RM6880 Subwoofer connection

gago1101

Hi there, I am connection my RM 6880 to a Pioneer 1018AH-K 7.1 channel receiver. I would like to know what would be the optimal way to connect the subwoofer. In the manual, it is suggested to use the “front” out from the receiver for both the front speakers and the subwoofer. Given I am only using 5 channels, would it be possible to dedicate the rear surround “outs” for subwoofer? Would appreciate any suggestions.

apphd

gago1101, Are you talking the rear surround outs as in speaker outs? I think this was a common way to hook up a sub on receivers that did not have sub pre outs. I think Polk likes to use the speaker level inputs and sub low pass filter to get a better blend with the other speakers. I suppose you could use the speaker level outs from the rear of the 1018 but I don't think you will gain anything.

Not sure what type of inputs the original sub with the 6880 package had but if it has line level R and L and/or LFE input why not just use the sub out on the 1018 and the bass management in the AVR. Follow the 1018 manual for bass management. Different manufactures do things a little different (mostly what they call things) but are all doing the same basic thing. You would want to set it the 1018 with "sub on", "speakers small" and a cross over around 100 to 150 for those speakers I think. Again not sure about the 1018 but this (LFE) will probably not give you any sub in 2 ch listening. The R/L line level in (if present) might give you the sub in 2 ch. I'm not sure, may depend on what the AVR can do.

Hope others with more knowledge than me can chime in and give you some more help. Bass management and subs are little confusing to set up and optimize to the fullest with out a lot of reading and experimenting.

almost forgot, Welcome to Club Polk

VSchneider

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showpost.php?p=575048&postcount=6

Don't worry about using Front L/R receiver speaker outputs to feed both the front satellites and the sub, if that's what your thoughts are ("Given I am only using 5 channels...") and no power is robbed from your satellites.

gago1101

thanks guys.
I did some more reading, it seems I should be able to connect the subwoofer to the rear surround out, but change the receiver setting to Bi-Amplification, which means the rear surround out will become part of the front out. I guess you could use this set up if your front speakers have inputs for lows and highs. In the case of the RM6880, the front satellites will serve as the high and the sub will serve as the low. Both will have the BAss management set to large and Sub turned off. let me know if I am wrong though.
thanks again..

dorokusai

You might want to read that again.

I would use the RCA subwoofer output, to a Y splitter, off the AVR and not worry a bit about speaker level inputs. This would also save that bi-amp feature for something that can actually use it.