Help with Subwoofer?

Question

A freind gave me an old Karmon Karden Subwoofer. My new receiver has coax for sub out and the sub has inputs that take head phone like jacks. Went to Radio Shack and found an adapter that converted one end of the coax cable to head phone jack but I still get no sound. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Thanks

Answer 1

First, the output from your receiver is not coax, it is an RCA jack. You use a regular audio cable to connect the subwoofer signal to the subwoofer. (Perhaps you were thinking of digital coax)

Second, it sounds like this is one of harmon kardon's subwoofers designed to work with a computer. If the sub has a power cord that plugs into the wall it has its own amplification. You do not need to buy a separate amp for it or throw it away. The clue that tells me it is designed for use with computers is that it has an input for a mini plug, which all h/k computer subs do. You did the right thing in getting the adapter from Radio Shack.

Some more things you need to do to get this sub to work. Of course the sub needs to be plugged in and if it has variable gain and crossover settings these need to be set to sufficiently high levels to cause the sub to be used.

You also need to tell your receiver, in its menu, that you have a subwoofer and to send the "LFE" to the sub. As you navigate through the receiver menu somewhere it will ask you these questions. Unless the receiver has been told you have a sub and to send the low bass there it will send no signal to the sub. If you have the manual for the receiver this would be a good time to read it.

Answer 2

It is a common misconception that subwoofers are only for people who want loud music which shakes the house down. The physics explanation above is a good answer but to put it in another way: To achieve low frequency sounds, you need to move air back and forth slowly (the lower the frequency, the slower the air has to move). The lower the sound you want to achieve, the more air you need to shift to enable you to hear it. Most active subs (active subs have their own power supply) of a reasonable size (say 8") will generally be able to achieve the depth of sound for most peoples needs. Some speakers will include subwoofers to achieve the low down sounds but in my experience it is best to buy speakers with excellent clarity and not huge woofers for the high and mid range frequencies and then a sub to handle the deeper sounds. When setting your system up, be very careful to set the point at which the sub is used (the starting frequency range) and the volume so that the bass does not drown the sound out. This takes some fiddling but you'll know when you've got it as it will be very balanced without a noticeable change in volume as notes drop. A correctly adjusted sub will make tones much fuller and will avoid a forced sound as can happen when smaller speakers are used on their own. In summary, If you are serious about a home studio set up a sub woofer is the way to go. Avoid very large models for audio reproduction as they may not be able to keep up with fast tracks and won't sound clean. Two smaller subs are better than one large one and some models actually use two smaller cones as standard. Be careful not to fall into the trap of buying a home cinema sub which will usually be very large and only suitable for movie soundtracks to enhance explosions, etc. I could go on and on, but the answer is YES, you should have an active subwoofer!

Answer 3

Sounds like your sub out is a pre-amp out intended for a powered subwoofer and your sub is not powered.. I base this on two factors. First amplifier output is almost never through coax. The capacitance can cause horrible distortion with many amps, even some very good ones. Second your inputs to the sub are jacks, plural. You don't say but I guess they are different colors, probably red and white.

Answer 4

Those require an amplifier to operate them...
Your reciever has the RCA output....those are the same as like the CD or Tape inputs on recievers...BECAUSE OF THAT, your signal level is 1 Volt peak to peak (1V pp) also known as LINE LEVEL .....

That requires an amplifier to provide power to the subwoofer...

You might consider buying a Separate amp OR getting a POWERED SUBWOOFER....or Sub with built-in amp.

That's what you need...

Answer 5

buy a new one. Sorry no way around it.