Outdoor Sub HELP!

jacobmtaylor

Hello Everyone,

I've looked through the threads on the forum but haven't found an answer yet, I apologize if this has been covered.

I recently purchased a Polk Atrium Sub 10 (underpowered sub).

I have an outdoor 5.1 surround sound system for watching movies (3 pairs of Atrium 4, 1 pair is wired as the center channel)

For stereo use, Polk has a wiring set up where you inter-wire the sub10 with your stereo speakers, but this doesn't work with a surround sound system, since each channel has designated sound coming out of it.

So the question is, what is the best way to wire the sub? The options I've been able to come up with are:

1) Wire it in the same way Polk suggests with the Front Channel
2) Get a Sub Amp and run the Receiver to the Sub Amp and the Sub Amp to the Sub 10
3) Give up and return the Sub 10 because it just won't work with a surround sound system

Any help would be hugely appreciated! I'm fairly new to the audio world, but I have experience with electronics so bare with me if I struggle to understand wiring instructions.

Thanks in advance!

ken brydson

What amp/AVR are you running for this? IMO, a 5.1 outdoor system is gonna be difficult on a sub. They use the walls, room size, etc to reinforce the bass. You can pressurize a room, I think it would be difficult to pressurize infinity. Just sayin....

Welcome to CP BTW!!

rpf65

I've personally never used this speaker, but looked at the instructions. To me it looks like you wire it to the left and right speakers. Kind of confusing, because it seems that the product description says it has a 200 watt amp built in, but the specs seem to indicate that you have to add an amp to power it.

If it doesn't have a built in amp, I would personally not use it. I think it would use too much available AVR power, so I would probably just live with 5.0. Of course I tend to be frugal and lazy, so take that with a grain of salt.

jacobmtaylor

Thanks for the help guys

The receiver is a Yamaha 475, 115 watts per channel

I was thinking about wiring the sub with the front L & R, but I was worried that because it's not a sub out, it's going to try and send non bass to the sub (this might be ok, but I haven't done that before).

grimmace19

I have the sub and use it with the sat 30 speakers. I wired it just like the instructions say and i've liked it a lot. I bought an integrated 50wpc pioneer elite and it runs the whole system with more volume than I would need for the back yard. I realize you are trying to integrate it into a 5.1 system, but for most of the bass you would hear in movies, wiring it to the front left and right would be just fine as that's where the bass would go if you didn't have a sub. The crossover inside of the sub10 will pick up the low frequencies just fine.

jacobmtaylor

Thank you, that's what I was thinking.

So as I said earlier, I'm new to wiring diagrams, and I've been starring at their instructions for a while now. But I'm concerned that I'm going to do this incorrectly and damage the receiver or the sub.

Would you be willing to layout in simple terms the proper wiring layout, please?

i.e. The R+ on Sub 10 goes to + on RF speaker

I'm pretty sure I get it, but I don't want to mess it up or have to rewire it since all the wiring is going under my deck.

rpf65

Correct. The R+ will connect to the right speaker + terminal, R- to the right speaker - terminal and so forth.

jacobmtaylor

So what am I running to the receiver?

It sounds like:

Sub R+ > A4 R+
Sub R- > A4 R-
Sub L+ > A4 L+
Sub L-> A4L-

Then do I run a cable from the A4's connections back to the receiver like I would normally?

So basically the A4 wiring is the exact same, the Sub is piggy backing on it's power supply?

rpf65

The easiest wat to explain it is run a wire from your AVR's front right + terminal to the front right + terminal. Then insert a second wire to the front right speaker + terminal and run it to the sub front right + terminal. Then do the same with the - terminals and so forth.

Glen B

jacobmtaylor wrote: »

Thanks for the help guys

The receiver is a Yamaha 475, 115 watts per channel

I was thinking about wiring the sub with the front L & R, but I was worried that because it's not a sub out, it's going to try and send non bass to the sub (this might be ok, but I haven't done that before).

You did not say how large your outdoor space is, but if its of substantial size, I would go with a good quality passive pro sub, driven by an external amp, along with mono EQ from the receiver's sub output. I use a similar arrangement with my bi-amped party setup outdoors. The driving signal for the sub amp comes from the subwoofer output of an active crossover. I use the EQ to boost and tweak the bass. This works very well.

My DIY High/Mid cabs. I installed cups on the bottom so they can be mounted on tripods. No home speakers in use outdoors.