Subwoofer Hookup Help!

[JohnBee]

Hi all...Recently I purchased an earthquake sub-80 subwoofer. During the install i was a little confused. I thought it would have 1 rca input that comes from the reciever. However it does not. Has the two, right and left rca inputs. I know some subwoofers have one some have two how do i hookup using the two? Currently I am using the speaker wire cable to go from reciever to the subwoofer, and the subwoofer out to the speakers. Is one option better then the other? Thanks for you time.

[JohnBee]

ok i think i found part of my answer...i read you can use a y connector or some are saying use the right. now the only question i have is would this be a better way of hooking up rather then using the speaker wire?

[Woochifer]

First off, are you using an AV receiver with a surround speaker setup? If so, then you might be better off just setting all your speakers to "Small" and running the subwoofer output to the sub with the RCA cable. That's the simplest connection.

Connect the cable to either the right or left inputs, all that a Y-splitter connecting to both inputs would do is boost the signal by 6 db. If you cannot bypass the crossover on the sub, then dial the crossover frequency all the way up because your receiver is acting as the crossover. You only need to use the Y-splitter if your overall level is too low to match with the mains.

When setting everything up, use a SPL meter ($40 at Radio Shack) to match the subwoofer level to the mains (common advice is to have the subwoofer level about 4 db higher than the mains because of how human hearing is less sensitive in the lows).

Running the speaker outputs to the subwoofer is more common with two-channel setups. If you use the high pass speaker level outputs, then you will need to carefully adjust the crossover frequency in order to blend the subwoofer with the mains. In most multichannel setups, you won't use the speaker level output with the sub.

[JohnBee]

the right input gives me a loud continous hum...the left works but is very quiet and doesnt sound quite right. its a av reciever with no surrounds at the moment. i will be hooking up surrounds next week.

[Woochifer]

the right input gives me a loud continous hum...the left works but is very quiet and doesnt sound quite right. its a av reciever with no surrounds at the moment. i will be hooking up surrounds next week.

A loud continuous hum doesn't sound right. Could just be a loose connection somewhere, which would be a sign of shoddy build quality. With the left input did you try turning the level up to match the mains? Use the receiver's built in test tone to verify the levels. Also, with the AV receiver, have you checked to make sure that the levels are as high as they will go? You really need to read up on the receivers manual and the sub instructions, and experiment a bit.

[JohnBee]

ok the hum stopped but now on right or left are just too quiet...i went over the instructions all it says is either use the speaker wire ins or the rca ins.

[JohnBee]

turned up the levels on my receiver, now i have good sub volume but just not the quality of how it was running the speaker wire...i dunno...dont know enough about subs.