Use the Sub's Crossover or the Receiver's?

[tyreal78]

I have a HK 254 receiver. Connected are 3 Usher bookshelf speakers for the left, right, and center. I have two small JVC bookshelf speakers for the rear left and right.

I just ordered a HSU VTF-1 sub.

The sub will be located in the back corner of the room so I need to know if I should connect my rear speakers to the sub, or directly to the receiver. I will be ordering a wall plate so I can run the sub cable underneath the house. If connecting the rears directly to the receiver I will also need two banana connectors on the plate.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Adam]

You will need to connect the rear speakers directly to the receiver with speaker-level connections. The subwoofer will not power those rear speakers.

If you were using the subwoofer for those rear speakers only, you could get away with not running a subwoofer cable and use the speaker-level connections on the sub. If you are also using the sub for the front and center speakers, as well as the LFE track on movies, then you'll want to also run the subwoofer cable like you mentioned.

 

[croseiv]

I think you will need to connect your surrounds to the receiver for them to work properly.

 

[tyreal78]

You will need to connect the rear speakers directly to the receiver with speaker-level connections. The subwoofer will not power those rear speakers.

If you were using the subwoofer for those rear speakers only, you could get away with not running a subwoofer cable and use the speaker-level connections on the sub. If you are also using the sub for the front and center speakers, as well as the LFE track on movies, then you'll want to also run the subwoofer cable like you mentioned.

Ok. I def want to use the sub for the front left, right, and center channels, as well as for the rears.

So basically, I need to purchase a wall plate with 1 RCA for the sub, and two sets of banana connectors for the rear left and right--and run all of those under the house to where my receiver is?

I've also read to set the sub crossover setting on the receiver to 80hz.

 

[Adam]

When I ran speaker wires to my rear wall, I ran four pairs just in case I either wanted to bi-amp my rear speakers (doubtful) or I wanted to go from 5.1 to 7.1. You might want to consider running an extra set of speaker wires because the extra wire and wall jacks probably won't cost much and might be worth it in the long run.

80 Hz is a good place to start. It's what I use. The setting will depend on your sub and speakers, and you can always adjust it to taste (or to measurement if you want to go that far ). Which Usher speakers to you have?

 

[tyreal78]

Which Usher speakers to you have?

The S-520's. Love em', but they definitely need a sub.

Thanks for your help btw. I appreciate it. Maybe you can help me with something else...

At some point I want to upgrade my cheap rear channel JVC bookshelf speakers to a couple of small satellites (something similar in size to the Orb satellites). Any suggestions? I'll be wall mounting the satellites. You think it would be better to run the rear speaker cables underneath the house and directly up the inside of the wall to the back of the speaker as opposed to a wall plate at the back wall then up to the speakers on the outside of the wall?

 

[Adam]

Happy to help if I can. I don't have any speaker suggestions, but others here might. There are at least a few members that have run the wires all the way up the walls to the wall brackets for their rear speakers. If you did that, you could always put in a wall plate near the floor later on if you wanted to.

Either way, be sure to get in-wall rated speaker wire if that's required by code where you live (I think it's required just about everywhere).