Subwoofer Cable - Speaker Level instead of Line Level?

[mark_2811]

Hi,

I just got a Polk Audio PSW202 subwoofer that I'm hooking up to my Yamaha RX-V493 receiver. The receiver has a subwoofer output that has a fixed cutoff of 150 Hz. An article on the Polk Audio website (http://www.polkaudio.com/home/faqad/advice.php?article=bassmanage) recommends against using the subwoofer output jack, and suggests using speaker level connections instead. I've read through some posts here and everyone seems to be using the sub output on their receiver. Is Polk wrong on this one? They claim that the filtering done by the receiver combined with the sub filtering can distort the signal (makes sense). What do you guys suggest?

Thanks alot,
Mark

 

[MDS]

You have to read the Polk subwoofer recommendation very carefully to see exactly why they recommend speaker level hookup.

Their two points are:
1. The Sub pre-out on some receivers has a fixed crossover setting, which in many cases is far too high. Therefore, it would be better to use the speaker level hookup and set the crossover on the sub itself.
2. Some subs have no way of defeating its internal crossover and thus you have to be aware of the crossover setting on the sub vs the crossover from the receiver; eg if the receiver has a fixed 100 Hz crossover and the sub is set to 80Hz, all frequencies between 80 and 100 Hz will be discarded. Note that you still have this issue if the receiver has an adjustable crossover but you set the sub's crossover lower than the setting you chose for the receiver.

Polk is really just laying out the different scenarios to be aware of to help you decide on the best hookup. That article is also very old and was written when the vast majority of receivers had fixed crossovers.

Using the receiver's sub pre-out is generally best nowadays (and alot simpler - one cable ). If the receiver does indeed have a very high fixed crossover, you might consider using the speaker hookup. If the receiver has a fixed crossover, but its not too high (say 100Hz) and/or the sub's crossover can't be defeated, just make sure the sub's crossover is set as high as it can go to get it out of the way.