Is it worth it?
johnsadlowski
Posts: 3
I recently purchase a pair of the 800I's and they came with the 250 sub. The salesperson at the store instructed me to hook up the speakers as my "A" speakers and the sub into my "B" speakers hook up, which I did. I ran the wiring all through the nooks and crannys of my house.
When I later spoke to someone else at Polk, they told me I should be running directly to the sub, and then from the sub to the speakers. While this sounds all well and good, is it worth the hassle of 3 hours and $100 worth of monster cable to re-do the job?
Any comments / wisdom is much appreciated.
When I later spoke to someone else at Polk, they told me I should be running directly to the sub, and then from the sub to the speakers. While this sounds all well and good, is it worth the hassle of 3 hours and $100 worth of monster cable to re-do the job?
Any comments / wisdom is much appreciated.
Post edited by johnsadlowski on
Comments
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Well, I think to get the answer to that question we need a little more information. Are you using this system for stereo or surround sound? If you're using it for surround sound, I would use interconnect cables hooked to your sub preouts rather than using regular speaker wire from the B terminal. This setup will give you more flexibility with your surround configuration. If, however, you're just using the system for stereo, you're probably just fine leaving it as it is. BUT, if you're anal like I am, I'd still use interconnects over speaker wire, but this time run them from the L&R preouts to the sub instead of the sub preout. Another thing to consider is how far the run is. If it's over 8 meters, then your only option IS speaker wire.
Aaron -
I have a seperate system for my surround system. This setup is for music only. It is powered by an Onkyo system.
I am currently using the highest gage speaker wire I can find running from the receiver to both the speakers and the sub using the A and B terminals respectively. It sounds fantastic.
Unfortunately, The sub is located a good distance from the speakers, which are very close to the system. To hook it up the Polk way, I will need to run wire to the sub, then all the way back acroos the room to the speakers. I am willing to do it if the gains are there, but if the improvement is minimal to what I have now, then I would rather not. -
That's definitely not worth it. Unless there was no other way to hook up your subwoofer, I would never run the speaker wire to the sub and then to the speakers. The ideal setup is to use interconnects from the L&R preouts to the sub.
Aaron -
I have the polk 6600 with the PSW350 and an Onkyo receiver. I hooked it up alll through the sub. I was not happy with this sound at all! The bass was too loose and not clean! I then hooked it up where the 2 fronts come directly out of the receiver and the 2 rears out of the rear surrounds. The pre Sub out of the onkyo. Now I have much more control of my bass and it sounds tight, fat and clean. I might mention for dialing in the sound try turning on the sattelites to your average listening level and then start adding the bass to your liking. The best way to tell if you have it dialed in is when you can walk around the room and not be able to tell where the bass is coming from! Good Luck!
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Thanks guys. Your advice is greatly appreciated.
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I think it's better this way than the other way.
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I was wondering the same thing. I just purchased a pair of R-40s, CS175i center, PSW250 sub, R-10 for surrounds, and a Kenwood VR-507 AV Receiver. The system sounds pretty good over what I had, some 12 year old stuff. I too was wondering about wiring directly from the speaker A terminals to the sub and then to the R-40a themselves. As it is I left the R-40s wired to the Speaker A terminals using Monster cable and then a Monster cable RCA type connector from the receiver's sub pre-out to the sub itself. Only problem is the PSW250 being a low end model does not have a single LFE input it has the left/right inputs. I read somewhere that told me to connect the single pre-out connect to the Left input of the Sub. It sounds OK...did I screw up? Let me know. I use the system primarily for DVD watching but like to listen to music once in a while.
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It really depends on what it is you are trying to do. Personally, had I spent the time and effort to get them set up the way you did, I would not change it. Do know that you should be able to add another set of speakers to the set up you have.
The question then would be whether you want your sub as part of your surround sound. If the answer is yes then you MUST connect to your A channel, add the speakers to the sub. The reason for that is that if your receiver is like mine, you must disengage the B channel for surround.
Chances are you would like to have your sub as part of your surround. It adds so much the home theater! Do check and see if your receiver has a Mono or Subwoofer output (as mine does). If so, go to it.
Well, John, I hope I have been able to help some. If you have further questions feel free to ask, I will do my best to answer. Peace!
Luis (deborinquen - elsonero@hotmail.com)Originally posted by johnsadlowski
I recently purchase a pair of the 800I's and they came with the 250 sub. The salesperson at the store instructed me to hook up the speakers as my "A" speakers and the sub into my "B" speakers hook up, which I did. I ran the wiring all through the nooks and crannys of my house.
When I later spoke to someone else at Polk, they told me I should be running directly to the sub, and then from the sub to the speakers. While this sounds all well and good, is it worth the hassle of 3 hours and $100 worth of monster cable to re-do the job?
Any comments / wisdom is much appreciated. -
If you talked to Polk already, you probably got the best advice already, plain and simple. There's just something about those guys... let me see if I can put my finger on it... ah yes, ...they do this for a living.
As a response to some other responses:
You made it perfectly clear, this is a music only system, and you have a separate surround sound system.
You also bought the 800i's, full range speakers by themselves, not sats. These two factors are important as it pertains as how best to set your system up.
In tring to get a better picture here:
I'm only guessing from the response you got from Polk, your recvr. is a two channel model and doesn't have pre-outs on it? -
I agree with Bob. And Polk. Just run the full range speaker output from the "A" speaker outputs on your receiver to the sub, let the subs crossover do the job and forward the info to the front speakers.
I just thought of something. I haven't thought it all the way through yet, so if there are obvious, glaring problems, don't bang on me too bad. I usually try and think things out A LITTLE before I post.
SIX channel powered sub with DD decoder on board. Forget it. If something went wrong with ANYTHING, you'd have to send the whole thing back. It would also probably weigh a ton.
I'm still waiting to see my other idea come to be. DVD player with DD and DTS decoder aboard, and VARIABLE output control to the analog RCA output jacks on the back. Hook it up to 5 mono power amps and a powered sub, and it's a video loving/audio PURISTS dream.
George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)
