Lost on how to wire my PSW 10

Bob1947

I am new to much of technology of today. Because I have a vintage Sansui Au-X901 amp that I bought in the 80's I have to wire up the woofer with speaker wires. There is no LFE or direct RCA capability on the amp. Trouble is I cannot see in the instructions a wiring diagram for my setup. I have a pair of Monitor 60's in the front and a pair of LSi9's in the back. I have toyed with the idea of buying a more up to date amp, but I really like the sound that my Sansui has. So if anyone could spend a few minutes giving some idea of how to do this I would be grateful. I am using using Monster cable XPHP-C1.

[Deleted User]

Hello Bob,
Welcome to Polk's forum. Just think of your sub as if it were another pair of speakers needing a right and left speaker wire connection. If the Sansui has a "B" set of speaker connections use this to send a signal to the sub. Then activate "A+B" as the speaker selection and the sub will work fine.
Regards, Ken

Bob1947

Thanks for the reply Kenneth. The penny hasn't drop for me yet. I have two pair of speakers wire up to the A and B set. Ideas?

steveinaz

Bob, if you have preamp outs on that pup--you could use "Y" cables to provide a line level signal to the sub....

malvrich

Yeah, run RCA an cable from an unused Tape Out of the amp to the RCA inputs of the woof.
Should work.

Bob1947

Sounds like an easy fix. I will post later if it works or doesn't. Thanks.

Syndil

If you use the tape outputs, they will not be volume controlled! The subwoofer will play at a constant volume regardless of where the volume knob is positioned. Not good.

The Sansui Au-X901 does have preamp outputs on the rear, labeled "Power Amp Direct." However, you cannot use them because of the way the Au-X901 operates. There is a switch on the front also labeled "Power Amp Direct" which lets you select from "Balanced, Integrated or Normal." It allows you to select which amplifier section you want to use--either the Integrated amplifier (this would be the default position) or an external amplifier connected via normal (RCA) jacks or balanced (XLR) jacks.

The problem here is that you cannot use the integrated amplifier while simultaneously making use of the Power Amp Direct outputs. Based on the position of the Power Amp Direct switch, only one set of outputs will be active at a time.

So it seems the best solution for you would be to use speaker level connections for your subwoofer.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Since both of your speaker level out connections are being used there's two approaches. One is to add an additional set of speaker wires to either the "A" or "B" terminals on the Sansui for the sub. If you have a preference to which pair you use the most, then use that for the sub's connection. The second way is to run a set of speaker wires from either "A" or "B" to the sub and then use the speaker level outputs to send the signal on to the unconnected speakers. This will be a parallel connection, so either method will work fine. The sub's built-in amp has a high input impedance, so it won't reduce the load "seen" by the Sansui. Whichever method uses the lesser amount of speaker wire will be the best.
Cheers, Ken

Bob1947

Ok you sound very well informed. Could you give me some direction on how to wire given that I will only be able to wire 1 set of speakers. No easy fix here. I may be looking at a new amp all these many years with the Sansui. Thanks again.

[Deleted User]

No problem, I'm sure we can be of help. Can you explain what you mean by, "only be able to wire 1 set of speakers". Are you meaning that you can only run one set of speaker wires? Or, you are going to pick one pair of the two sets you have?
Thanks, Ken

Syndil

I think Bob is a visual guy. Anyway, I am, so rather than explain it, here's a picture using Monitor 60's as an example:



You can do this with either A or B and still keep both sets of speakers hooked up.

[Deleted User]

Beauty!

Bob1947

Syndil, you hit the preverbal nail on the head. Visual I am. The picture clears it all up. Thanks so much for taking the time to post. Best, Bob

Syndil

Glad to help.