[dave2441]

My subwoofer does not have a subwoofer jack that can connect to the receiver so I have to use speaker wire to connect it to the receiver through the speaker inputs and outputs on the subwoofer. I think I am setting this up right but I wanted to double check. I have connected the speaker terminals on the receiver for the front right and left speakers to the left and right speaker input terminals on the subwoofer. Then I connect my front left and right speakers to the left and right speaker output terminals on the subwoofer. So basically, the subwoofer receives input from the receiver and connections are then output from the subwoofer to the front left and right speakers.


Do I have this right?


Also, there are no speakers wires over 20ft so should I use 16 gauge speaker wire for the best sound? Currently I have a mix of 18 and 20 gauge wires connecting everything. Is it alright to mix different gauge wires?

 

[KidHorn]

Sounds right.


You can mix gauges, 18 and 20 should work for runs under 20 feet.


If your receiver has a setup to push LFE to the fronts, make sure you use it.

 

[dave2441]

Somewhere I read that with this setup, the subwoofer should be turned to off on the receiver and then the speakers set to large. Do you have any idea if this is true?

 

[Selden Ball]



Quote:
Originally Posted by dave2441  /t/1418480/how-to-connect-subwoofer...-output-input-jacks-to-receiver#post_22188071


Somewhere I read that with this setup, the subwoofer should be turned to off on the receiver and then the speakers set to large. Do you have any idea if this is true?

That is correct. When configured to have no subwoofer, the receiver should redirect the LFE audio to the front left and right speakers. Disabling the subwoofer in the receiver should automatically configure the fronts speakers to be full-range (large).

 

[tc1]

If the SW has RCA speaker jacks you can use this cable

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236


and this adaptor

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023603&p_id=6261&seq=1&format=2


to connect the SW by itself. One of mine works this way


EDIT: Correction,

been a long time since I looked at the connections. Mine has RCA input l/r and outputs. I use the RCA l/r inputs with above cabling.

 

[tc1]

^^^


EDIT: Correction, been a long time since I looked at the connections. Mine has RCA input l/r and outputs. I use the RCA l/r inputs with above cabling.

Edited by tc1 - Today at 5:21 pm

 

[dave2441]

I will set the subwoofer to "no" on the receiver and the speaker size to "large" but I was wondering why this is a better option than setting the speakers to small?

 

[Selden Ball]

Setting speakers to "small" tells the receiver to redirect low frequency sounds (the ones below the crossover frequency) away from those output channels to a separate subwoofer output channel.


Your subwoofer will be connected to the front Left and Right speaker channels. So far as your receiver is concerned, your front speakers are "large". They now have the ability to provide extremely low frequency sounds. It can't tell that those frequencies are actually being provided by a separate subwoofer. The crossover network built into your subwoofer itself will pick off the low frequencies for itself and pass the higher frequencies on to your actual front speakers.