Using older wired subwoofer with newer Samsung sound bar

[Trebdp83]

Ok, I started you down a dark path, lol. I joked about burning things up but it can happen if everything isn't unplugged while you work.

 

[corneileous]

Ok, I started you down a dark path, lol. I joked about burning things up but it can happen if everything isn't unplugged while you work.

Oh OK, I thought maybe there was an area of concern about trying to blend new technology with old technology Vienna sense tapping into a little bit of a redneck ingenuity but yeah, shorting something out by touching a wire where it doesn’t go if it’s powered or whatever could cause not so desired results but if that’s all I have to really worry about then I’ll just have to be extra careful.

But yeah just so we’re clear, I don’t really necessarily have to take specific internals out of the wireless subwoofer and putting it inside the enclosure of the old subwoofer, I just thought it would be a pretty neat idea to do if I could just get away with leaving the amp, if it’s possible in the wireless sub and taking everything else out and just run the unamplified speaker wire that normally went to the other amplifier but just running that outside it inside the box and plugging that into the high-level input on my RCA sub.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Eppie]

Oh OK, I thought maybe there was an area of concern about trying to blend new technology with old technology Vienna sense tapping into a little bit of a redneck ingenuity but yeah, shorting something out by touching a wire where it doesn’t go if it’s powered or whatever could cause not so desired results but if that’s all I have to really worry about then I’ll just have to be extra careful.

But yeah just so we’re clear, I don’t really necessarily have to take specific internals out of the wireless subwoofer and putting it inside the enclosure of the old subwoofer, I just thought it would be a pretty neat idea to do if I could just get away with leaving the amp, if it’s possible in the wireless sub and taking everything else out and just run the unamplified speaker wire that normally went to the other amplifier but just running that outside it inside the box and plugging that into the high-level input on my RCA sub.

Odds are that everything in the wireless sub is on one circuit board (no separate amp), so no way to grab an unamplified signal without proper test equipment like an oscilloscope. If the RCA sub has speaker level inputs, maybe disconnect the speaker in the wireless sub and run the amplified signal to the RCA sub speaker level inputs?

 

[corneileous]

Well after watching a YouTube video where somebody took one of those Samsung wireless subwoofers apart just so that he could see what kind of speaker it had, I think I see now why you were just saying basically to unplug the speaker wires from the little subwoofer and just run a longer wire from that over to the high-level input on my RCA sub because that would actually be the easiest way but again, would I get different results if the wire coming to my RCA sub was either the amplified wire after the amp or the on amplified wire before the amp in the Samsung wireless speaker, or would it even matter?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[corneileous]

Odds are that everything in the wireless sub is on one circuit board (no separate amp), so no way to grab an unamplified signal without proper test equipment like an oscilloscope. If the RCA sub has speaker level inputs, maybe disconnect the speaker in the wireless sub and run the amplified signal to the RCA sub speaker level inputs?

That’s pretty much what that other guy was saying to do was literally just figure out how to take the speaker out of the wireless sub, remove the speaker wires from the back of the speaker, make them longer and just run them into the high-level input on the RCA sub. Whether it’s possible or not, I was just curious if the sound of my RCA sub would change if the incoming signal from the wireless sub was amplified or un-amplified.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Trebdp83]

No, it would not change. That is why your RCA sub has speaker terminals for those using older units without pre outs. I’d be surprised if the wireless transmitter was connected to the amp in the wireless sub via analog cable that can be unplugged. If so, you could simply unplug it, couple it with another cable and use an analog input on the RCA sub. BUT, you would still have to use the power supply on the wireless sub to get the LFE info from the soundbar over wireless. I wouldn’t tinker too much with it and would start with simply trying the speaker wire idea. A pic of this shy RCA sub would be useful.

 

[corneileous]

Well fellas, I finally figured out how to get the cover off the wireless sub but I just got curious about something….

Could I get a little bit better performance if I was to cap off the port and make this a sealed enclosure or would that hinder the bass? Now that I know how to get to the speaker to get to the wires to someday hook them up to my older sub, I was just wondering about that for in the meantime….


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Eppie]

Well fellas, I finally figured out how to get the cover off the wireless sub but I just got curious about something….

Could I get a little bit better performance if I was to cap off the port and make this a sealed enclosure or would that hinder the bass? Now that I know how to get to the speaker to get to the wires to someday hook them up to my older sub, I was just wondering about that for in the meantime….

Plugging the port typically reduces the low frequency extension, so yeah, just hindering the performance.

