hooking up subwoofer 5.1 surround

[1motoxxx]

I have an older teac ag-v3050 a/v surround reciever that doesn't have a subwoofer output, my question is I can buy a rc plug that goes to speaker wire, I would use the rc plug into a powered subwoofer then run speaker wire to either the center channel output or would it be better to us the front left and right outputs? which is going to send the the better low HZ?

 

[markw]

I don't know what this "RC" plug you keep mentioning is but you CAN connect a subwoofer up to your front right and left speaker channels as long as that subwoofer has speaker level inputs.

If that sub also has speaker level outputs, all the better. You can connect your mains to that and, odds are, the subwoofer will prevent any lows from going to your mains.

 

[Adam]

i don't know what this "rc" plug you keep mentioning is...

"RCA" plug.

 

[1motoxxx]

the plug I am referring to can be bought on amazon made by mediabridge, it comes as a single or you can buy a double, it has a rc male plug on one side and as it comes out of rc plug it becomes heavy gauge speaker wire, it has a positive and negitive marked wire per each rc plug.

 

[1motoxxx]

pardon me, rca then.

 

[1motoxxx]

pardon me, not being an expert I guess rca plug is what I mean but pretty sure you know what I am referring to, thanks for your input. Yes the subwoofer has volume control and HZ high cut adjustment.

 

[Adam]

pardon me, rca then.

I wasn't poking fun at you...just clarifying it for Mark.

Which sub do you have?

 

[markw]

Well, I don't know any subs that accept RCA plugs for speaker level I/O so some cutting of wires will be involved. Otherwise, my original suggestion is still valid.

 

[1motoxxx]

a smaller yamaha yst-sw215< have a nice new system in living room and have had this reciever since early 90's and had just used it for sound in my garage until I thought about putting a little system together in bedroom since I recently bought blue-ray with wi-fi and purchased netflix.

 

[1motoxxx]

Not sure what you mean Mark, I just assumed that buy sending a signal from the front mains the sub would cut off anything over 200 hz, not sure what speaker level I/O means, just a novice who enjoy's good sound with limited knowledge of electronics.

 

[Adam]

a smaller yamaha yst-sw215...

I'd definitely go with Mark's suggestion and use the speaker-level connections. You can download the owner's manual for that sub from the Yamaha website, and it shows how to connect everything up.

 

[markw]

If you go to Amazon and search for "rca cable to speaker wire" you'll find several choices that will serve the same purpose as cutting existing wires.

A pair of them and two of these (or something similar) will set you up

Or, you could just cut the RCA's off one end of the wires.

 

[1motoxxx]

thank you Adam.

 

[1motoxxx]

Thank you mark.

 

[Adam]

Maybe I haven't had enough coffee this morning, but why in the world is there a discussion of using cables with speaker connections on one end and RCA plugs on the other? That is NOT what you want to use here. RCA-level connections are much lower power than speaker-level connections.

You can connect the speaker outputs on the receiver (the front right/left would be a good choice) to the speaker inputs on the sub, and then connect the speaker outputs on the sub to the speakers (front left/right in this example). You should not connect the speaker outputs on the receiver to any of the RCA inputs on the sub.

 

[markw]

I think the unit he wants to use to drive the subwoofer has RCA connections for the speakers. At least that's what I got from his first post.

 

[1motoxxx]

Thanks Mark, just downloaded pdf from yamaha, they suggest running front mains out of the "A" speakers and speaker wire the sub which has has speaker input from amp (or tuner) to speaker "B" output on receiver and turning both A and B speakers on.

 

[1motoxxx]

No just the oppisite, the sub has both rca input 1 or can be speaker wired to input 2 which has a left and right set of wire terminals, I had planned on plugging the rca plugs into the input 1 jacks then speaker wire into the left and right outputs on the receiver but after downloading manual they suggest if receiver has no sub output them I can speaker wire to speakers "B" and turn both A and B on the receiver and the manual said that would work, probably best to buy a 200.00 new a/v receiver and solve everything.

 

[markw]

Now I have no idea what you're saying. The RCA inputs on your sub are useless in this case. Just run the speaker outputs of your receiver to the speaker inputs on your sub. Then, I suggest you run your main speakers from the speaker outputs on your sub. As to why, I covered that in an earlier post here.

But, if it makes you feel better, jist do what you said in post # 17.

that should pretty much cover everything, no?