What's the 'best' way to hook up sub?

brentski

I've got a new sub with line inputs as well as a LFE input
(my old sub that died just had line inputs).

It's got the normal 'level' as well as the cross over freq. settings along with the phase control.

My receiver has a sub-out which also allows me to set the cross-over freq. (between 40-120 hz. at 20 hz. intervals.)

The way I currently have it set up is with all the spkrs. set to small and the X-over on my receiver set to 80 hz .

I have the sub out from my rcvr. plugged into the LFE in, with the X-over turned all the way up and the level tuned in to where it sounds best.

Is this the proper way this should be set-up, or is there a better way in which it should be done?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brentski

dudeinaroom

imo, that's the way to do it. some others will tell you different. If you want , you could set the sub to off, and the fronts to large on the receiver, and run wires from your a terminals(or front terminals depending on your setup) to the subs speaker level input, and run wires from the speaker outs to your front speaker and see how it sounds. The right way to do it is the way that sounds best to you. you might want to play with the phase, level, and crossover points to match you front speaker, as you receiver will no longer be rolling the highs off for your subs. Good luck, have fun playing, and do what sounds best to you

ESavinon

I have a bose acoustic wave music system with the 5 cd changer.
MAN this system is awesome!
It sounds better than my proton tabletop am/fm alarm clock.
Wait a minute,my proton tabletop radio has more bass than my bose....
and better fm reception. ah never mind.......

schwarcw

I have mine set up as described by dudeinaroom's alternate description. On your receiver set the sub to "off" and your fronts to large. This will direct the LFE effects to the front speakers. If you have preouts on your receiver, hook your subwoofer up to the front pre-outs, set the crossover on you sub to 80 Hz for HT and lower for music.

I like this configuration as it give better bass management. It also allow you to have your subwoofers play in a two channel setting for music. If you play SACDs or DVD-A you will have more bass from the subs since most SACD and DVD-A mixes have a weak LFE channel.

Polk also has a writeup in their education link:

http://www.polkaudio.com/education/faq.php?article=hookupsub

gregure

Honestly, Brentski, the way you have it hooked up now is ideal for HT use. If you're happy with music playback as well, you should be fine. Those who are looking to better their system for music use may choose to tool with the setup.

One of the reasons subs also have L/R inputs is both for SACD/DVD-A use, and also because it tends to have a better sound for music. More integrated, less boomy. Basically, hooking up the sub through your receiver's main L/R preouts sends a full signal to the sub, and you use the sub's crossover to tune the sub's frequency response. This, in essence, helps to lower noisefloor w/ music playback, because the analog CD inputs on your receiver should bypass the internal circuitry and go staight to the amp. This is not the case, however, when you hook up your sub only through the LFE out, and use your receiver for bass management, because using the receiver's bm requires the signal to pass through the receiver's processing. It's a very minute difference in my opinion, until you start to get into higher end products. I hook my sub up only through LFE, both because I don't want to dick w/ the settings when switching back and forth between music and movie use, and I don't want to pay the extra $$ for a nice set of 15' long analog cables. I have my sub hooked up w/ a $500 4.5 meter Audioquest Jaguar that I got for free, so I think I'm getting a great signal already.

Hope that helps clear up the difference.

schwarcw

Well written gregure! Better than the explanation I gave The only point to reinforce is if you listen to SACDs, you'll miss out on some bass. The LFE channel on most SACDs and DVD-As is not great. If your more in for HT, use the LFE. I'm 90% music so I stick with the front preouts to the sub. If you listen to a lot of music, try it both ways. You may or may not notice a difference. Happy listening!

Carl

gregure

Thanks! I actually don't listen to SACD, other than the regular 2-channel layer, as I don't actually have an SACD player. If I did, I might be inclined to try hooking up the sub via preouts to see the difference. Heaven knows I shelled out enough for a nice sub that it would probably be worth the effort.