Cable selection: Stereo 3.5mm to RCA input?

anil_robo

Distinguished
Sep 24, 2011
10
0
18,560
Somebody happened to give me the subwoofer from this set: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-urh3bRsSqsb/p_158SAVE445/Sony-SA-VE445H.html - but alas it's a subwoofer only. The description in the link above says it's a "amplified" subwoofer, I presume that means I don't have to use a receiver.

What I intend to do is, I want to throw away my existing subwoofer and plug in the new one. I understand this is not the best subwoofer in the world, but it'll be a significant upgrade to my existing 3" "Midiland" subwoofer.

To do this, I'd need a cable that will go into the 3.5mm stereo jack of my existing amp, connecting it to the subwoofer's RCA hole in its back.

I'm thinking of linking my existing amplifier with this subwoofer using these two little things:

1) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002J224Q/
2) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TKEGRI/

I want to know if these two items will successfully make the subwoofer work.

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Solution
Connect the sub cable to the hole labeled "Ctr Bass". That plug is for both the center channel speaker and subwoofer signal. Specify in your sound software setup that you are using a 2.1 setup so the software knows to send out just the subwoofer signal in that output instead of both the sub signal and center channel signal.

Do not use the COAXIAL SPDIF!

shadyj

Honorable
Jul 26, 2012
26
0
10,590
It sounds like you are trying to connect a sub into a computer or mp3 player or something like that. Most computers nowadays have separate subwoofer outputs, so if you are trying to connect it to a computer, make sure you are using the sub out jack. If whatever your connecting to only has a 3.5 stereo jack, be careful if you are using a Y-splitter to connect the speakers and the sub- let me know if thats what you are trying to do and I can tell you how to do that properly, else you may be creating a short. If you the only thing you are connecting to the 3.5 stereo output jack is the sub, than yes, what you are doing will work.
 

anil_robo

Distinguished
Sep 24, 2011
10
0
18,560
Hi Shadyj, thanks for the reply. It offered me a new insight, and I looked at the back of my computer. The motherboard connectors look like this:

m3a770deconnectors.jpg


(I have the non-audio ports grayed out on purpose in this picture)

Currently, I have one 3.5mm jack going from the hole labeled "Front" to the old amplifier, which in turn is connected to four small speakers and a small subwoofer using RCA cables. The old amplifier does not have any more holes in it for me to add any more speakers to it.

Do you think I should just connect the new subwoofer to the hole labeled "Ctr Bass"? To do that I'd need the two items I described in the first post, of course.

Or it makes more sense to connect the new subwoofer to the hole labeled "Coaxial SPDIF"? In that case I only need to use the male to male RCA mono cable.
 

shadyj

Honorable
Jul 26, 2012
26
0
10,590
Connect the sub cable to the hole labeled "Ctr Bass". That plug is for both the center channel speaker and subwoofer signal. Specify in your sound software setup that you are using a 2.1 setup so the software knows to send out just the subwoofer signal in that output instead of both the sub signal and center channel signal.

Do not use the COAXIAL SPDIF!
 
Solution