Subwoofers - Which Input to Use?

[admin_exported]

I've been doing some research in advance of buying a 5.1 channel home cinema separates system and I'm getting confused about which subwoofer inputs I should use. I want to use the sub for music and movies, so should I use the low frequency input, the stereo inputs or both? And how should this be connected and setup with the AV receiver? I will probably go for a Denon 1910 or 2310 with Monitor Radius R90 HD satellites, R180 HD centre and Wharfedale SW250 sub.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

if your subwoofer has an LFE input then it,s highly recommanded to use that input.

How to connect is very easy , u only need one phono cable , u can use any phono cable but i would realy recommand to buy a good subwoofer cable , on the back of your AV/receiver u should see a phono output jack try to find the sub out and then u just stick the cable from there to your subwoofer LFE input .

goodluck

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Marco_1. Do you know what are the advantages of using speaker level inputs?

 

[margetti]

Not familiar with the subs you mention, but on my REL I have both the LFE and speaker level inputs connected, although in my case that has as much to do with the fact that I have a stereo amp as part of my AV set up.

But in REL's words (from the manual):

"The high level input* is designed to accept the stereo (two channel) signals from the speaker terminals of your receiver, integrated amplifier, or power amplifiers. This has the advantage of ensuring that your sub-bass system receives exactly the same signal as the main speakers, and ensures that the character of the bass from the main system is carried forward into the sub-bass. This is a very important factor in the successful integration of your subbass with the main system... "

and a bit further on on the manual...

"Note: Some processors output a signal from their LFE socket, even when playing a CD in
Stereo mode. In the past little could be done, now using the remote, simply mute the LFE.
This is recommended for Stereo mode listening and can be saved along with the other
options."

That's REL's take on it anyway... 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

One important difference between the two methods of connection:

the dedicated LFE connection usually bypasses the sub's own crossover setting i.e. the frequencies sent to the sub are controlled by a setting on the AV equipment (amp/processor) and the sub's crossover settings don't make any difference;

however, the speaker level connection means the sub now receives the entire signal out of which the low frequencies are filtered by the sub's crossover setting and then amplified.