Wired to RCA Subwoofer Hook UP


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Old 08-26-18, 04:08 PM
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Wired to RCA Subwoofer Hook UP

Hey guys, want to make sure the set up I have will work. I have a vacation rental in a ski resort and I absolutely hate the stereo system that is here hooked up to a 5.1 system of speakers. Touch one wrong button and you loose the surround, and all bass.

At home, I have a Sony STR-KS380 that I was using as a mock up so the kids could still watch VCR movies. I had it set up in the cabinet under the TV and when it called for a nostalgic VCR movie, would open up the cabinet doors and had separate speakers and this 2nd unit under to watch and hear. Kids are off to college, VCR is retired.

I want to take this unit up to the vacation rental as a more straight forward stereo to use. Question relates to the following. This Sony unit has a proprietary plug in for all the speaker wires. It is a 4.2 mm two prong female slot on the back of the unit. Slicing in the speakers is no problem. It is the Subwoofer that has me baffled. My powered Subwoofer has inputs for 2 RCA connections or an optical input. Receiver has one subwoofer output with two wires.

Plan is to go out of the Receiver with two wires, hook up to an RCA adapter, then attach to an RCA splitter (from one to two) and then hook up to the subwoofer. Will this work? Not sure why a sub would need a right and left input other than this was originally designed to work with a sound bar (not using) so the input of left and right would split for the sound bar not just the sub. Is my approach correct?
 
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Old 08-26-18, 04:13 PM
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The problem is...... is that subwoofer output designed to be connected directly to a non powered woofer ? If it is...... you'd need a speaker to line level converter.

This just an example. There are many around..... pyle/plvhl60/speaker-input-line-level-converter
 
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Old 08-26-18, 05:55 PM
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Interesting, I couldn't find a manual on the Sony stereo. I bought it as an open box item at a substantial discount from BBuy years ago. So, I don't know if the sub output is designed for a powered sub or a non powered sub.

Is there away to test the output with a multimeter to determine which items I would need?
 
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Old 08-26-18, 06:16 PM
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Output: SUBWOOFER 165 W (at 3 ohms, 60 Hz)

Click on manuals and then instructions....... sony/model=HTSS380manual
 
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Old 08-26-18, 06:34 PM
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So the sub woofer connection is already powered and therefore, I need a non-powered sub, is that correct? I have one I can test this on if that is your recommendation. Its the one I replaced at our vacation rental as it did nothing as far as bass enhancement. So I went with a powered unit and it sounds great, just a confusing unit to work with.
 
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Old 08-26-18, 06:57 PM
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Yes..... you'd need a non-powered sub for a direct connection.
 
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Old 08-26-18, 08:15 PM
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Will look at the specs on the non-powered one in my garage and see if it can handle that output.

Funny how I went from non-powered to powered sub in the mountain unit I plan to replace and had no issues. Is it because I went from a direct wired unit to a RCA connected unit and just "lucked out"? Its fun learning new stuff.
 
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Old 08-26-18, 08:18 PM
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One last question on testing and hooking up the non-powered sub to test it. Does it matter which wire I hood up to which terminal. If so, which wire is usually marked with either a stripe or a rib. Is the marked wire usually to the red input or the black?
 
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Old 08-27-18, 10:33 AM
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The ribbed side is usually the negative or black input.
 
 

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