Whats the point of hooking speakers directly into your sub?

[GoingUp]

Got a nice 5.1 speaker system and was setting it up last night. On the back of the sub there are 2 speaker line in's for the left and right front channel. Basically you run the cables from the reciever to the sub, then from the sub to the front and right left channels. Whats the point of doing this? Does it add more bass?

 

[b0mbrman]

Certainly won't add more bass. I assume those are there for receivers that only have a line-out...assuming your sub has a line-in of course

 

[GoingUp]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman
Certainly won't add more bass. I assume those are there for receivers that only have a line-out...assuming your sub has a line-in of course

Well I have those installed, plus a dedicated sub out on my reciever. The sparse instruction manual shows that I should do both of: running the left and right front channels directly off of my sub and connect my sub directly to the reciever via a subwoofer cable.

 

[Sphexi]

That is for receivers that don't have a subwoofer output. Instead, a small bit of circuitry in the sub (crossover of some sort) will take the speaker inputs from the receiver, then output them to the left and right speakers, keeping a copy of the signal for itself. Lower end way of doing it, but it works alright.

 

[bmacd]

The sub has a built in amplifier. You can run those channels off the sub's amp if you don't have a quality receiver.

-=bmacd=-

 

[bigal40]

I think Sphexi has it right but it would help to know what kind of speakers you have.

 

[Eeezee]

There's really no audio advantage to doing this, but why the heck not?

 

[GoingUp]

Originally posted by: bigal40
I think Sphexi has it right but it would help to know what kind of speakers you have.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Polk-Hom...atOid/-12950/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

 

[Sphexi]

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ux4QpHB4bi...photos&pi=1&i=158SAWM250&display=L#Tab


This is a basic Sony subwoofer. It has speaker level inputs and outputs. Rather than using a line level output from your recevier (not all have one for the subwoofer) you simply take the speaker level (powered) outputs, run them to the sub, then to the speakers. The subwoofer figures out what sound it needs to drive, while the powered signal goes on to the speakers. Works perfectly fine, except that the subwoofer tends to drive more sounds than it normally would. Receivers that have a subwoofer (sometimes a LFE) output will only send the sounds that the subwoofer needs, and the sound coming out of it will be cleaner, crisper, and a lot better sounding.