Attaching subwoofer speaker wire

[DecadeMan]

Hello,

I'm installing a subwoofer in my family room. The previous owner had speaker wire run for surround in the room including a four wire bundle of 16 guage wire for the subwoofer. My question is how should I connect the speaker wire to the subwoofer (a Polk PSW 125)? It looks like the Polk is designed to either use an RCA line connection to the receiver's subwoofer pre-amp out plug or run the front speaker wires from the receiver to the sub and then from the sub to the front speakers. Iwas thinking of just taking an old audio RCA cable and cut off the ends and splice these onto two of the subwoofer speaker wires - making an RCA subwoofer cable. Or take two of the wires and run them from the left front output from the receiver to the sub and then from the sub connect the other two wires to the left front speaker. It seems like the RCA way is simpler and more direct but is there a disadvantage to attaching RCA phono terminators on speaker wire?

 

[hooru]

Im a big Polk Audio fan but ive nvr owned/listened to the PSW125. there should be speaker wire terminals on the plate amp. there are both input, and output terminals. it sounds like the previous installer just used the speaker-level inputs on the subwoofer's amp. if you want to get the BEST sound possible for that sub, use the RCA/LFE inputs of the subs plate amp. I would andvise you not to cut the RCA cables. you can also find most of the info you need the the owners manual.

 

[DecadeMan]

So how would you recommend adding RCA terminals to the speaker wire? Using cabinet mount style soldiered connections?

 

[hooru]

I really wouldnt suggest "converting" the speaker wire into a RCA cable. If you want a better quality connection, buy a set of RCA cables, and run them from the AV-receiver too the RCA jacks on the subs amp. Using the LFE input on the sub's amp would be the preferred way of hooking it up. If you want to use the LFE input on the amp, run a single RCA cable from your AV-receiver's "Subwoofer-Out", and connect the other end of the RCA cable to the "LFE" input on your subs amplifier. Personally, i would choose to use the "LFE" input. If you dont have the subwoofers manual, you should be able to find it on Polk Audio's web page, that should be of some help to you.

 

[DecadeMan]

Thanks for your input. I understand the way to hook up the sub using the different options and would like to use the LFE input with an RCA coax cable. The problem is the wiring is already in place and stapled so it isn't feasible to run a new RCA coax cable from the amp to the sub. I have to make do with the 2 pair speaker wire that is already in the wall. So my options are convert the speaker wire to RCA or use the speaker terminals and run one channel through the sub.