1. Home
  2. speakers
  3. 1168713228

Which Subwoofer Connection Should I Use?

My Subwoofer is a Velodyne CT-120 and has L and R speaker wire inputs and outputs, and L and R RCA inputs and outputs (no LFE). My A/V receiver is a Harmon Kardon 240 and has 7 speaker wire outputs (L, R, C, SL, SR, BL, BR) and the same pre-outs plus one for subwoofer.

I was told I can run parallel speaker wire out of the front L and R channels of the receiver and feed those into the L and R speaker wire inputs on the sub. I was also told I can run RCA from the L and R pre-outs on the receiver to the L and R RCA inputs on the sub.

What are the differences sonically, and are there any other options? Which is recommended?
heyitsmedusty
cytocycle
1,034 posts
 
If you use the subwoofer out on the reciever you can choose whether to configure you left and right speakers as large or small and also whether to either rolloff or cut the bass below xxHZ.. these are typical settings for surround receivers.. you manual should cover them but no you shouldn't run the speaker cables into the subwoofer at all.
heyitsmedusty's avatar
heyitsmedusty OP
185 posts
 
So it looks like I'll have more control over what gets sent to the subwoofer if I use the subwoofer out, but here is what the choice is down to:

1.) Using the receiver's pre-out L and R into the subwoofer L and R line in with the receiver's "subwoofer" setting on "no" so the bass frequencies get sent to the L and R channels that I'm feeding into the sub.

2.) Using the receivers sub out into the subwoofer L line in.

Technically, the same frequencies should be getting sent to the subwoofer, but in the first case there are two lines going in and in the second there is only one. Which one is better?
cytocycle
1,034 posts
 
2) is better because the $1.50 crossover in the subwoofer is going to make your clean left/right channels muddy... keep your signal path as short and clean as possible.
heyitsmedusty's avatar
heyitsmedusty OP
185 posts
 
So when I listen to music in only 2 channels, does the subwoofer still receive a signal?
cytocycle
1,034 posts
 
The cool thing is that with a surround receiver/processor you can choose when you want the subwoofer on and off... some will even let you change the crossover down for music. (aka 40hz for music, 80hz for movies..)
More to discover