Attaching a subwoofer to an older Kenwood receiver

For the best sound quality how would you recommend I connect a powered subwoofer to my Kennwod receiver?

Crutchfield recommends line-level outputs so my thought was to use the Tape 1 Rec outputs.

http://www.crutchfield.com/Learn/hometheater/subwoofer/connect.html

Thank you in advance!

 

That will not work well because the tape outs are not variable in level. You would have to manually adjust the level on the sub every time you changed the volume on the receiver.

There does not appear to be any variable pre-outs in your receiver.

If the sub has speaker level ins and outs, that would be your only option.

Brian

 

So you need variable pre-outs...didn't know that...thanks!

How would you wire this? Receiver has 2 (A and B) speaker outputs.

 

Well, assuming the sub has speaker inputs/outputs, you would normally want to run speaker cable from the "A" outputs direct to the sub, and then go on to the main L/R from the sub.

The sub will hopefully cross over the mains such that they do not get the low bass that the sub is reproducing.

Brian

Edit: If the sub does not have a crossover, then you could run the L/R from the "A" and the sub from the "B" terminals.

 

This is really the only hook-up option that is viable with your particular receiver.

 

Yes, you definately need variable pre-outs from your receiver or other wise your sub-woofer would be running at a constant volume while you increased or descreased the volume of your mains. As Brian pointed out, you really need to consider whether your sub-woofer has a crossover circuit built in, this is essential as well. Otherwise you will need an external crossover.

 

Couldnt you connect the subs at the speaker B output if your not using them. The high ohmage at the subwoofer would not be a problem for the Kenwood in that it would not even be seen since the ohms are so high on the Sub(The built in Amp). Then you speakers would continue to be hooked up to speaker A output and the Sub on speaker B. If your using speaker B for something else then your choices are limited...Good Luck...John M.

 

That would work fine but with one problem. There would be bass coming out of the main speakers and that could conflict with the bass from the sub. If you had speakers with a low end rolloff and you matched your sub so there is little overlap it could work.

 

I did propose that previously, but what is unknown is if his sub actually has speaker level inputs, let alone a crossover or speaker inputs.

We are talking seriously old school on this receiver. Obviously it has no bass management of any kind. No telling what capabilities his sub has.

If it does have a speaker out connection with a HPF, he will be good to go, if not, he will need to dial in the sub to blend with the natural roll off of his mains.

Brian

 

I bought a Polk Audio PSW505 12-Inch Powered Subwoofer.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000092TT0/ref=oss_product

It has a crossover and speaker level inputs and outputs.

 

In that case, you would appear to be good to go. Use output "A" to the sub, then go from the sub to your L/R pair. Eazy-peazy.

You will probably want to experiment with the crossover level/phase settings and what not to get the best blend. That subject can get really messy really fast, so I will leave that to others.

Good luck and enjoy your purchase.

Brian

 

Would the sound quality better if I use receiver's amp to power the main left and right speakers instead of using the sub's amp?

The receiver has the ability to run both A and B speakers at the same time. The receiver manual says all the speakers (3 in this case) will be run in a series.

 

From the Crutchfield article:

If you have an older receiver and subwoofer combination that doesn't offer an LFE connection, then you can also use speaker-level inputs. They also bypass the receiver's built-in crossover and send an amplified signal to your subwoofer. Just hook up your sub from your receiver's front left and right speaker outputs using ordinary speaker cable. This will be a full-frequency signal, but the sub's built-in filter will block the higher frequencies. Then, connect your stereo speakers via the subwoofer's speaker-level outputs. Your sub will pass on the unfiltered, full-frequency signal. If your sub does not have speaker-level outputs, you can wire the sub and stereo speakers in parallel using your receiver's speaker terminals.

Just keep in mind that you will be sending an amplified signal from the receiver, only to be reamplified in the sub, which may cause distortion. This method should only be used if you can't make either an LFE or un-filtered line-level connection.

This last paragraph makes it seem like connecting them together on A will not be the ideal way for best sound quality.

 

You are thinking too hard about this.

When you hook up as I described, you are not using the sub amp to power the speakers; you are just using its crossover to redirect the bass to the sub amp, and remove bass from the L/R pair.

If you run the sub off of "B", you loose the ability to remove the bass from the mains. That might, in some circumstances produce a better result, but I would try running through the sub crossover first.

Brian

 

Will do...thank you for your help Brian!

 

Yes and no.

It will be better in that there will be less resistance in the wire between the amp and the speakers. If you run the speakers through the sub you will use more wire. You will also have more connections. Most connections degrade the signal somewhat.

However, it would likely be best to run the speakers through the sub if you needed to use the passive crossover which is built into the sub. If you can match the sub to the natural roll off of the speakers without the crossover then you're probably better off with the direct connections from the amp to the speakers.

You don't want to run the main speakers and the sub speaker inputs in series. If that's your only choice than I suggest you hook them both up to A.

If you can't fit both wires into the terminals, hook up a short pair of speaker wires, and tie the other ends of them to the speaker wires. You can use inexpensive wirenuts to put this together.