powered sub with low powered 2ch setup

felipe

Hi all. I'm thinking of hooking up my old psw110 to my low powered 2ch setup...wanna add some deeper low end to my music. Since my shelf system has no sub out I'll be using the speaker level inputs n outputs. My question is...given the low wattage of the system (25 watts per channel), will it be enough for the sub? I never understood how the speaker level connections on the sub worked...is it just another xover?? Would this setup free up the shelf systems amp power to drive my bookshelf speakers better b/c of the low end going to the sub?? Any thoughts would be a great help. Thanks!

ken brydson

IIRC the speaker level inputs just send the signal and the sub amp takes over from there.

felipe

If I understand that correctly, the sub amp takes over for freq. below the xover setting, and frequencies above the xover point are driven by the shelf system amp? In other words, the sub amp drives the sub below the xover setting and the main unit drives the bookshelfs above the xover setting...

Inspector 24

What ken said is correct, your 25wpc is not driving the sub. The sub amp basically "looks" at the signal on the speaker wires and amplifies it for the subwoofer.

felipe

Inspector 24 wrote: »

What ken said is correct, your 25wpc is not driving the sub. The sub amp basically "looks" at the signal on the speaker wires and amplifies it for the subwoofer.

Oh OK. Having that said, are my bookshelfs still receiving the full signal or are they receiving only the frequencies above the crossover setting on the sub??

tonyb

felipe wrote: »

Oh OK. Having that said, are my bookshelfs still receiving the full signal or are they receiving only the frequencies above the crossover setting on the sub??

Only what the crossover dictates. The crossover is like a traffic cop for the signal, tells which part of the signal goes to the sub, and which to the speakers. If it's a shelf system, and I assume small speakers, probably something around 100 on the crossover setting to start with and play around from there.

felipe

I see that nbrowser said one thing, and tonyb said another. So, I did an experiment...hooked one speaker directly to the unit and the other to the sub amp then to the unit. Turns out nbrowser is correct this time. No matter where I set the crossover on the sub amp the speaker played the same as the one hooked directly to the unit. In this case, the sub amp is using the speaker input to sense a signal. I'm assuming the xover on the sub amp is only intended for the sub only...limits what the sub "senses"...

tonyb

The speakers should play the same but it's the sub which should pick up the low pass filtered out sub frequencies....which your speakers probably can't reproduce anyway. Turn the volume up on the sub to about halfway, hook up both speakers and play something with a lot of low bass. Have the crossover set at around 100....tell us if the sub is pumping out some bass. You may have to turn the volume up on the stereo a tad to create some drive.

Nbrowser and myself are both right, the speaker level inputs are just pass thru's, but the crossover should pick out the lower notes to use for itself. Otherwise, there is no purpose for it. If you used the subwoofer connection, you'd be using the crossover in the receiver. The difference you should hear are with the subwoofer, not the speakers.

Does your stereo have a setup menu ? Are your speakers set to large or small...if that choice is available ? Most small desktop units don't have that option as they only run smallish speakers anyway.

felipe

tonyb wrote: »

The speakers should play the same but it's the sub which should pick up the low pass filtered out sub frequencies....which your speakers probably can't reproduce anyway. Turn the volume up on the sub to about halfway, hook up both speakers and play something with a lot of low bass. Have the crossover set at around 100....tell us if the sub is pumping out some bass. You may have to turn the volume up on the stereo a tad to create some drive.

Nbrowser and myself are both right, the speaker level inputs are just pass thru's, but the crossover should pick out the lower notes to use for itself. Otherwise, there is no purpose for it. If you used the subwoofer connection, you'd be using the crossover in the receiver. The difference you should hear are with the subwoofer, not the speakers.

Does your stereo have a setup menu ? Are your speakers set to large or small...if that choice is available ? Most small desktop units don't have that option as they only run smallish speakers anyway.

Ohhhhh...I get it now. All my desktop unit has is basic bass/treble adjustment and bass boost. Now/that I think about it...would the bass boost have an effect on xover? I'm gonna try what u suggested...I'll let you know how it goes...thanks tonyb..and sorry nbrowser if I in any way offended you.

felipe

Well...I got it all set up and plugged in the power cord and...no power! I think the power supply died on this sub. I tried other outlets thinking maybe it was the outlets...this wasn't the case. My psw110 is dead:-( . Dag nammit!!

So... I never attempted to adjust the bass / treble on this unit (never had a need to as it sounded decent as is), so I played with those settings. Let me tell you, these Lil pioneers can pack a punch for its size. With the bass boost on and bass at +2 and treble at +3, these pioneers almost sound like their floorstander counterparts...punchy yet very accurate bass for a 4inch driver. I think I can go without a sub for a Lil bit while I can either get this psw110 repaired or save up and get another powered sub...psw111 maybe??

felipe

Update...
I recently exchanged my shelf unit for my parents Sony str-dh510 receiver that they never used lol. I figured that they will use that one more b/c of its all in one design...be easier to use. So now, I have much more power for my bookshelf pioneers (90 watts per channel ).

Now, my question is do you think it would be a good idea to use my floorstander pioneers for my 2ch setup and use my bookshelf pioneers for my 2.1 HT setup? I ask this b/c my HT Denon AV receiver is rated at 75 watts/channel, as to the 90 watts/channel of the Sony...I'm thinking due to the wattage ratings the switch would make more sense. Any thoughts??

felipe

Well I tried the switch..and its a better match. The Sony powers the floor standers better while the denon seems to be a better choice for the bookshelf's in my 2.1 setup...better sounding dialog with these for some reason. I'm replacing my bicf12 sub with the psw110 (which I fixed :-) ) b/c 1) the other half prefers the look of the 110. 2)the 110 blends better with the bookshelf's. I'll lose some bottom end, but the other half will be happy:-). You know/what they say...happy wife happy life haha.

P.S. both setups still sound awesome!!