Subwoofer Speaker In/Out connections

[Halon451]

I have a quick question about the speaker connections on the back of my Sony Subwoofer:

There are two channels (In and Out) for speaker connections that I am not running my front mains through at the moment. I've not had any experience using this type of connection, and wonder if anyone here does.

If I was to run my front speakers through these connections, is this merely a "pass-through" connection, or is there actual amplification involved?

Also, does the subwoofer crossover have any effect on these connections?

Would running the front mains through these alleviate the power demand from the receiver and provide more wattage to the fronts?

The owner's manual for my sub is grossly inadequate at addressing these questions.

The sub is a Sony SA-W3000. I'm not terribly hung up on this, just curious to know..

 

[markw]

I have a quick question about the speaker connections on the back of my Sony Subwoofer:

There are two channels (In and Out) for speaker connections that I am not running my front mains through at the moment. I've not had any experience using this type of connection, and wonder if anyone here does.

Not with that particular subwoofer but I'll offer what seems to be the norm.

If I was to run my front speakers through these connections, is this merely a "pass-through" connection, or is there actual amplification involved?

No, there is no amplification applied to the mains.

Also, does the subwoofer crossover have any effect on these connections?

Maybe, maybe not. I know that it doesn't on my Velodyne.

Would running the front mains through these alleviate the power demand from the receiver and provide more wattage to the fronts?

Good thinking. Generally, if the lows are removed from the mains and left to the sub's intermal power amp, the mains tend to sound cleaner and make better use of the receiver's power.

Hope this helps.

 

[Halon451]

I appreciate the response. I might try experimenting with this setup once I get a chance and see what I come up with.

I found some mention of this elsewhere that stated that these connections also make it possible to run a subwoofer from a receiver that doesn't have a line level output for LFE (or subwoofer, however it may be labeled). By running the left and right channels from the RX into the inputs of the sub, and then out to the mains, the low frequencies (as set according to the sub crossover setting) will be directed to the sub's driver, whilst the rest of the full range of frequencies will be passed along to the mains.

This looks useful in adding a powered sub with a low-end HT receiver (usually those HTIB models) that utilize a passive sub and don't have a subwoofer line level output.

I'll be damned... learn something new every day.