How to Connect Subwoofer to Receiver without Subwoofer Output

Subwoofers do a great job at improving the quality of audio of your particular sound system. In contrast to the majority of the speakers, the subwoofers can enhance the level of audio in a much better manner. Here question arises that how to connect subwoofer to receiver without subwoofer output?

If you wish to include your subwoofer in the theater system in your home, you will need a video or audio receiver and many speakers. Perfectly connecting your subwoofer with your receiver system is an important part. Most of the time, all you have to do is simply plug in your subwoofer to the receiver’s ‘sub out’.

That said, what will you do if your receiver is without subwoofer output? In other words, how do you connect a subwoofer to a receiver with no subwoofer output? There are in fact multiple ways of subwoofer connection to receiver without subwoofer output.

However, before we look into the various methods, you will first need to understand how a subwoofer functions.

How to Connect Subwoofer to Receiver without Subwoofer Output

how to connect subwoofer to receiver without subwoofer output

Subwoofers: How do they Work?

To put it simply, subwoofers are generally connected to a pre-amplifier or an audio receiver. What the receiver does is send low frequency (often 20-100 Hertz) signals. These are commonly referred to as LFE (Low Frequency Effects) on soundtracks, through the electrical current to your subwoofer. This subwoofer then boosts the current and turns it into sound. It does this via the usage of a magnetic coil that results in the driver cone’s vibration. The vibration leads to sound waves (low frequency)delivered via the air.

How to connect a subwoofer to a receiver without sub out: 4 Different Methods

The following are undoubtedly the best 4 ways via which you can connect your subwoofer to your receiver with no subwoofer output. It is important to consider all of these methods before you choose the right one for yourself. People who also ask “how to hook up subwoofer to receiver” will find these methods useful.

1. Setting the “Main + LFE” on the subwoofer

This particular method of connecting your subwoofer to the receiver with no subwoofer output works when you set your right and left primary speakers to large. What you need to do identify your receiver’s subwoofer setting. Your AC receiver will have a ‘bass out’ feature that helps you to realize how and when you can run your subwoofer. Next,you have to carry out the setting of the ‘mains + LFE’ for enabling the subwoofer to play when the front-facing speakers are set to large.

In addition, there are a couple of receivers having bass management facilities for 2 channels. They provide you crossover settings (independent), slow down or up levels, and much more. You also have the flexibility to decide whether or not you want to do the activation of the subwoofer for 2-channel audio sources.

2. Setting the speakers to the “right” or the “left”

In this method, you will have to first gain full knowledge regarding your AV receiver bass management. How do you accomplish this? You need to set all the rears and main (both the left and front) speakers either in the small or large group depending on their output powers. It is best to follow the guideline of the manufacturer to gather more detailed information regarding the setting procedures of bass management.

That said, experts usually recommend that you array your speaker set from small to large. To achieve the optimal output, you ought to set all your speakers similarly and make use of an 80 Hertz crossover setting. You will find that your subwoofer functions incredibly well when you place your primary front and left speakers to small. This works even with sources that are dual-channel sound. Keep in mind that matters might become slightly problematic when you set your main speakers to large.

3.    Making Use of the Preamp Output

The good news for you is that you can still connect a subwoofer to your receiver even if it is without subwoofer output. Make sure to check in the receiver’s rear panel to see if there is a pre-amp out present or not.  A pre-amp output is generally labeled as ‘pre-out’ to help you identify it.

When are able to locate the pre-out, make use of some interconnects from the receiver to the subwoofer. If there is only a single RCA input in your receiver, include a Y adapter to it featuring 2 female RCAs on one closure and a single male RCA on the other.

4.    Utilize speaker wires for connecting subwoofer to your receiver

If your receiver lacks a preamp output, you can use your subwoofer similar to a speaker. What you have to do is run the speaker wires connect the receiver to your subwoofer. Join it to the receiver’s front left and right speaker terminals. The next step after this is to connect these right and left speakers to the subwoofer’s speaker terminal. Often, the subwoofers you will find in the electronic market come equipped with speaker-level facility. Even then, it is in your best interests to double-check before you buy yours.

When it comes to how to connect powered subwoofer to receiver without subwoofer output, the aforementioned methods work fine. However, what if you have a non-powered subwoofer?

If you happen to own a passive subwoofer, you will require an external amplifier to generate the power. In this particular case, you will link receiver to the amplifier and then connect your passive subwoofer with the amplifier.

Wrapping it Up

The best and the smartest approach is to consider every possible solution and connect your subwoofer with your receiver even if the latter lacks a subwoofer output. To that end, the above mentioned methods of connecting your subwoofer to your receiver with no subwoofer output are established methods you can look into.

When you do your research and explore all the options, you can easily save a lot of your money that you will squander in purchasing a brand-new receiver.

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