nabster

I am sure this has been discussed before .. I tried doing a search but got back 2500+ responses, the first few pages of which were completely unrelated. So i thought I'd try asking

Is it better to connect my speakers through my sub, or directly from my receiver?

I have a HK AVR 510 receiver, and a SW15 Powered Sub.

My house came wired with Bose cube speakers


thanks!

Brian Shannon

If you are asking whether you should connect the Bose speakers through the sub I believe the answer would be yes.

bfrank

is the SW15 the bose bass module?

pmreed

If your receiver has a sub-out, connect that to the sub and connect your L/R speakers to the appropriate terminals.

If you have no sub-out, you have no choice but to connect the L/R terminals to the speaker level inputs on the sub and use the speaker outs from the sub to your L/R speakers.

In the first case, you'll have more control of your audio. In the second, you'll be using the subs crossover. Remember that the bass is the .1 in 5.1, and you may lose some of it if you use only the L/R outputs.

nabster

I'm sorry, I dont know if I phrased my question correctly. Or maybe I didnt understand your responses

Let me try again:

1. My receiver has the following outputs: L, R, C, LSurr, RSurr, Sub.
2. My Sub has the following inputs: L, R, C, LSurr, RSurr, Sub.
3. My Sub also has the following outputs: L, R, C, LSurr, RSurr, Sub.

My question is should I go from 1. directly to the speakers

or

Should I go from 1 to 2, and then go from 3 to the speakers.

Thanks again!

nabster

Again, my bad ... the SW15 is not part of the Bose module. (i wish it was )

The AudioSource SW15 was part of my original speaker set, but since my new house came wired with the standard Bose 3 series set, I decided to get everything wired right with this, and then once I am settled in ... I can worry about starting the project of unhooking all the current Bose speakers\sub and putting in my regular Klipsch\Audiosource speaker\sub combo.

bfrank

OK,

The connection on you sub is for old stereo systems. That was the only way to get the sub signal in with that kind of receiver. The outputs (on the sub) filter off the pass and sent the highs to you sats. If you do this you will bypass all of the 5.1 features of your 5.1 receiver.

so the answer is hook everything up to the receiver.

NOTE- Bose cubes are best when used with their electronics. They modify the output of the amp to compensate for the small driver in the cube (add EQ). So in many Bose systems it is best to go through the sub.

nabster

So it sounds like for bose, going through the sub may be better

But the rule of thumb otherwise .. is to connect directly through the receiver

thanks

bfrank

If you have a Bose sub and sat system yes.

But for your situ I would go to the receiver and then you could use 5.1 and the receivers crossover for the sats. You will also be able to adjust delay and levels.

nabster

alright .. great. Thanks!

Now onto project # 2.

Multiroom connections: My receiver is capable of handling multi-room. There are 2 speakers in the master bedroom. There is a amp of some sort .. a small black box, which the last owner left behind saying that this is what he used to connect to the other rooms. Now I need to figure out exactly how ...

pmreed

Glad you got your first problem out of the way.

For the second, depends on what you mean by your receiver being able to handle multi-room. If you have a true 2nd zone, you'll have to connect your zone 2 outs to a stereo amp which you will then connect to your speakers in the other room. I assume the output connectors on your receiver are RCA jacks; just connect those to the appropriate input jacks on your "black box" amp. Then of course, attach the speakers to the appropriate ouputs on the amp.

If however, your receiver just has another set of speaker outs for another left and right speaker (probably identified as A for your main set-up and B for the second set), connect these directly to the second set of speakers with speaker wire, and you're done. Note that you won't have individual volume control for the two speaker sets.

Good luck!