Sub woolfer nightmare

dheric

I purchased a new home and added the pre-wired surround sound package. I've installed all of the speakers in the ceiling okay, but the wire for the sub woolfer is the same as my normal speaker wire (2 basic wires)?? I understand the sub woolfer gets hooked up to by a RC connector but can't figure out what I need to get this connected properly. Any help and specifics would be greatly appreciated.

thsmith

Are you looking to take your 2 wire speaker wire to drive your sub or just looking for advice on which cable to use for the sub ?

You could try this although I have no experiece trying this.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104066

or you could just buy this cable.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=2682&seq=1&format=2

Fongolio

It's woofer. No "l".

mmadden28

You call this a nightmare?

You didn't provide any details as to what equipment or sub you have. Or how the wire is connected to the Amp/Receiver.

TheMARPATNinja7

"Pre-wired Surround Sound Package"-An audiophiles worst enemy.

Depending on your sub, it should a LFE (low frequency effect) input which is a single cable that looks just like a standard coax cable (sold as "subwoofer cables" at your local Best Buy or electronics store.) Typically a package of that caliber would just have an output on the back of the reciever that says something to the effect of Subwoofer Pre-Out. If thats the case and the sub has an LFE input, all you need is the single subwoofer cable. Now if that isn't the case and the sub has RCA style hookups than there should be a cable that has red & white connects for the sub input and a single coax style for the out on the reciever. If none of this helps you.....than buy a better system.

comfortablycurt

Did you build the house and have them run the wiring during the building process? That's what it sounds like the problem is. In that case, you may be able to get a regular subwoofer interconnect cable and attach it to one end of the speaker wire, and use the speaker wire that's in the wall to pull the sub cable through. Not sure if that's a possibility or not, but it's an idea.

By the way, welcome to Club Polk.

mmadden28

TheMARPATNinja7 wrote: »

... If none of this helps you.....than buy a better system.

You give up so easy...you don't even know what equipment he has.


dheric, just so you know, you can hook up your sub with regular speaker cable, provided the sub has speaker cable binding posts, but the final answer still depends on some of the other unknowns at this point.

TheMARPATNinja7

Dude.........it was a joke chill out.

comfortablycurt

TheMARPATNinja7 wrote: »

Dude.........it was a joke chill out.

I'm pretty sure he was joking too though.

mmadden28

Chill out? Did I blow up on you? Uh no. Try using a wink next time.

ViperZ

dheric wrote: »

I purchased a new home and added the pre-wired surround sound package. I've installed all of the speakers in the ceiling okay, but the wire for the sub woolfer is the same as my normal speaker wire (2 basic wires)?? I understand the sub woolfer gets hooked up to by a RC connector but can't figure out what I need to get this connected properly. Any help and specifics would be greatly appreciated.

You can hook up a passive sub this way. Have the stand-alone subwoofer amplifier on your rack, then run a standard speaker cable to the passive subwoofer box.

TheMARPATNinja7

mmadden28 wrote: »

Chill out? Did I blow up on you? Uh no. Try using a wink next time.

Haha, fair enough.

dheric

thsmith wrote: »

Are you looking to take your 2 wire speaker wire to drive your sub or just looking for advice on which cable to use for the sub ?

You could try this although I have no experiece trying this.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104066

or you could just buy this cable.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=2682&seq=1&format=2

Guys, Thanks for all the help and harrassment for this rookie I spent good money on a 50" plasma, polk ceiling speakers, sub woofer (spelled correctly now) and a Onkyo receiver. I believe the sub woofer I have is a Polk PSW10. I temporarily purchased a Monster cable (I believe its a RCA jack) to run from the Sub Woofer to the Onkyo receiver I have, but it looks like SH@#$ running accross the floor and I can't take it anymore. I tried to call the company AES who handled the prewire installation, but they suck too and have not returned 3 phone calls.

There is a plate on my back wall for my sub woofer, but the wire is the standard wire that runs the speaker in the ceiling. Is this normal? The model home has a plate with a single wire (rca cable) attached to it. I know I can hook the wires up to the normal speaker wire section on the back of the Sub woofer, but what is the best way to connect this? Thanks again for all the responses.

mmadden28

Check out the user's manual on that sub here. It shows all the hookup options. Although it appears that the PSW10 may have less connection options that the other models in the same lineup.

TheMARPATNinja7

What model Onkyo do you have? Depending on your AVR, (in my opinion) the LFE input is your best bet. You can set all your crossovers and EQ on your reciever and not the sub, plus its only one wire. Just my thoughts.

