Best way to hook up sub woofer?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Chester0711, Aug 1, 2020.

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  1. Chester0711

    Chester0711 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Minneapolis,MN
    I have purchased a new SVS SB-1000 sub woofer and would like some tips on connecting it to my Yamaha A - S501. Is it best to go through the sub out on Yamaha to The R/L input with RCA jack or should I use the speakers wire inputs?

    thank you for any and all suggestions!
     
  2. jeffmackwood

    jeffmackwood Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ottawa
    I'll go into just enough detail to justify my suggestion, but know that there are more reasons behind it.

    In your case, I'd use speaker-level connections to the sub.

    I've read through the Yamaha's owner's manual, specifically to see what it says about that SUBWOOFER OUT jack, and I'm not at all impressed. Apparently there's no bass management applied to the speaker outputs, and all that's said about that jack is "The SUBWOOFER OUT jack attenuates signals over 90 Hz." In general putting a fixed LPF on such a jack is useless at best - and completely redundant (or worse) given your sub's own LPF capabilities.

    With the speaker-level connections, use the LPF, PHASE, and VOLUME controls to achieve the best blend with your mains (whatever they may be.)

    Hope you can get things sounding great.

    Jeff
     
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  3. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    SVS knows their stuff. There is no reason not to follow their instructions.
     
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  4. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    Ah, to have or not to have bass management, that is the question. These amps seem not to...but I remember someone posting that engaging YPAO did highpass filter. But that is not in the stereo amps??
    - Crank things up without the sub. Are your LS50's little 5" woofers straining? If so, you need a different amp or AVR with bass management. Period. End of story. The sub cannot fix that, only a highpass filter can.
    - Otherwise go with what @jeffmackwood said.
     
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  5. Chester0711

    Chester0711 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Minneapolis,MN
    Well, I have attempted to wire this via the speaker terminals and I believe I may have shorted the amp....it went into short circuit protection mode , sound cutoff, power light started flashing....etc...

    I have my speaker wires going into the sub (banana connectors) and then separate speaker wires (non-banana) going from sub to amp speaker inputs.

    none of them are crossed or touching or anything so not sure how it is shorting?
     
  6. jeffmackwood

    jeffmackwood Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ottawa
    Huh!!!
     
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  7. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    You can't just plug in your speakers into your amp and then plug your sub with banana plugs into the speaker outputs of the amp?
     
  8. Chester0711

    Chester0711 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Minneapolis,MN
    I don’t feel like that is what the instructions showed. They show a line going from speakers to sub and then sub to amp....two separate lines, one from speaker to sub and then a line from the sub to the amp? Am I reading something wrong in the illustrations?
     
  9. Chester0711

    Chester0711 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Minneapolis,MN
    I just did this....still didn’t work....amp shorted...went into protect mode
     
  10. George Blair

    George Blair Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Sounds like you're attempting to use the "High Level Speaker Inputs" on the Sub? If so, you just want two sets of speaker cable going from the amp - both attached to the same "speaker outs" - one set going to speakers as per usual, the second set going into the "high level" on the Sub.
     
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  11. Chester0711

    Chester0711 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Minneapolis,MN
    Okay, my error, carelessly I had two wires literally snuggling together on the sub somehow....a plus and minus on the left channel, practically intertwined..embarrassing.
     
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  12. For audio only, I also recommend using speaker level inputs, and outputs. No need for 2 pairs of speaker wires from amp. Amp L/R speaker cables to to speaker level inputs of amp. (REL makes you buy a "Speakon" adapter. If a vendor doesn't support this, avoid them, they are targeting the HT market). Then from the Sub's speaker outputs, those go to your main L/R speakers.

    FYI - on some HT receivers, including my Yamaha, they do bass management, and therefore ask you to set the sub crossover at full, because they're going to use DSP to fill in for some of your main or surround "small" speakers at the crossover you setup, as well as compensate for loudness gain at your listening position with the YPAO mic. However this latter part is for HT use only. When you go direct, you only get L/R out, or if you use pre outs, you can use a sub connected to your main amp.

     
  13. Mikeybc

    Mikeybc Listener

    Location:
    Northern Ontario.
    Good that you sorted it out, Any first impressions ? Ive been eying this sub myself.
     
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  14. jeffmackwood

    jeffmackwood Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ottawa
    I must be having a bad day because I seem to be getting confused by a number of posts today.

    If not "audio" what are we talking about?

    Jeff
     
  15. Chester0711

    Chester0711 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Minneapolis,MN
    Well, so far, I love it. I still need to "tweak" the dials a bit and play with positioning. It definitely adds the low end that was missing, not just enhance the lows that were already there. As noted in a previous thread, I had an old Polk Sub that belonged to a satellite 5.1 system. It was junk and I can now hear the difference. It just added to the already existing lows, the SVS adds a whole new low end that does not exist on the LS50.....If I cut the volume off on the sub after listening for a while, the LS50's on their own really show what was lacking.

    Positioning will be tough in my room, it is 12x12x12 and getting the sub into a corner is almost impossible due to where shelves are setup etc......but thinking of a room redo to put turntable and system in corner, which I have thought about for a while and opens up myriad possibilities for speaker placement etc....
     
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  16. Mikeybc

    Mikeybc Listener

    Location:
    Northern Ontario.
    The term "audio only" in a subwoofer conversation refers to music playback only, versus home theater low frequency effects.
     
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