Strong subwoofer suggestions

Triflexer

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May 27, 2015
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My home theatre is great but the subwoofer has always been week with no option to increase strength. It uses positive and negative wires (like old radios) to connect to the sound system so I'm looking for a woofer that also uses the pos/neg wires so I can just swap them out. Any suggestions?
 
Solution
Just to clarify why they are not compatible, A line level signal is max at about 2 volts with almost no current so it has almost no watts. A speaker level output depends on the amp power but can easily be 10 to 20 times the voltage with quite a bit of current. Power (watts) equals voltage x current.
This can overload the subwoofer input, cause distorted sound and even damage to the sub amp.

boju

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I'm guessing your subwoofer isn't powered with it's own amplifier?

If you could find a sub with speaker wire inputs, being powered would include that extra oomph on top of the wattage the AVR is putting out.

Be pretty hard to find a sub these days that use speaker wire for the inputs instead of RCA but what you could do is; - keep in mind RCA is like speaker wire in a one plug setup, you have your positive in the middle pin and negative on the outer. So, you could get away with speaker wire to RCA adapters. Would certainly give you options then.

 
When you use the word "strong" you mean if doesn't play loud enough?
If your subwoofer is powered from your HTS (not internally) then to upgrade to a self powered subwoofer you can use one of these
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_142LOC80/Scosche-LOC80.html
to convert the speaker level sub out of your HTS to line level.
You can't just use a cable with speaker wire at one end and RCA plugs at the other. The cable will connect but the signals are not compatible.
 

iam2thecrowe

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Moderator


To confirm, if you get a powered subwoofer, that does not have a line level input (input from your speaker wires) you will need one of these. Some subs already support high level inputs, but not many these days. If you tell us the exact make and model of your current setup we can give you some better recommendations. Also, whats your budget and where can you buy from?
 
Just to clarify why they are not compatible, A line level signal is max at about 2 volts with almost no current so it has almost no watts. A speaker level output depends on the amp power but can easily be 10 to 20 times the voltage with quite a bit of current. Power (watts) equals voltage x current.
This can overload the subwoofer input, cause distorted sound and even damage to the sub amp.
 
Solution

boju

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Thanks for that information. I was mistaken in thinking we were dealing with an AVR with sub out/LFE in form of speaker wire. After re-reading the op again, the sub appears to be included as the main unit using HLF and crossovers with speakers attached to it.

Sorry :)