home cinema speakers + PC

Post a picture of the subwoofer backplate. You might need an monobloc, or you could use left and right terminals, but before you connect anything up post a pic.


If you buy an av amplifier they'll only have 5 power amplifiers, not enough for the subwoofer. Like I said you could use L/R but that means setting full-range to L&R, if you just set to small 80hz it'll be directed to the non connected subwoofer output. However if your mains are sats the bass could overload them. You can get around this by plugging like this (if your subwoofer has a total of 8 speaker terminals, left and right pair in, and left and right pair out..


Amplifier L------->subwoofer L in, subwoofer L out----->left speaker
likewise for the right.

To do this the sub panel must look like this (see the eight banana connectors)

f_bashamp_525.jpg
 
squiffy said:
Might be able to use l/r amplifiers from his amp, depending on certain things.
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yeah it depends on weather the sub has an amp to use the high-level connections. there arent many powered subs that have high-level but no line level and i wouldnt recommend using the av amp to drive the sub directly either. first off if you use one channel to drive the sub as well as a main speaker it'll effectively half the impendance (which is not good on a budget amp) and if you try using both, you'll create one big electrical circuit and everything will be in mono. if it works at all.
 
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right i cant post a pic of the sub now but basicly all it has are + and - speaker connectors on it, i am a total noob to home cinema so i dont really understand what you mean squiffy
 
Worst caes scenario amplifier will shut off (4ohm load) or blows up (connecting left and right terminals into a single pair on the subwoofer. Like I said, needs to clarify backplate I/O

Using the left and right amplifiers to power the sub and the speakers isn't ideal, but if that's the only way...other options might include buying a cheap amp for the subwoofer (I did this for a centre speaker, slightly different scenario but similar, short on a power amplifier, but had a av amp spare)
 
bbreezeuk said:
right i cant post a pic of the sub now but basicly all it has are + and - speaker connectors on it, i am a total noob to home cinema so i dont really understand what you mean squiffy
Click to expand...


How many?

In
- and +

or

In
left right
- and + - and +

or

In
left right
- and + - and +
Out
left right
- and + - and +
 
basically, if the subwoofer has a built in amp there are a number of way to connected it up.

if the sub has an amp:

you got your basic line level, which you would use a rca (aka phono) lead connected to the LFE output on th av amp (LFE - low frequency effect) or to a full range output if the sub's amp also has a crossover to filter out the higher frequencies that you wouldnt want the sub player.

the other method is high pass, where the sub's amp has a set of speaker terminals. You would wire these terminal's to the min speaker terminals on the av amp and you can drive the sub that way. The problem with that is that the sub will recieve everything your main speakers will, which means if you have satalites set to high pass (no bass, so they dont explode lol) you wont get any bass feed to the sub either. This is the least prefered method.

if the sub has no amp:

You need either an amp plate (like the picture above, bkelec sell them) or a monobloc/stereo amplifier (denon's are cheap and work well). You'd wire up the sub's single set of terminals to the 2nd amp, and connect that amp to the lfe output on the AV amp with an rca lead:)
 
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would it just be worth connecting the 5 satelite speakers and forgetting about the sub, i have spotted a cheapo sony av amp on the members market which im thinking of buying this would power just the satelite speakers, are there controls on most av amps to turn up the base so it would sound resonable through the satelites if you know what i mean
 
How many on the subwoofer?
Don't forget to use the correct crossover setting per speaker in the av amplifier config, if they're the usual tiny HTIB sats with poor frequency response set to 120hz.
 
squiffy said:
Using the left and right amplifiers to power the sub and the speakers isn't ideal, but if that's the only way...other options might include buying a cheap amp for the subwoofer (I did this for a centre speaker, slightly different scenario but similar, short on a power amplifier, but had a av amp spare)
Click to expand...

i told you, using left AND right will electrcally connect all the speakers together. it'll work in mono if it works at all.

bbreezeuk said:
would it just be worth connecting the 5 satelite speakers and forgetting about the sub, i have spotted a cheapo sony av amp on the members market which im thinking of buying this would power just the satelite speakers, are there controls on most av amps to turn up the base so it would sound resonable through the satelites if you know what i mean
Click to expand...


not really, no. The thing about satalites.....is that they dont do bass, they just aren't designed for it. that's the reason for the sub - to handle everything the sat's cant.
 
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Pretty much stuffed, if it's only got one pair (subwoofer high level)

- +

You'll need an amplifer.

Personally I would just junk the whole lot and start fresh. A grand will get you a reasonbly good budget 5.1 system and av amplifier
 
squiffy said:
Pretty much stuffed, if it's only got one pair (subwoofer high level)

- +

You'll need an amplifer.

Personally I would just junk the whole lot and start fresh. A grand will get you a reasonbly good budget 5.1 system and av amplifier
Click to expand...
yeah i bet it will but i dont just have a grand lying aroung im only 16
 
erm, i wouldnt recommend spending a grand :rolleyes: (why do you keep doing that?)

You'll need an amplifer.
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im glad that's settled then :o

id recommend scowling ebay for a cheap stereo amp to drive the sub. spend £25 on it or so and it wont matter if it doesnt last years. But if you get a half decent name (denon... nad, arcam if you can get them cheap enough) they'll last a long time and can be used to drive a pair of front speakers should you want to upgrade:)
 
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squiffy is right though i think im just going to strat again and buy a kit that i can connect up to my pc easily without any fuss, thanks for you help though guys much appreciated
 
thanks for the advive james but ive spotted up a nice creative kit which i like the look of and i know with the creative all in one kits power isnt everything as i have a crappy 2.1 system that 2-3 years old fair enough the satelite are only 6w but they are nice and loud via an optical cable
 
james.miller said:
erm, i wouldnt recommend spending a grand :rolleyes: (why do you keep doing that?)
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Because he's hod-pogding things to get them to work, needs more stuff, and the stuff he's got isn't exactly great, it's different if he was given a well made, good quality passive subwoofer...but cheap HTIB sat speakers and nasty sub. No point spending more money to get it to work. The phrase "can't polish a turd" comes to mind.

I didn't know he couldn't afford new stuff, but even if he can't splurdge out in one go, could slowly save up and get something worthwhile and of "standard seperates"
 
mate if your on the cheap and have the will, you can get that kit working for peanuts. Just because you think spending a grand is better than trying to get speakers which he got for virtually nothing working, doesnt mean its a worthwhile suggestion.

'You need a cheap amp' 'nope, better off spending a grand'. come on. You did the same thing in the other thread. 'will these cheap subs be ok?' 'nope, here's one that costs 4 grand'. that's crazy.
 
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Btw what happened to the original DVD player that goes with the speakers? Can you buy it off whoever has it now? Maybe they don't need a DVD player with a built in amp.
 
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