Best way to connect old sub to new reciever

TriBeard · August 19, 2014

So I recently changed how all my speakers were hooked up, and I want to use a typical home theater reciever to run my PC speakers instead of using the old z2300's I've got. That being said, the sub for the z2300's is much better than the one that is currently being used (a passive one from an old onkyo HTIB setup). The reciever has subwoofer pre-outs, but the z2300 sub only connects via the 3.5mm headphone jack. Would it be as simple as getting some kind of adapter to turn that stereo connector into a mono rca jack? I know crossover and such may be an issue, but I would imagine it's pretty high on the z2300 sub as the speakers were pretty small, and the sub took all the even remotely low stuff, and I could manage it further in the reciever. I think it would work if I could get the cabling right, but I could be wrong. Any insights would be welcome.

ShearMe · August 19, 2014

http://www.amazon.com/Male-3-5mm-Stereo-Female-Y-Cable/dp/B000I23TTE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1408489781&sr=8-2&keywords=RCA+to+3.5mm

Depending on the soundsystem, you might have to swap between one or the other RCA cable and give it a listen to see what sounds best. AFAIK, the stereo 3.5mm connector on the speakers has both the subwoofer channel and center channel signals.

TriBeard · August 19, 2014

http://www.amazon.com/Male-3-5mm-Stereo-Female-Y-Cable/dp/B000I23TTE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1408489781&sr=8-2&keywords=RCA+to+3.5mm

Depending on the soundsystem, you might have to swap between one or the other RCA cable and give it a listen to see what sounds best. AFAIK, the stereo 3.5mm connector on the speakers has both the subwoofer channel and center channel signals.

Yeah, I've got something like that around here. I was just wondering if it would be fine to only send it one channel, or if it would need both for the sub.

ShearMe · August 19, 2014

Yeah, I've got something like that around here. I was just wondering if it would be fine to only send it one channel, or if it would need both for the sub.

Subs are mono, so one channel is needed. On soundcards and PC motherboard, the sub and center channel are on one "stereo" jack, which is why a pc speaker system is setup similarly.

TriBeard · August 20, 2014

Subs are mono, so one channel is needed. On soundcards and PC motherboard, the sub and center channel are on one "stereo" jack, which is why a pc speaker system is setup similarly.

Right, I understand that. I guess what I'm trying to say is I didn't know if the right and left channel that are on the headphone jack each carry the signal for the subwoofer, or if they split it somehow.