Practically Nonexistent Subwoofer Sound

K

karups2

Audiophyte
My subwoofer is producing practically zero sound. If I hold it in my arms I can just barely make out a vibration, but that's it; and the input audio has plenty of bass so it should certainly be doing something.

I have a Pioneer VSX-D509S receiver that is driving two Cambridge Soundworks "Ensemble" speakers and an "Ensemble II" passive subwoofer. Two positive/negative pairs of wires are connected to the receiver, one to the left speaker and one to the right speaker. And a pair of wairs connects each of the left/right speakers to the passive subwoofer.

I thought about trying to plug the subwoofer directly into the receiver, instead of having it take the same signal as the left and right speakers, but, if I understand it correctly, the manual specifically says not to do that. All of the speakers have "6 ohms" printed on it. In the receiver manual it says "Use speakers with nominal impedance of 8-16 ohms". I presume that each of the left/right speakers and the subwoofer combine to form two circuits of 12 ohm impedance, but I dunno.

I'm quite clueless as far as stereo systems go (this being my first), so I'm hoping I just made a stupid mistake. I'd appreciate any advice on things I could try in order to fix this.


Cheers,
Jeremy
 
M

Mr.T

Audioholic
The quickest way to check a passive sub without taking it a part is to:
Connect a 9 volts battery to the +/- terminals with wires from the battery to the sub terminals and listen for crackling noises in the speaker, if you don't ear any noises, something is wrong some place and you should open it and check first the sub speaker with an ohm meter for continuity and the 6 ohms impedance.

If you have the continuity on the sub speaker, than start checking the cap(s) resistor(s) or coil(s) involved in the circuit for an opening component. Wish you luck.
 

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rgriffin25

rgriffin25

Moderator
karups2 said:
Two positive/negative pairs of wires are connected to the receiver, one to the left speaker and one to the right speaker. And a pair of wairs connects each of the left/right speakers to the passive subwoofer.

Cheers,
Jeremy
Go from directly from the receiver to the subwoofer, (L +/- , R +/-) then out from the subwoofer to the speakers. This should drastically improve your sound.
 
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