 

[corneileous]

Well I guess I should update the thread to say I took the advice of removing the speaker wire from the speaker in the wireless sub and made it long enough so that I could connect it to the speaker inputs of my old sub and it sounds great. Nice, rich bass that blows that little wireless speaker out of the water.

But whether I needed to or not, since there is a left and a right speaker wire input on my old sub and since I didn’t see any markings over the terminals that said “bridged” for a mono connection, I just basically took the incoming speaker wire and spliced another set of wires onto each end so that I could essentially connect the positive into both positive terminals and the negative into both negative terminals. I guess I coulda just chose either the left or the right input but since I didn’t know, this seems to work.

Also, being that I just so happened to have one lying around, I almost took a piece of speaker wire I have that has a RCA plug on one end of it and just spliced it into the speaker wire to plug into the “mono” side of the RCA input but I wasn’t sure if the signals were the same, so I didn’t try it.

Anywho, it’s sounds awesome. Now I just gotta figure out how I’m going to stuff the electrical stuff from the wireless sub into the big box of the old sub so I can get rid of that other speaker enclosure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Eppie]

Well I guess I should update the thread to say I took the advice of removing the speaker wire from the speaker in the wireless sub and made it long enough so that I could connect it to the speaker inputs of my old sub and it sounds great. Nice, rich bass that blows that little wireless speaker out of the water.

But whether I needed to or not, since there is a left and a right speaker wire input on my old sub and since I didn’t see any markings over the terminals that said “bridged” for a mono connection, I just basically took the incoming speaker wire and spliced another set of wires onto each end so that I could essentially connect the positive into both positive terminals and the negative into both negative terminals. I guess I coulda just chose either the left or the right input but since I didn’t know, this seems to work.

Also, being that I just so happened to have one lying around, I almost took a piece of speaker wire I have that has a RCA plug on one end of it and just spliced it into the speaker wire to plug into the “mono” side of the RCA input but I wasn’t sure if the signals were the same, so I didn’t try it.

Anywho, it’s sounds awesome. Now I just gotta figure out how I’m going to stuff the electrical stuff from the wireless sub into the big box of the old sub so I can get rid of that other speaker enclosure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Connecting the speaker wire to an RCA jack would have been a big no-no. The RCA inputs are a line level (very low level) signal compared to using the speaker terminals. You can also remove the wire bridging the left and right speaker terminal inputs on the sub. The sub is mono so you gain nothing and by bridging it with a wire with zero resistance you're actually changing the impedance on the input. Just use the one connection that's working.

 

[corneileous]

Connecting the speaker wire to an RCA jack would have been a big no-no. The RCA inputs are a line level (very low level) signal compared to using the speaker terminals. You can also remove the wire bridging the left and right speaker terminal inputs on the sub. The sub is mono so you gain nothing and by bridging it with a wire with zero resistance you're actually changing the impedance on the input. Just use the one connection that's working.

Yeah, come to think of it, I figured it was pretty much due to the RCA inputs being the low level input and the speaker wires being the high level input.

But you’re saying I can use just the right or the left speaker wire input terminal? I’m pretty sure both of them work, I just wasn’t sure what the best way to hook that up being that there’s just one speaker wire now because I guess when this sub is hooked up correctly the way it was meant, the wires that go to the main left and right speakers coming from the receiver hook to the appropriate L+R. inputs on the sub and then another set of wires goes from the output on the sub to the left and right speakers. I figured if one side was only connected then there wouldn’t be both the left and the right inputs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Eppie]

Yeah, come to think of it, I figured it was pretty much due to the RCA inputs being the low level input and the speaker wires being the high level input.

But you’re saying I can use just the right or the left speaker wire input terminal? I’m pretty sure both of them work, I just wasn’t sure what the best way to hook that up being that there’s just one speaker wire now because I guess when this sub is hooked up correctly the way it was meant, the wires that go to the main left and right speakers coming from the receiver hook to the appropriate L+R. inputs on the sub and then another set of wires goes from the output on the sub to the left and right speakers. I figured if one side was only connected then there wouldn’t be both the left and the right inputs.

Since you are tapping off of the one sub, it is already a mono signal. You only need to use both L+R inputs if you have a stereo signal, which the RCA sub then mixes into mono. You would use both L+R if taking the signal from a receiver so that you get both L and R channels, but the small sub already has the L+R channels mixed together, so no need to bridge the inputs.

 

[Trebdp83]

Nice! Glad it worked for you without breaking the bank. Enjoy!

 

[corneileous]

Well, here it is, custom mod complete. I just used a stick of 1x2 pine to make the pieces for my wooden box and then just screwed the whole panel to to the top of it. No more little sub box sitting on top of the big one anymore….

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Trebdp83]

Nice and tidy.