No RCA out puts on home theater system! What do I do?

Question

My receiver has a subwoofer out, but no RCA outputs. What do I do for my powered sub? The receiver has RCA inputs though. Is an RCA output needed for a powered sub or just the sub woofer cable?

Answer 1

Look for an RCA jack called LFE (low-frequency effects) on your receiver. This would then be connected via RCA cable to the Line In or VFE In jack on your subwoofer. If you don't have a line input on your subwoofer, you're "jacked" (ha-ha-ha).

Answer 2

AGB is correct about the powered sub having a speaker level input if it is of good quality. If it is a cheap powered sub that came with a HTin a box system it probably will not have speaker level connections. A sub woofer output on a receiver will usually be only one RCA type connector. Do not lexpect a red and white for the sub. It is hard to know for sure without knowing exactly what brand and models you are speaking of.

All good quality home theater receivers have dedicated sub outputs of the RCA type connection. Speaker level sub outputs only come on cheap HTIB systems.

Answer 3

Some subs can be fed from the front speaker output on the amp/receiver. The sub has a terminal block for the input wires from the receiver/amp and a second terminal block that allow the front speakers to be connected to the sub. The internal crossover feeds the bass to the sub and the mids/highs on to the speakers.

See the link for a picture of one such panel and a short discussion.

If you have a sub already that does not have this type of terminal you have to connect to the receiver via (usually) a RCA type connector.

I don't know what type of connection you are referring to when you say "My receiver has a subwoofer out, but no RCA outputs". This is non standard ... but can you use an adapter to connect whatever the output is to an RCA plug?

The receiver should have either a jack labelled "subwoofer" or "LFE". If there is a set of 6 (sometimes 8) multichannel RCA analog outputs one of them may be the subwoofer out.

I don't understand your question re "Is an RCA output needed for a powered sub or just the sub woofer cable?".  I'm not aware of any normal amp that has a subwoofer cable built in, so you need BOTH an output AND a cable (which can be a coaxial cable with RCA ends).

I hope this helps.