Subwoofer to Pair With Mackie CR3

Xiij

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I am looking to get a 2.1 sound system, I've decided on getting the Mackie CR3 for speakers and am looking for recommendations for a sub-woofer that would pair nicely with it within a similar budget. I don't do anything that needs precise audio, but i would like a setup of decent quality that i can plug in and not have to think about for the foreseeable future.

Any recommendations are appreciated.
 
Solution
for stereo speakers connected without a line level or headphone level output on them the usual method of adding on a subwoofer is to put a splitter (y-cable) on the 3.5mm coming out of the pc before the speakers. one side goes to the speaker input cable as before while the other goes to the subwoofer.

while i will not say that using the c/sub jack will not work in some software generally the subwoofer jack does not trigger unless you're using 5.1 audio. the subwoofer signal for 2.1 is based on the left/right front channel signal instead of a separate signal.

good cheap subs? daytons sub- prefixed subwoofers (sub-650, sub-800 etc). likely better than the polk psw10 which is also a good budget buy.

gopher1369

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Nice speakers, I almost bought a pair myself recently, I went for the M Audio AV30s instead, cheap in an Amazon sale, which are very similar. No idea about subs, but I actually have a question for you - how are you going to hook up the sub? The speakers don't have an output for a sub so I'm intrigued how you're going to work it, because I might do the same!
 

Xiij

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I would assume the orange port in the back of my computer, I'd have to manually adjust the volume so the sub doesn't overpower the speakers or vice versa, but I believe that's how it would work.
 

gopher1369

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Oh OK that makes sense, thanks, I hadn't considered hooking it up directly from the PCs soundcard!
 
for stereo speakers connected without a line level or headphone level output on them the usual method of adding on a subwoofer is to put a splitter (y-cable) on the 3.5mm coming out of the pc before the speakers. one side goes to the speaker input cable as before while the other goes to the subwoofer.

while i will not say that using the c/sub jack will not work in some software generally the subwoofer jack does not trigger unless you're using 5.1 audio. the subwoofer signal for 2.1 is based on the left/right front channel signal instead of a separate signal.

good cheap subs? daytons sub- prefixed subwoofers (sub-650, sub-800 etc). likely better than the polk psw10 which is also a good budget buy.
 
Solution

gopher1369

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I can't see how that would work. You'd need to install a crossover to do it this way, otherwise all of hte audio is going to all of the speakers.
 

Xiij

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Imgur would doing this work, or are you saying that if the audio source isn't 5.1 it wouldn't trigger sub?
 
@gopher
for 2.0 and 2.1 pc speakers that is exactly how they are connected. the input signal that is sent is only stereo (no separate lfe). as far as if they have a crossover inside them, they probably do. i know most subs also have an adjustable lowpass and gain on them so they trigger only on the low notes. you could certainly use a crossover design if you want however a low pass filter or using the adjustable lowpass/gain knob works well enough in most cases. you could of course add a lowpass filter if you felt the need in the line before the sub.

@xiij
if your soundcard software is intelligent and allows you to run 2.1 in such a manner then tentatively yes. i know that not all software plays nice like this so you will have to test. by the looks of things that is enabling you to run like a 5.1 does with sub separate than fronts by disabling the center and rear speakers in the list. if this is the case then you might very well be able to get straight up lfe signal from the pc by connecting to the jack. in such a case all you would need is a 3.5mm stereo to rca r/w cable and just plug the side in (probably red by default if i recall correctly) that contains the sub signal to the sub input (by default the jack is cen/sub so when you split it only one should be active for sub). you can certainly try this first. i know on non intelligent software the system would just output 5.1 signal instead of 2.1 with the method which would result in some audio (voices mainly) being output to the center and rear nonexistant channels which would result in not hearing all audio. this has been addressed i believe in most cases but may not be true in all which is why i said tentatively yes with testing.