How to hook up RCA sub to LFE reciever?

[Avocheeseado]

Hi, I am trying to hook up my Subwoofer to my receiver (which i was not able to find on any seller site for some reason)

However my subwoofer has an RCA input, while my receiver has an LFE output. Would a cable such as this work?: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01D5H8MKY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&th=1

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

Subwoofers typically do not require 2 inputs (left and right). Typically, one of the inputs is labeled "LFE" like below. This is the only one you need to use.

 

 

So you don't need a splitter cable. A standard mono RCA cable will do.

[cmndr]

If you have an AVR, then you're fine with just slapping in a single RCA line to one input. 

The reason that there's two ports is for people using a simple amp and two bookshelf speakers. You can split off the signals going into the amp and pass them to the subs. If you only send the L or the R signal to the subs then only half of the signal is sent over. Not an issue if the low frequency parts are identical (often the case for lower frequency sound but not so much for mid-bass) but sometimes this isn't. 

As stated, if you have an AVR, this is all taken care of for you. 


As far as having a Y cable... doesn't really matter. Assuming you have audyssey or some similar speaker config software then any differences in gain won't matter. 

[Avocheeseado]

3 hours ago, cmndr said:

If you have an AVR, then you're fine with just slapping in a single RCA line to one input. 

The reason that there's two ports is for people using a simple amp and two bookshelf speakers. You can split off the signals going into the amp and pass them to the subs. If you only send the L or the R signal to the subs then only half of the signal is sent over. Not an issue if the low frequency parts are identical (often the case for lower frequency sound but not so much for mid-bass) but sometimes this isn't. 

As stated, if you have an AVR, this is all taken care of for you. 


As far as having a Y cable... doesn't really matter. Assuming you have audyssey or some similar speaker config software then any differences in gain won't matter. 

I have tried using a basic RCA cable and plugging one channel into the receiver and the same into the sub and that doesn’t appear to work.

i have ordered the cable to see if that fixes it

Thanks for the help!

[cmndr]

Assuming the RCA cable isn't defective it should be the same as a proper "coax" cable other than that it won't be as well shielded. It's just a piece of wire with some rubber over it. Nothing special. 

Make sure your AVR is set up properly, if it's in PURE mode for example there's no sub output. 
You actually need to run the calibration software again. 

[Avocheeseado]

15 hours ago, cmndr said:

Assuming the RCA cable isn't defective it should be the same as a proper "coax" cable other than that it won't be as well shielded. It's just a piece of wire with some rubber over it. Nothing special. 

Make sure your AVR is set up properly, if it's in PURE mode for example there's no sub output. 
You actually need to run the calibration software again. 

Yes, ive tried the cable which came today and the sub is still not producing any output… there are no obvious settings on the reciever

[Avocheeseado]

Update: it is working with another reciever i have tried perfectly. Just not the one that i need it to work with!

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

Look for crossover settings, and settings for full range vs small speakers.

[cmndr]

On 12/30/2022 at 11:16 AM, Hairless Monkey Boy said:

Look for crossover settings, and settings for full range vs small speakers.

One thing to be aware of - a lot of receivers will potentially classify speakers as "large" or "small" - this is a misnomer. More accurate names would be "no bass management" and "bass management" - when in doubt you want bass management. If you think you don't want bass management, you should be backing that with microphone measurements. The only use case I've thought of is combatting room nulls. This usually requires way too much fiddling with a DSP.