in a distributedaudio
application. If you have only one subwoofer with a single line-level
input, connect it to the right Subwoofer Output on the HK 3390."

But there is not a right and left output. The outputs are in a vertical row, so there is one on top and one on bottom.

Also, the subwoofer has it's own power off feature. Therefore, should I use the receiver's link switch, or not?

 

[LoveWarrior]

OK, now I am confused again. markw says to use the "pre-outs". Are those the jacks to the right of the subwoofer output?

Which do I use?

 

[markw]

OK, now I am confused again. markw says to use the "pre-outs". Are those the jacks to the right of the subwoofer output?

Which do I use?

My eyes aren't good enough to see that image clearly and read the fine print. If there is one labelled "subwoofer", then use that one and one interconnect should suffice.

Since you have access to the manual, that should have been the first place you looked. But, then again, if the right/left terminology confuses you, perhaps you should have someone else connect it for you.

We can explain the concept to you but we can't understand it for you.

 

[Adam]

Hi, LoveWarrior.

Because your receiver sends a full range signal from the subwoofer outputs, you want a way to filter the frequencies so that the sub only plays below some given frequency. This will help you blend it in with your other speakers. The "LFE IN (UNFILTERED)" input on the Polk won't do that for you because it bypasses the crossover in the sub. However, the "LINE IN (FILTERED)" connections use the sub's crossover and will let you adjust that cut off frequency.

So, do what Mark suggested originally. When he said "preamp outputs," he meant the two subwoofer output jacks on the receiver. Although they are labeled "L" and "R" on the receiver (you just look over the right side to see the label), because they both output the same signal, it doesn't matter which one you connect to the Polk's "L" input and "R" input - just make sure to use both receiver outputs and use both of the Polk "FILTERED" inputs.

After you do that, you can adjust the "LOW PASS" dial on the sub to get the best blend with your speakers. We can talk about that once you get it all hooked up.

 

[Soccerkid830]

Edit: My slow typing allowed Adam and Markw to answer ahead of me, but here was my response anyway.


If I am looking at this correctly,
Those two that I circled are subwoofer preouts. The two to the right of that are the L/R preouts.

You should be able to plug both of those into the L/R line level inputs on your subwoofer. L being top, R being bottom.

As for the interconnects, yes. I personally used one of those cables from the top half of that link above with the so-called "fancy connectors" and it works fine. It's pretty well insulated, I just noticed that it's CL2 rated as well if that should matter to you. Otherwise the ones below that would work well also. 25 footer for $3.50... Can't beat that.

 

[Adam]

Since you have access to the manual, that should have been the first place you looked. But, then again, if the right/left terminology confuses you, perhaps you should have someone else connect it for you.

Someone get this man a McMuffin, stat!

The manuals don't explicitly cover this particular setup, though. The Polk manual has an "Option 3" that is the closest, but it discusses using the main speaker preouts and setting speakers to "Large." The HK doesn't have bass management (that I saw), so that can be confusing.

I can also see confusion about right/left on the subwoofer jacks, as they are both colored the same and are neither red nor white. Also, there technically isn't a left or right subwoofer output because they are identical.

One of the great things about this forum is that there are people here with experience and confidence that can help out folks that aren't sure and don't want to damage something.

 

[LoveWarrior]

You guys are amazing ... Thanks for all your help! I'll use two subwoofer audio cables from the "Sub-Out" on the receiver to the "Line-In Filtered" on the Polk Audio sub (using the top output on receiver for "left" and bottom for "right", although it doesn't seem to matter).

Two more quick questions:

1) The Polk Audio manual says when using this method, "it is necessary to adjust the settings on your receiver as follows:
Receiver Settings:
• Front speakers = LARGE
• Subwoofer = “OFF” or “NO”

I looked through the Harman Kardon and do not see those functions, so I am assuming that since the receiver is a two-channel receiver, I simply do not need to do this. Yes? No?

2) Also, since the Polk subwoofer has its own auto on/off circuitry (I'll put the switch to "auto"), I am assuming that it does not matter whether the subwoofer link switches on the receiver are on or off?

 

[markw]

Item 1 refers to AV receivers. Your stereo receiver doesn't have these. You can ignore these.

Item 2 states that the sub will turn itself on by itself when it senses a signal and off when it goes away. Simply plug it into the wall and see what the Polk manual says about setting any switches on it's back.