How Do I Hook Up a Subwoofer to My Vintage Receiver?

If I only have speaker outputs and RCA jack outputs for Tape Out, how do I hookup a subwoofer to my vintage receiver. Would I need to run speaker cables from the receiver to the sub and then from the sub to the speakers?

 

What sub are you going to be using? The connection you are speaking of is called "speaker level" connection where you basically use the crossover in the sub to dictate where the main speakers roll off. You're stuck with the quality of the crossover network which in most cases degrades the overall sound of your main speakers. The only sub I know of that eliminates the speaker level connection is the Rel line. I would think there would be others that connect similarly. Anyone know of any that can be used without a speaker level connection?

 

I have experience with REL subwoofers, and Velodyne subs. Both of these brands have high level inputs that you just hook up where your speakers hook up to your amp. They are very high impedence so the output of your amp is not affected. They can easily be used w/vintage equipment.

 

I'm thinking of getting the subwoofer that Paradigm recommends be paired up with my speakers. I think it's the PDR-8 or something. I haven't been able to find information online about how the connection is made, though.

 

Do you mean that you hook up the sub to A and the speakers to B?

 

Exactly, assuming you have an A+B switch on your receiver to play both outputs at the same time.

 

Would there be any issue with impedance if I do that?

 

Bump for some help

 

Like Vinyl-Addict I use the speaker level input on the back of my subwoofer. I have two sets of speaker outputs on my receiver A & B. I run the main speakers off channel A and I run the sub off channel B. Simply run the speaker wire right off the receiver output to the high level input on the sub. Then when I listen to music I just select A and B running both channels simultaneously.

It is better if your receiver can drive 4 ohms, but as long as it says "high level input it should be OK. Mine sounds great this way.

 

download the owner's manual here




use only the A output from your amp

 

I have a Marantz 2325, a vintage receiver that has two sets of speaker outputs that can run at the same time. I have one set going to the speakers and one set going to the sub.

 

Feisal K speaks the truth.

 

Most subs have connection which can just parallel to your main speakers-even right from your main speaker terminals. Speaker A or B doesn't really matter. The sub amp's input impedance is much higher than a speaker and should not affect anything unless you get some weird grounding problem (unlikely).

However, understand that one of the advantages of a subwoofer is to take the bass load out of the main speakers and their amplifier. This frees up a LOT of headroom. In the scenario above, the amp and main speaker woofers are still working just as hard as ever. So, you don't get the maximum benefit. If you change to a receiver which has a low level subwoofer output, you would reap a big benefit comparatively, and new receivers are getting very inexpensive.

All of the above assume a powered sub. Non-powered subs or anything using some kind of passive crossover for the satellites? That's all crap, low frequency passives just cannot work at any reasonable price. Maybe not even then!

 

I had the option with my sub to run the speaker wire into the sub's input with a variable internal crossover that I could set between 100hz and 50hz. The sub would then send out only the higher frequencies driven by the receiver's power to the mains. The lower frequencies were driven by the sub's dedicated amp. The problem was it degraded the sound of the mains considerably so I went with running them parallel.

I set the crossover level and the output level by ear and it all blends nicely. The goal is to set it so that you don't really notice when it is turned on , but you can hear something is missing when it is turned off. Most people seem to set the sub levels way too high.