2 subs?

johnny_utah · August 2004

I just saw in another thread that dkg999 had two subs hooked up in his HT. I didn't want to hijack his thread so I thought I would see if anyone else had experience with this.

Here;s my situation: After upgrading my Sony floorstanding front speakers to Rti6's, I have noticed a lack of bass. I didn't realize my old fronts were contributing as much as they were. My current sub just doesn't go low enough for me. Eventually I want to get an SVS 20-39PC-Plus.

So heres my questions: I was wondering if anyone had experience with hooking up 2 subs. How do you have the subs connected? Are they both running from the receiver or is the second sub connected to the first sub and if so what output is it connected to? How does the bass sound having the two subs? Does it sound out of balance? Will it improve my lack of bass? etc. I was thinking I could just pick up something cheap off eBay or something. Am I better off waiting for the SVS? Just wanted to see what other thought...

del44 · August 2004

There"s alot of us around here that have dual or more subs. I really like mine. Better and more fuller bass. IMHO. I have 2 sub outputs from my processor, so running 2 subs is no prob. If you have only one sub output, you can use a y splitter, or depending on the subs, you can daisy chain them. Into sub 1 then out of sub 1 into sub 2. You can also use the high level inputs also. I'm sure others will be chimming it, to help you out.:)

brody05 · August 2004

2 subs (or more) work great, I use a splitter out the back of the amp, seems to work well for me, never tried 'daisy chaining'. I have in the past used the left and right preouts to each sub in the left and right of the front of the room and selected no sub in the amp menu but for that the full range goes to the left and right speakers and preouts, try experimenting to find what works best for you, but regardless of set up configeration, you will have no difficulty getting two subs to sound awesome...
Good luck.....

ntculenuff · August 2004

i run one sub off the sub out and i run my second out of the L & R pre outs and use this second sub for my low mid.

LFE sub: sub out x-over on sub set about 65 hz
low mid sub: L & R pre outs x- over on sub set about 125 hz

took a bit to dial in but man what a sound. tried hooking up both to sub out but way too much bottom end both playing at same frequency. so hooked up this way and did some fine tuning and man oh man, a lot fuller sound lets my rt800's have a break and now i have a tight kick **** low mid and a hell of a bottom end. on a frequency sweep i have the slightest dip in db's at about 83 hz. other than that it is pretty steady fomm 200- 17 hz:p

dkg999 · August 2004

I did try many of the ways of connecting the two subs that have been mentioned! I have this HT system in a top-floor apt. and I can't really crank it up to loud. I started off with a single PSW303, and found it to have really nice tight bass, but not a lot of room filling presence. I then found a deal on a PSW404, and it was better, but was real boomy. A friend really liked it though, so I let him have it when I found an incredible deal on a PSW505 ($300 brand new, couldn't pass it up!). The PSW505 could fill the room with nice tight bass and was more what I was looking for. I still had the PSW303, so I decided to experiment. I found that just using a Y-splitter on the LFE worked the best and was the easiest. I also found that having the PSW505 in the front left corner of the room and the PSW303 setting in the back right corner (close to my couch, recliner, and big comfy chair!), both running at a little lower SPL level than my other channels, produced nice room filling bass that didn't have the neighbors trying to kill me! It works in my set-up!

Another friend tried the same thing with an HK receiver and didn't have as good of luck. I did read that Yamaha receivers have a higher voltage LFE output that works better for driving multiple subs off of the LFE output. Not sure if that had something to do with it or not?

The SVS and HSU sub's are really nice. I have both my subs setting on stacked 18" sq. patio blocks to get the sound up in the air and help prevent the bass from rattling the floor. I would not want a down-firing sub in an apt! Should I move to a house/townhome, etc. I would get an SVS. A friend of mine runs 4 SVS subs in his dedicated room home theater. This is a sloped floor room that seats 20 people with big screen and a DLP projector. The bass is incredible!

McLoki · September 2004

Another option I have not seen mentioned yet, is (depending on the size of your front speakers) Hook one sub up to your front speakers. (high level in, then out to fronts) and set your front speakers to large, then hook your other sub up to your LFE port and set sub to yes in the reciever. I would hook your smaller sub up to your front speakers, then your larger sub up to the LFE port. This can help balance out the sound when you are listening to sources that are not in 5.1.

Just a thought,

Michael

2 subs?

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