TV to Subwoofer Hookup?

[Flyn]

Guys, I have a Panasonic Viera TV with HDMI, RCA and digital audio outputs.

My older, amplified Bic Acoustec H100 sub has either speaker wire or sub in inputs.

Can I make this work going directly from the TV to the sub? It's a good sub and a shame to have it sitting in a closet. I don't want to hook up the entire receiver/surround system because of the wiring nightmares with my living room layout but adding the sub might be cool.

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[Knowklew]

Similar but different. I bought a basic sound bar (Vizio) that has a sub connection port. I have a Klipsch sub hooked up. Its super simple from a wiring perspective and massive bass if i want it.

 

[10sec]

Yeah, at the least you gotta have a sound bar and do ^^^ that.

 

[Knowklew]

I bought an older version of this:

https://www.vizio.com/audio/home-theater/sb2820ne0.html

 

[Knowklew]

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

If not, what about a line out converter..

 

[Mr Baytchos]

Guys, I have a Panasonic Viera TV with HDMI, RCA and digital audio outputs.

My older, amplified Bic Acoustec H100 sub has either speaker wire or sub in inputs.

Can I make this work going directly from the TV to the sub? It's a good sub and a shame to have it sitting in a closet. I don't want to hook up the entire receiver/surround system because of the wiring nightmares with my living room layout but adding the sub might be cool.

To answer your question no. The TV would need a sub output

 

[Flyn]

If not, what about a line out converter..

The sub does have speaker wire in from the receiver to the sub and speaker wire out to the speakers. Do I still need a converter? I'm not sure if the processor is in the sub or in the main speaker. It's a good sub so it may have the LOC built in?

I'd modify the RCA on the TV to speaker wire and hook up to the speaker wire input but I don't want to blow the sub if I'm wrong.

I'll think about a sound bar but the TV speakers are actually good (it's the higher priced Viera) so I'd like to use them if possible.

Thanks for all the comments so far, guys.

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

nope, no converter needed if its a sub out, already filtering the lows to the sub out port.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

On a subwoofer Speaker level inputs with speaker level outputs usually mean there is an internal crossover that bypasses the subs internal amp. Check the manual for the setup guides.

Line level outputs usually have no volume control because they are meant to connect directly to a preamp or receiver that has its own volume control.

Pre-amp outputs are what you want for sub input if you don’t have a dedicated sub-out. These would have their gain controlled by the TVs volume.

Pre-amp is full frequency range output. So your sub needs a band pass filter. If it doesn’t have them it will try to play the full 20-20,000hz range through the sub and will sound terrible.

Sub-outs are usually already filtered and only passing about 20-120hz at the highest.

 

[sickmint79]

is this the back of your sub? if so just put an rca input in. it has a crossover to filter out the highs.

 

[Flyn]

is this the back of your sub? if so just put an rca input in. it has a crossover to filter out the highs.

Yes, this is the newer model of my sub but same exact features. RCA into the Sub In? Does it matter if it's the white or red Audio Out on the TV?

 

[sickmint79]

no. this is not exactly going to be the ideal situation, as you don't have some processor sending you some background sub out channel. you're just stealing low frequencies from either the left or right channel. good for listening to music, or when you're watching glee flyn. less good (still better than none) when you are watching the hunt for red october, but it is your simple easy hook up.

 

[Flyn]

Which means adapting RCA to speaker wire. If I want Glee to pound the room with their dance moves, I mean. They do dance on Glee, right?

If the stereo isn't good enough this way, I'll get a sound bar with a sub out. Thanks.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

You can get a RCA Y adapter.

 

[sickmint79]

Which means adapting RCA to speaker wire. If I want Glee to pound the room with their dance moves, I mean. They do dance on Glee, right?

If the stereo isn't good enough this way, I'll get a sound bar with a sub out. Thanks.

not sure what you mean by that? no rca to speaker wire - just pick a channel left or right/white or red and plop it into the sub in. the crossover and amplification should be done for the sub and you're 100% good to go. it's probably not likely it would be meaningful but you can force this down to mono if you get the y-cable above, in case for some reason you had sub frequencies only on the left channel in a movie/music and you chose the red right channel instead to hook up. no worries with that.

i'm actually not sure how the speaker in part works here, as i've only ever put a signal in to a powered sub, or had an unpowered sub. since the input actually gets put out to possible rear channels on the sub, my guess of how the speaker level works would be:

signal comes in and gets high resistance
crossover applied and amplified to sub
rears get no crossover or high signals are put through and amplified output to rears

if you're just adding bass, the easy way is just stick an rca in that thing and you're done. i have an old sub for my bedroom/computer stereo that is hooked up the same way.

 

[Flyn]

That worked. Thanks guys.

 

[importcrew]

You're welcome :bigrhumb:

I have a sub that looks similar to that as well. However I do have a dedicated sub coming from the receiver. Never really looked up nor understood what the stereo sounds inputs/outputs were on the back of the sub itself.

 

[Flyn]

My wife made me turn the sub off.

She says it's giving her a headache.

It's not turned up too loud. Blends in well with the TV. She's just not used to it. I'll only use it if I'm watching something that's better with a sub to keep peace in the house.

 

[Chet Donnelly]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a receiver and a full surround setup.

 

[Flyn]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a receiver and a full surround setup.

I have a great one. Onkyo and Klipsch. The problem is the living room. My home has an open layout and it would be tough to place wired speakers. I could do fronts but the rears would be a problem. I should sell the system and get a wireless?

Plus, this would piss Amy off because she remembers the system can be heard several houses away and I like to crank it. :smile:

 

[importcrew]

My wife is the same way with our surround sound system. Lol. I also have an Onkyo receiver with Klipsch in-ceiling speakers. My sub used to beat hard and I liked it.... Then my wife would ask me if there was a way to lower the bass. Lol