Subwoofer PLumbing

Lute

Hi All,

I have a PSW505 with the RM7500 5 satellites/center and a Sony STR-DA4400ES receiver. This question is effectively redundant in light of a recent question posted by a PSW303 owner. However, the Polk PSW505 manual is quite clear, and I hoped to ask the question differently in the interest of clearing up my existing doubts. To start, quotes from the Polk manual:

"RECOMMENDED HOOK-UP METHOD FOR “SATELLITE” SYSTEMS
SUCH AS POLK RM SERIES SPEAKERS
( FIGURES 6 & 7)
° Connect the left and right front speaker outputs of your receiver or amplifier to the speaker level inputs of the powered subwoofer using speaker wire.
° Then, connect the left and right front satellite speakers using speaker wire from the speaker level outputs from the powered subwoofer."

And then:

"By setting the front left and right speakers to “Large” and routing them through the subwoofer as instructed above, you deliver a full range signal to the sub-woofer’s low pass filter. The low pass filter directs low frequencies to the subwoofer. Full range signal is passed to the front speakers, for perfect sub/sat blending.)"

And finally:

"HOOK- UP METHOD #2 ( FI GURE 8)
This method can be used with electronics that include a “SUBOUT” feature (Figure 8). It is not recommended for use with compact sub/sat systems"

Seems very clear Polk wants the front speakers plumbed through the Sub. What is a compelling argument to do otherwise? I read the other 'PSW303' thread and see opinions mostly, but nothing as clear as what Polk engineers have to say.

Thanks in advance!

ben62670

Run the subs off the LFE jack on your receiver. If you run the speakers through the sub then you will have signal degradation. Also with that line of speakers you will want to cross them over at 80hz. If you get any popping raise it to 100hz on your receiver.
Welcome to Club Polk
Ben

Mon40CSMM10

I'm not a Polk engineer, but recommending method 1 makes sense.

If the Low Pass filter dial on the subwoofer is analog/continuous along its entire range, it will allow the selection of an crossover value that best blends the subwoofer bass output with the frequencies above that selection being sent to the satellite speakers. The ability to fine adjust is probably one of the main reasons they recommend method 1.

Method 2 will also work, but the receiver may only allow crossover settings of specific values (for the receiver I use, the selections are only 50, 80, 100, 150, or 200 Hz... so a value such as 120 Hz could not be selected using the receiver's crossover). If the best crossover position for the satellite speakers happened to be in between two crossover values, can't do that using method 2.

Lute

Thanks for the quick responses. I posted on this site in haste; I realize after some browsing that this is a VERY common question for Polksters. I want to wrap this thread by saying a few things:

1. I have had this speaker/sub setup for about 7 years now, originally configured per Polk's recommendation. I have always thought it sounded GREAT. The only reason I questioned the connections is because my receiver finally crapped out and I now need to re-plumb everything, and the new Sony receiver says to use the Sub-Out, and I wasn't sure if this was unique to the new product.
2. I imagine that every hardware combo will be prone to specific idiosyncrasies, but after researching the forums and thinking about Polk's stated opinion, I believe that the line-out plumbing is, if not best, at least VERY GOOD, especially if the speakers and the sub are all Polk products.
3. I HOPE POLK ENGINEERS PERUSE THESE FORUMS. IF ANY OF YOU ARE LISTENING, PLEASE REALIZE THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT PERPLEXES MOST, IF NOT ALL, OF YOUR CUSTOMERS. PLEASE PUBLISH A DEFINITIVE ARTICLE ON THIS SUBJECT THAT ADDRESSES THE TOPIC IN A BROAD MANNER SO AS TO EDUCATE YOUR CUSTOMERS, RATHER THAN SIMPLY STATE THAT 'THIS IS THE WAY TO DO IT'.

Thanks in advance Polk!

Lute

ben62670

IMHO the reason that Polk says to use the speaker level in and out is to make it more fool proof. Get you're read on in the manual and set it up right.
Ben

Lute

FYI y'all- I e-mailed Polk, asked why the PSW 505 manual says to hook up the subwoofer with front speaker line-outs, when their website tutorial says to hook up receiver sub-out to sub LFE in, and they said that the instructions for using line-out to sub were written before most consumer-level receivers had standard sub-out rca jacks. So, bottom-line is the 'New Polk Way' is to connect sub-out to LFE-in via RCA jack. Hope this helps

Lute

BlueFox

I used to hook it up the way you described, but it was more of a pain in the butt, so I now run it off the front pre-amp outputs for the L/R channel. This keeps any AVR filter out of the circuit ,versus using the LFE with 'small' speakers.