# Can you hook up a sub to a 2 channel stereo system?



## Trogdor

Anybody do this? How do you hook it up? (let's assume this is a self-powered sub).

 Good, bad, ugly? Recommendations for sub manufactures? I have been looking at Earthquake Sound, Rel, and SVS.

 Thanks!


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## dd3mon

Yes, two (easy) ways to hookup a powered sub in a 2-channel setup.

 1) Run the speaker wire from your amp to the sub, then another set of speaker cables to your speakers. The sub will suck nearly no current from the signal (so your mains will still get almost all the juice), expensive subs have nice crossovers you can use in this configuration.

 2) Run a line level signal (rca's or xlr) from your preamp or integrated to the sub. This can be accomplished by using a second pre-out, splitting an existing pre-out (rca splitters) or using a dedicated "subwoofer out" if your preamp/integrated/receiver has one.

 Another option is a dedicated crossover, but these can be tricky to work with, and quite expensive. This area is probably best left to those who really know what they're doing and have a very expensive system to justify it.

 For a powered sub, SVS, HSU, REL and on the very cheap end Adire (Rava or Rava SE) are all great choices for a 2-channel music setup. There's tons of info on all these subs on AudioAsylum.com and to a slightly less-reliable degree AudioRevew.com.

 Good luck!

 -dd3mon


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## JMT

The subs that I have come with speaker ins/outs. You simply connect your speaker outs from your amp to the speaker in of the sub, then connect the speaker outs of your subs to your speakers.

 Subs also come with RCA ins/outs for use with a pre-amp/amp set-up.

 My question is: Can you connect a sub using the pre-outs of an integrated?


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## Trogdor

Thanks dd3mon.

 Okay, how will imaging be effected by a sub in the corner? Has anyone done this with with 2 sub's on placed in both front corners? Is that better?

 I'm considering getting an external sub for my 2 channel setup. My speakers do bass quite nicely (tight and accurate) but not booming though I'm about to change amplification drastically.


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## zeplin

JMT,
 You most certainly can. You can use a pre-out on the back of an integrated. I do it with my Arcam A75. I just use one of the pre-outs and split that signal into two with a Y splitter which goes into the subs RCA in-L/R.


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## tortie

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Trogdor* 
_Thanks dd3mon.

 Okay, how will imaging be effected by a sub in the corner? Has anyone done this with with 2 sub's on placed in both front corners? Is that better?
_

 

Perfectionist want their subs true and center, but in my experience, imaging will not be effected by a sub in a corner. I would recommend placing them in the corner also since I notice that the bass is better when the sub in placed in a corner of the room, both in my home theater set-up and my old PC set-up.


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## dd3mon

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Trogdor* 
_Thanks dd3mon.

 Okay, how will imaging be effected by a sub in the corner? Has anyone done this with with 2 sub's on placed in both front corners? Is that better?

 I'm considering getting an external sub for my 2 channel setup. My speakers do bass quite nicely (tight and accurate) but not booming though I'm about to change amplification drastically._

 

Many sub manufacturers (especially the cylindrical models such as SVS's most popular line) recommend corner placement. Imaging should be not be affected unless your mains are extremely bass-light (so the sub's crossover has to be set very high). True low-bass (somewhere around 50-60 hz and below) becomes very difficult to accurately locate the source of it. This means if your sub is only handling the lower frequencies, placement will just affect it's output level and possible room resonances, not imaging. Of course, two subs (one in each front corner) is the optimal setup; However not all of us can afford these luxuries, and not all of us have rooms large enough to not be overwhelmed by the output of two subs 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 -dd3mon


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## jjcapurro

When I read the websites of both subwoofer manufacturers and cable manufacturers they all recomend running a sheilded cable to the sub... BUT if you are using a powered sub by hooking up speaker cables to it and then continuing on to a speaker (as in "1" of the above ways to connect your sub) you are not using a sheilded cable... or are you? Does it matter?

 -JJC


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## soundboy

Regarding "Subwoofer" cable, read this.


