TV to psw10 to Speakers??

Sansrisque · February 2019

Lost my receiver suddenly and I was looking for a temporary solution to hook up my psw10 and potentially some speakers to my TV. My TV is really basic, just has stereo rca coming out, so I plugged that to the sub rca line in, which is working. I was going to try to get a couple of speakers connected to the sub, but that is not working.
it seems that if you use the rca entry on the sub, you can't use the speakers out on the sub. And I don't have any wires only out on my TV.
I am sure it would be a very bad idea to strip the rca cable from tv to plug in the subwoofer, so am I shoot out of luck until I get a new receiver? Any cheap suggestion until I get a new receiver? Thx

tonyb · February 2019

Your out of luck. You need an amplified signal for the speakers to work. That's what the receiver was for. The TV can't do that or your sub.

msg · February 2019

Yeaht, as Tony says.

Those inputs and outputs you're seeing on your sub are meant as a means of integrating a sub with a receiver that doesn't have preouts or a dedicated sub out.

The idea is that you send the full-range amplified signal from your receiver to the Input terminals on the sub via a first set of speaker cables, instead of going directly to the speakers. The sub takes this input signal, keeps the low frequency information depending on the crossover knob setting, and passes on the rest.

Next, you connect a second set of speaker cables to the Output terminals on the sub, and those connect to your speakers.

There is no power generated here in the sub - it's only passing through the amplified input signal from the receiver out to the speakers.

One thing I'm not clear on here is whether the through-signal is full range, or if it's only the high-pass frequencies based off of the sub's crossover knob setting.

Regarding a sub's ability to power speakers, I think you're probably thinking about the Home-Theater-In-A-Box type systems, where there's a controller unit that sends everything out to a subwoofer module. All the little satellite speakers plug into the subwoofer module, which powers everything.

tonyb · February 2019

The speaker connections on the back of a regular subwoofer are for the signal part only, so it interacts with the crossover in the subwoofer. The amplifier in a subwoofer is for the actual woofer in the sub, that's it, nothing else.

The HT in a box type of systems are a bit different as stated above.

Jimbo18 · February 2019

Where are you located? Almost any Craigslist area will have cheap receivers listed that will do what you want a lot easier and better than messing with the sub.

rooftop59 · February 2019

DON'T DO IT.

You will blow something up. Either just use the TV speakers or like Jimbo says get something cheap off of craigslist or fleabay.

Sansrisque · February 2019

Correction, the audio line out of the TV is a 1/8 inch audio jack, looks like ț
Tipical headphones jack, I just had a converter 1/8 inch to rca plugged into it.

Sansrisque · February 2019

I knew the TV couldn't do that, but I thought that a powered sub potentially could do that, pardon my ignorance here, isn't it what the power amp is about, amplifying signal? In that sense I don't understand why there is an out speaker on the sub...what is the functionality?

tonyp063 · February 2019

One thing I'm not clear on here is whether the through-signal is full range, or if it's only the high-pass frequencies based off of the sub's crossover knob setting.

That depends upon the individual make & model of sub.
Take SVS as one example.
The PB-1000 has "...Stereo line-level RCA Input & 80Hz High Pass Filtered Output connections"

Whereas the PB-4000 has an adjustable one.

But to address the original question.
As others said, you need separate amplification of some sort.

Sansrisque · February 2019

Thank you all for your detailed answers and time spent to explain, I really appreciate it! Too bad about the design of the sub, I am wondering what would have been the cost difference having the sub also amplify for the connected speaker... (making it dual use)

This is kind of follow up question to further my understanding. I was surprised by the very high volume level I get on the sub on rca. I have to run the sub volume set to the minimum almost when plugged in to the rca input. What would happen if I did wire the TV audio jack to the subwoofer speaker input, would it risk to damage everything? Or is it safe but I would just get a really low volume on the woofer and associated speaker ? (I understand that is usually a no-no but I am not sure if because it is useless, or dangerous, I understand that if you send to much power to a speaker you can blow them up, but not sure if you undepower them...? And at the same time, I was wondering if the TV audio jack is outputting signal that is out of spec and too strong compared to normal. I associate volume with power here which may be dumb....but if it is it out of specs, is it usable for my temp situation? BTW my TV is a changhong brand, could be a bit off specs

)

Sansrisque · February 2019

Jimbo18 wrote: »

Where are you located? Almost any Craigslist area will have cheap receivers listed that will do what you want a lot easier and better than messing with the sub.

I need to replace an Onkyo HTRC160 Home Theater (the receiver that died). Any suggestion then on something équivalent in capabilities but cheap that can be found safely ( US)? I have the whole family on my back about it lol, and little cash at hand at the moment.

Jimbo18 · February 2019

Where are you located? We can check your local Craigslist for you.

tonyb · February 2019

Sansrisque wrote: »

Jimbo18 wrote: »

Where are you located? Almost any Craigslist area will have cheap receivers listed that will do what you want a lot easier and better than messing with the sub.

I need to replace an Onkyo HTRC160 Home Theater (the receiver that died). Any suggestion then on something équivalent in capabilities but cheap that can be found safely ( US)? I have the whole family on my back about it lol, and little cash at hand at the moment.

How little cash ? I have a receiver for around 200 shipped for you, way better than what you had too.

TV to psw10 to Speakers??

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