Sub woofer Dilemma

[FloridaGator7]

Good Day All,
I just bought a Pioneer VSX-517K and it includes a sub woofer pre-out. My system before that was a cheap starter system and I upgraded to this. So I will be using my speakers from my old system. But the sub woofer from the old system contains +/- (red and black) connection cables. So I was wondering if I could connect my old sub woofer with my new Pioneer receiver. Again, my receiver only has sub pre-out and my sub only has +/- connections.

[Mr Peabody]

Do not use the sub out, no way to make that work with your current sub. Set your receiver's speaker menu to "no sub". Use your main L/R front speaker outs to the sub and mains the way you did before. Without seeing it I can't tell you how to do that. I'm assuming the speaker wires go to your sub and from the sub to the L/R speakers.

You really want to replace those speakers as soon as possible. If they are from a Home Theater in a box system you really want to be careful with the volume or you won't have much choice to replace them soon.

[Luvin Da Blues]

Does this sub have inputs and outputs for the speaker wire? If so you need to run your main speaker wires to the sub and then from the sub to each speaker. Set your main speakers to large. This way your main speakers are only getting the freqs above the subs X-Over freq.

[Mr Peabody]

Good point, I forgot the "large" setting. With your receiver menu set to "no sub" it will direct the .1 or LFE to the main speakers, so you won't lose anything with this set up.

[FloridaGator7]

Thanks for the advice. And yes, the system I had before was a Home System in a Box. So they are rather primitive and I will look to replace them. But I need to find a cheap one but at least gets the job done. Im in college and I dont have enough money to be shelling out hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Any suggestions on good, cheap speakers (and woofer)? What about the Sony SA-WM250 Powered Subwoofer? Im trying to look on ebay for any steals.

[Florian]

Look for something like a Velodyne CHT ....

[johnny p]

his sub dilemma hits home with me....... I have RCA ins/outs on my receiver and Sub, but it doesn't produce any sound during set up, so I have the Sub on "off" now on the receiver, and I run the Sub via the Speaker "B" outputs on the receiver...... only thing is.... I run my surrounds from the "surround" outputs on the back of the receiver, should I switch this to run them from the Sub's outs? I know I've ran them on the sub previously, but thought I had more room to tweek the levels when I ran the surrounds directly from my receiver........ I want to optimize the settings as soon as possible since I'll be picking up new speakers soon, and would like to connect them properly, but the sub unfortunately won't be in the budget for quite some time.

[Mr Peabody]

Do want just the sub or the entire 5.1 package? Acoustic Energy is a good budget speaker. Other than that just check some of the mass market stores.

[FloridaGator7]

What kind of mass market stores are you talking about?

[Mr Peabody]

Best Buy, Circuit City & the like. Paradigm is also another good brand that offers speakers starting in the budget range.

Johnny, you want to keep your surrounds hooked to "surround" or they will not receive the proper signal from the receiver. "B" is just another hook up for the mains. If you want you can set your surrounds to "large" and hook your sub up there with your surround speakers to get a fuller surround response. But if it's your only sub you are better off keeping it where it is to help with the overall low frequencies.

[filecat13]

Another possible solution is to get a used amplifier and run the sub out RCA cable to the amp, then connect the sub's speaker wires to the amp's speaker output. Of course, you'd only use one channel this way, so be sure to wire both + and - to the corresponding + and -of the same channel of the amp.

Of course, if your current sub is no good, don't waste money on an amp to drive it. You'll just need to get another sub

[johnny p]

haven't had time yet to re-evaluate the connections, but I'll disconnect, and reconnect everything in the next few days when my new mains arrive.

[blackraven]

Check out the infinity primus 162 speakers on sale at www.crutchfield .com. They have great reviews and sound very clean an detailed for a low end speaker that normally cost $300 a pair. Aslo look into the Mirage S8 or Energy S8 ( same subs and company, just different name. ). Also circiut city has decent prices on the velodyne DSP series subs. They are not the best but it sounds like your on a tight budget and this will fit the bill. You should consider foregoing a sub and just put your money to good speakers with a lower frequency response.