Subwoofer dislexcia

I would like to get a lot of replies to this. I was kind of under the inpression, that passive was the way to go, with subwoofer's. But now that I have done a little research, I see that active is the only way to go. I thought and thought, that I didn't want to have to plug in another cord to all ready bungled up mess of cords and wires, behind my stereo cabinet. So I took the plunge, and ordered a new subwoofer. I hope that I am right, and not just snowing on my furnace.

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Originally Posted by Sansui71

I would like to get a lot of replies to this. I was kind of under the inpression, that passive was the way to go, with subwoofer's. But now that I have done a little research, I see that active is the only way to go. I thought and thought, that I didn't want to have to plug in another cord to all ready bungled up mess of cords and wires, behind my stereo cabinet. So I took the plunge, and ordered a new subwoofer. I hope that I am right, and not just snowing on my furnace.

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"and not just snowing on my furnace" BUWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAA... That was great man. Thanks for the laugh.

I'm thinking that powered is the way to go. Many more options available. And you can plug it into a different outlit.

Passive subs are a very poor choice and usually will sound like utter crap....IF you truly wire it as a passive sub and use a receiver to power the sub along with all the other speakers.

But adding a dedicated subwoofer amp to a passive sub will fix that, and that's all a powered (active) sub is. A passive sub with an amp, it's just all in the same box. Having a passive sub with an outboard amp is actually more flexible as you can replace one without having to replace the other.

Oh, yeah, powered, definitely. The only way a passive will work well is with a separate power amp (MHO), so you haven't really lost any outlets.

powered is the way to go, passive with an external amp works too, same thing basically.

Okay thanks Abstentia. I purchased 100W Kenwood. As it goes with my Kenwood system. I guess that I am of the old school, that I tend to stay with a certain brand and its components. I started out, in the early 70's, purchasing Sansui. Unfortunately, I didn't stay with my service plan, and my 4 channel tape(reel-reel) player/recorder didn't last, as my heads wore out from too much use. Like the old saying, "I used it too much, when it was brand new." I like my system, and that's all that really matters.

I dunno - using my old amp for a passive makes sense... to me. If i didn't have an old amp just laying around i would shop for a good powered sub.

I will be selling my Denon 8" powered sub in the near future...

I think my passive sub "circa 1987" was from Crutchfield and was a BSR brand. I paid back then about $175us for her, not at all cheap considering my income at the time and my knowledge of stereo gear. She could really thump and It made things certainly louder, but I was unable to add a separate power amp by its sheer design. That thing was the size of a very large end table and had a dual voice coil 15inch bass driver. She ran both right and left channels from a receaver or amp to the sub then from the sub to the mains, thats how the beast was designed. Not at all flexable, but it had a crossover to keep the lowest fq's to the sub and the rest to the mains. As my listening skills for music have grown into a more refined sense of hearing I donated the old gal for true separates. I will be adding my first powered sub using true preamp outs in the near future as funds allow. Great thread, brought back many memories from all those years of listening to older systems I have owned. How cool.

Later

SuperDougieFreshNess
San Diego, CA - Heaven on Earth - espechilly in March. :cornut:

Passive subs will give a lot more flexibility, you can use your own amp and driver. However, it can get expensive to do it right. Good mono amps or a stereo bridged cost +/-$1000.
I do not know if your Kenwood sub is designed to handle a lot of current. If you start throwing a 500-1000 watt amp to it, the driver may call it a day...
You said it already has a 100 watt amp, does it have speaker inputs? If not, you will have to find a new sub...