Cardinals-1

This poor guy has to filter through a bunch of hater nonsense to just get an answer to a simple question.

Most subs have both a high level and low level input. If you sub has this high level input you can use the speaker wire the contractors ran. Ideally though you would want to use the low level input because in theory you should get a better quality signal to your sub. You sub instruction manual and your receiver manual should have all the answers.

comfortablycurt

How many wires are there that were run to the sub's location? Is it just a single wire or are there two wires?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in order to use speaker wire to hook it up, you'd have to connect the sub to both of the front channel locations on your AVR, and you'd then have to connect your front speakers directly to the subwoofer. Which probably isn't a possibility since your speaker wire is already run through the walls.

I think your best bet would be to buy an analog interconnect, and attach it to the speaker wire that's already in your wall, and use the wire to pull the cable through.

ntculenuff

just get some rca connectors like the radio shack one in a previous post and turn your speaker wire into the sub connection it's not that hard to do just takes a few minutes and a solder and soldering iron/gun

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2104066

Cardinals-1

ntculenuff wrote: »

just get some rca connectors like the radio shack one in a previous post and turn your speaker wire into the sub connection it's not that hard to do just takes a few minutes and a solder and soldering iron/gun

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2104066

You are technically correct, but there would be no shielding with the speaker wire setup you described. Can you use the speaker wire as a pull wire for RCA cables?

ntculenuff

Cardinals-1 wrote: »

You are technically correct, but there would be no shielding with the speaker wire setup you described. Can you use the speaker wire as a pull wire for RCA cables?

true. pulling would be worth a try but the wire is probably stapled but worth giving it a tug

dheric

comfortablycurt wrote: »

How many wires are there that were run to the sub's location? Is it just a single wire or are there two wires?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in order to use speaker wire to hook it up, you'd have to connect the sub to both of the front channel locations on your AVR, and you'd then have to connect your front speakers directly to the subwoofer. Which probably isn't a possibility since your speaker wire is already run through the walls.

I think your best bet would be to buy an analog interconnect, and attach it to the speaker wire that's already in your wall, and use the wire to pull the cable through.

Hi There,

I went to RadioShack a few days ago in an effort to finally fix this problem. I purchased some audio male connectors and a couple of y-connectors for audio/video hook up. When looking at the wires again, there is a R6 coax wires with 4 smaller wires inside (red, black, green, blue). I tried to hook up the audio connectors, but with no success. I did this, bought a audio/video plate and connect my monster cable to the sub woofer...still nothing. The back of the sub woofer has actual speaker wire inputs as well as a left/right audio wire input. The back of my Onkyo receiver just has a sub woofer audio input. What the hell am I doing wrong?? Any help would be greatly appreciate. I apologize in advance for not being AV intelligent.

Regards,
Dheric

comfortablycurt

I still say that you just use the speaker wire to pull a coax RCA cable through the wall. Is the wire stapled inside of the wall, or is it just loose? If it's not stapled down, that would really be your best bet, and likely the only way you'll be able to hook everything up and keep all the wires in wall, aside from getting a passive sub and an external amp for it.

The only way you'd be able to use the speaker wire, would be to run wires from both your left and right front speaker outputs on the receiver, to the inputs on the sub. You would then have to run wires from your sub to the left and right front speakers. Doing it that way though, you wouldn't be able to use the in-wall wires that are already installed, unless they're in a very close proximity to the subwoofers location.

As others have said...it's kinda hard to troubleshoot a problem like this without actually being able to see your setup, and see the wires. Any possibility of posting some pictures of the wire locations and all that?

The single subwoofer output on the back of your Onkyo is the LFE output, which plugs into one of the L/R inputs on the back of your sub. A Y-adapter isn't necessary, just plugging it into one of the inputs will suffice.

Motzart

Keiko wrote: »

Can you re-position the sub in another location and run the cable along the baseboard of a wall so it's more inconspicuous?

That's how my rig is setup.
All wires along the baseboard outta sight.

I run a quality Radio Shack RCA wire from my Sub out on my Yammie to the LFE on my Sub.
Your Onkyo has no Sub out???

As a rule I'd NEVER hook my speakers to the Sub.....just the Receiver!

dheric

Keiko wrote: »

Can you re-position the sub in another location and run the cable along the baseboard of a wall so it's more inconspicuous?

Unfortunately not, I have a built in entertainment center and the wires are all in the back running through the walls & ceiling. I rig the cable temperarily, but a cannot close one of the doors properly and it has to run over my fire place footing..basically it looks like ****.