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## Gopher

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *tortie* 
_Perfectionist want their subs true and center, but in my experience, imaging will not be effected by a sub in a corner. I would recommend placing them in the corner also since I notice that the bass is better when the sub in placed in a corner of the room, both in my home theater set-up and my old PC set-up._

 

Hey tortie,

 I don't want to crap on your information, but I've never read a single piece of advice/manufactors setup instruction suggesting the placement of a subwoofer in the middle. Most all of them do, in fact, recommend precisely the placement you have adopted. Imaging is typically not affected by this, because if crossover level is set appropriatly, the low (non-directional) frequencies should not affect the directional part of the spectrum being represented by the monitors.

 What I do hear perfectionsts advocationating is the use of subwoofers in stereo configuration.

 Check out mappleshades' subwoofer recommendations (re: room placement/1 foot from midrange driver of loudspeakers). That is the configuration I use and will continue to use.


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## fredpb

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Trogdor* 
_Thanks dd3mon.

 Okay, how will imaging be effected by a sub in the corner? Has anyone done this with with 2 sub's on placed in both front corners? Is that better?

 I'm considering getting an external sub for my 2 channel setup. My speakers do bass quite nicely (tight and accurate) but not booming though I'm about to change amplification drastically._

 

I tried a powered Velodyne sub once. Just one. I stuck it in the corner.

 I did NOT like it. Too me, it was obvious that the sub was in the corner, and that made me uncomfortable. Location does matter.

 I no longer have the sub of course. I now use speakers (Vandersteen IIC Signatures) that easily match the low freq output of the sub. Quite happy now.


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## ServinginEcuador

The easiest way: run an output from the second set of RCA jacks on your CDP to the sub. The next is pick off an output from your preamp or amp using another RCA jack. Last is if it is an SACD or DVD-A player, just use any unused RCA jack. If all that fails, buy an RCA splitter and use it to run a signal to both the sub and preamp/amp.


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## D-EJ915

If you're actually serious about a subwoofer, unlike fred, you should test it out in your home for about a week (which most good av places will let you do) and fine-tune the positioning of the subwoofer. You have to take into consideration room acoustics, just putting it in the corner is a bad idea, it will give it a 3dB boost to the output and becomes amazingly obvious it's there. Another thing to help is to hide it behind something. I've noticed that this helps disperse the sound and make it even more even.


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## Orpheus

the subs i have used take a line-level signal--the full ouput from your preamp. the sub has its own crossover and sometimes full 5.1 inputs. then it has the appropriate outputs to connect to the amp for your sattellites. these subs are the most convenient and useful for me.

 by the way, the currents subs i use for my 2.1 system are stereo--there are 2 of them. and i mount them on speaker stands pointing towards me to the sides of the satellites. seems to give me the sound i want. but bass response grows as i walk away from them... so it's not ideal, but works best for my listening position. anyway.... the point is you'll have to experiment. but generally i don't like wall-loading or corner-loading subs cause though the bass is significantly deeper and louder, it just feels a bit muddier. i like to "hear" the bass directly, though yes, i realize theoretically bass is non-directional.


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## tortie

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Gopher* 
_Hey tortie,

 I don't want to crap on your information, but I've never read a single piece of advice/manufactors setup instruction suggesting the placement of a subwoofer in the middle. Most all of them do, in fact, recommend precisely the placement you have adopted. Imaging is typically not affected by this, because if crossover level is set appropriatly, the low (non-directional) frequencies should not affect the directional part of the spectrum being represented by the monitors.
_

 

Some of the traditional audio people here (I dont mean here at our forum but here locally where I live) have said that if they can have their way with placements of speakers, they would prefer the sub to be at the center. Especially if the subwoofer's crossover settings will be higher than 100hz. I dont know why they prefer it that way, but that is the way they would prefer it if given their way with speaker placements.


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## Seoulcomp

Maybe someone answered this here, but maybe I am missing this.  Since a (non-powered with speaker cable) subwoofer only has 1 (+/-) input, how do I get the 2 outputs (left and right) from the stereo into 1 input?  Also, this while still hooking up the regular stereo speaker.  Are you saying that I can just "split" the input from the subwoofer, but attaching two cables each via electrical tape to both the + and - sides of the sub, and put each into the stereo output (combining two L/R outputs into a single L/R input?). And again, what about the normal stereo speakers?  Am I to just also stuff them together with the subwoofer cable combined into the amp L/R outputs, or should do a merging method again, where I tie the cables via electrical tape into single L/R/+/- cables for the amps stereo output (seems like a lot of merging and splitting cables.)?


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