Despite putting all that time and money into purchasing the perfect speakers paired with the ultimate receiver, your stereo system lacks bass. The more you listen, the more this glaring deficiency drives you nuts. After all that time and money you expect perfection, so you've decided that you need to add a subwoofer. While adding a subwoofer is an obvious move, getting it connected has proven not so obvious. There are a number of ways to connect a subwoofer. Here's a look at two of the best.
Instructions
Dedicated Subwoofer Connections
1. Connect an RCA or subwoofer cable to the "Sub Out," or "LFE Out" (for home theater applications) on your receiver, preamplifier or amplifier. This is a line out connection (non-amplified) so it requires that you use a powered subwoofer with built-in amplification.
2. Connect the cable to the input on the back of your subwoofer.
3. Plug the subwoofer in and turn it on.
4. Turn the subwoofer to "On" using your receiver or preamplifier menu, so that low frequencies will be routed to the sub. Once you've completed, your subwoofer should now receive the low frequencies from your audio.
Speaker Level Connections
5. Connect using speaker wire. If your receiver/preamp/amp lacks an appropriate line-level output for your subwoofer, or you are using a passive sub that requires external amplification, you can connect using the speaker outputs on your receiver or amplifier.
6. Connect speaker wire to both the Left and Right main speaker outputs on your receiver/amp. If the sides of your wire are marked "+" or "-", be sure to hook it appropriately to the corresponding output; this will simply make it easier to connect to the subwoofer.
7. Connect the speaker wire to the subwoofer's left and right inputs, being careful to align the proper sides and polarities.
8. Run the speaker wire from the left speaker output of the sub to the left speaker, while paying attention to polarity. Repeat for the right speaker.
9. Plug in the subwoofer (if it's powered) and turn it on.
10. Turn the subwoofer to "Off" on the receiver/preamplifier menu and set the speakers to "Large."
11. Adjust crossover frequencies on your subwoofer or receiver to desired levels so that subwoofer will pick up lowest frequencies and send all higher frequencies to the speakers. Refer to instruction manual for assistance on your specific subwoofer and/or receiver.
Tags: your receiver, speaker wire, your subwoofer, receiver preamplifier, subwoofer receiver, Connect speaker