Another home stereo question: Powered sub woofer

[jcn37203]

For all y'all who know about stereos.

 

My receiver has an RCA output for a powered/active sub woofer. I'm considering picking one up on the cheap, but there's one thing I don't get.

 

The powered woofers I've seen have the RCA input, as well as standard speaker inputs, and then standard speaker outputs.

 

I read a couple of manuals online, and they all say using the standard speaker inputs is optional, but they don't explain wether or not you can use the standard speaker outputs without using the standard speaker inputs.

 

So, what I'm wondering is, if you add a powered woofer to your stereo, and you leave your speakers connected to the receiver, does the woofer then give you two more speaker outs to connect additional speakers to? Or are those speaker outs only functional if you run wire from the receiver's speaker outs to the woofer's speaker ins?

 

I assume the speaker ins/outs on the woofer are there so it can do crossover better, but it would still be cool to have 4 speakers, two of them straight from the receiver, two others through the crossover in the woofer.

 

Or would it?

 

[GCDEF]

For those people whose receivers don't have dedicate sub outs, some subs let you plug speaker level signals into them. So you'd run from the receiver speaker outs to the sub speaker ins where the sub would siphon off the lower frequencies then pass the input signal back out to your speakers.

When you use the line in from your receiver, you ignore both the speaker ins and outs on the sub.

[Jebus0000]

just use the RCA sub out and forget trying to run 4 speakers. What would be the point of 2 sets of speakers playing the exact same thing? Not to mention it'll change the impedence of the speaker load which your receiver may not be able to handle.


I don't know if you've found the sub you want yet but here's a suggestion.

http://www.hsustore.com/stf1.html

This is the lowest priced model and in my experience is the only subwoofer under $400 that is worth getting. Most cheap subs don't actually produce any real low bass...they just add woofy muddy rumble to the mix. But this one is a real subwoofer. I've heard it and it sounds amazing.

[jcn37203]

I dunno, the Sony WMA-250 is only 90 or $100 brand new, and it has basically perfect reviews on every website I check.

I realize it might not be an audiophile's woofer. But I'm not an audiophile. I mean, I'm using a $150 Technics Receiver anyway.

ANd yeah, I'm not saying I want to run 4 speakers, I don't even have an extra pair. I was just curious about it.

Here's the one I'm looking at.

[GCDEF]

It doesn't have anything to do with 4 speakers. If you hooked up two speakers to the sub's speaker out, without hooking anything up to the speaker in, you wouldn't get anything out of the speakers. That's just a pass through on the sub. You'd still only have your two main speakers.

[jcn37203]

Originally posted by GCDEF It doesn't have anything to do with 4 speakers. If you hooked up two speakers to the sub's speaker out, without hooking anything up to the speaker in, you wouldn't get anything out of the speakers. That's just a pass through on the sub. You'd still only have your two main speakers.

 

 

I think he was speaking hypothetically. As in, even if it did let you have two extra speakers, what sense would that make anyway?

[jcn37203]

Though, I don't think (hypothetically), it would change the impedence, because the woofer has it's own amp. I would assume the sub's amp would be handing the imdepence of the speakers connected to it, not the receiver.

But wtf do I know?

[GCDEF]

Originally posted by jcn37203 Though, I don't think (hypothetically), it would change the impedence, because the woofer has it's own amp. I would assume the sub's amp would be handing the imdepence of the speakers connected to it, not the receiver. But wtf do I know?

 

 

I'll try this again. The sub would not power the main speakers. It would merely extract the low frequencies from the full range speaker signal from the receiver, donwgrade that to a line-level signal and feed it to its own amp. The full range speaker signal from the reciever would be passed intact to the main speakers. The receiver wouldn't even know the sub was there. The impedence the receiver see wouldn't change.

[jcn37203]

Originally posted by jcn37203 Though, I don't think (hypothetically), it would change the impedence

 

 

 

Originally posted by GCDEF The impedence the receiver see wouldn't change.

 

[Jebus0000]

I miss understood. I pictured you running a pair of speakers direct off your receiver and also running speaker wire to the sub and another pr speakers off the sub. that pr of speaker would still be using the power from the receiver.

ps. save up and buy a good sub. it makes the whole home theatre experience soo much better with a good sub. even if cost more than your receiver.

[jcn37203]

Originally posted by Jebus0000 ps. save up and buy a good sub. it makes the whole home theatre experience soo much better with a good sub. even if cost more than your receiver.

Thanks, but this isn't going on to a home theater, just a bedroom stereo.

[GCDEF]

Originally posted by jcn37203 Impedence stuff

 

 

I was agreeing with your assessment that the impedence the receiver sees wouldn't change, but hopefully explaining this part "I would assume the sub's amp would be handing the imdepence of the speakers connected to it, not the receiver" a little better as what you posted was not correct.

[Jebus0000]

ah ok. the junk will do then.

What you should then is take the "subwoofer" from that home-theatre-in-a-box system that I know you have and put it in the bedroom and then buy the HSU sub for your theatre system. eh eh?

[jcn37203]

Originally posted by Jebus0000 ah ok. the junk will do then. What you should then is take the "subwoofer" from that home-theatre-in-a-box system that I know you have and put it in the bedroom and then buy the HSU sub for your theatre system. eh eh?

Can I just borrow your sub for a little while, so I can see how the other half lives?

[jcn37203]

Originally posted by GCDEF I was agreeing with your assessment that the impedence the receiver sees wouldn't change, but hopefully explaining this part "I would assume the sub's amp would be handing the imdepence of the speakers connected to it, not the receiver" a little better as what you posted was not correct.

Ehhh, technicalities. I was right.