Need Help Setting up R110SW in Zone 2 that has no Subwoofer Out

[James Pokluda 0]

What I am about to describe may sound a little crazy or abstract, but I am in need of help, as I was told technicians and engineers post in these forums. Please bare with me.

 

The Point of What I Want to Know

What is it that allows a subwoofer with high-level inputs and outputs to extract subwoofer information from speaker wires but still allows the signal to pass through and power the speakers, uninhibited and perfectly crossed over? What is the extra component that makes the crossover and converters in the subwoofer able to allow the power and signal to pass through, as compared to the one-way speaker wire to rca converters that are sold online?

 

I feel it would be possible to even just use the back panel of a subwoofer that has high-level inputs and outputs to cross over the frequencies to 2 channels. Then, I would just run the wire from the sub frequency channel into an rca converter and plug that into the subwoofer. I don't care that it isn't pretty, at this point.

 

Thank you in advance, to any who attempt to help me.

 

 

Background Information

 

Given Information

I have recently purchased the R110SW and did not know it did not have high-level inputs; it has only has an RCA/LFE input. I purchased this subwoofer to go in my zone 2 room, but the zone 2 output of my Onkyo TX-SR605 does not have an LFE or subwoofer out. It has high level outputs with 90watts of power/channel to power a left and right speaker, and it also has a left and right pre-out. I want to keep this subwoofer and not get a different one, as I am a big fan of Klipsch products and wish for my system to be a Klipsch Reference Premiere system.

 

Current Setup:

I have split the LFE output of zone 1. I run one subwoofer cable to the sub in zone 1 and another to the sub in zone 2. They now both receive the same signal simultaneously, and I get the sub in zone 2 to play in accordance with the speakers in zone 2 by playing the same media in both zones at the same volume.

 

Derived Information

Tests

My first idea was simply to run RCA cables from the zone 2 pre out and connect them to the subwoofer, using the subwoofer's internal crossover to cut all the frequencies above 80Hz, but that did not work. The pre-outs of my receiver do not have variable audio control, for some reason, and the signal the subwoofer gets from this pre-out is very, very loud and causes the subwoofer to distort terribly. I pulled the power immediately when this happened. I tried this maneuver with an LFE cable connected to the red output of the receiver to the red input of the sub, then white to white, and then, with rca cables, I did both to both. The same result displayed each time.

 

Test Conclusion

Zone 2 pre-outs do not have variable volume control and seem to send a signal that is not good for subwoofer use. Pre-outs are not a solution.

Experimental Solutions

As you may have concluded on your own, the way I will be able to get this subwoofer to run off zone 2 information is if the subwoofer information is taken from the zone 2 high-level outputs/speaker wires. If this subwoofer had high-level inputs and outputs, this would be no problem. I could run speaker wire from the receiver to subwoofer to speakers, and the subwoofer would be able to extract the subwoofer information from the speaker wires but still allow the power and signal to pass through to power the speakers, uninhibited and perfectly crossed over.

 

Seemingly, a simple speaker crossover such as this (speaker wire in, RCA out and speaker wire out) would be quite simple and inexpensive. However, after two weeks of searching, I have found nothing. I can very easily find speaker wire to rca converters and speaker wire filters, but I cannot find a speaker wire crossover or converter that will take in one channel and send out two separated/crossed over channels (one channel above 80Hz and the other below 80Hz). All I can find are line-level crossovers and low and high pass filters that are being labeled as crossovers, but a filter and a crossover are not the same thing.
 

I could buy an external amplifier or speaker selector, but it would seem wasteful for me to buy another power source to power speakers that already have a very good power source, and at that pace, I could have just bought a subwoofer that was $200 more expensive, with high-level in and outs.
 

These parts are the closest things I have found to what I could possibly need:

http://www.parts-express.com/parts-express-80-hz-low-pass-8-ohm-crossover--266-442?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla#lblProductDetails

 

http://www.parts-express.com/subwoofer-crossover-8-ohm-150-hz-200w--260-220?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla

 

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_543ADP12/Russound-ADP-1-2-Speaker-level-to-Line-level-Adapter.html

Edited February 11, 2017 by James Pokluda
Added links

[zeron 0]

" What I am about to describe may sound a little crazy or abstract, but I am in need of help, as I was told technicians and engineers post in these forums. Please bare with me."

 

You might want to ask your questions at the following sites:

 

http://sound.stackexchange.com/

 

http://electronics.stackexchange.com/

[James Pokluda 0]

Zeron,

 

Thank you very much for reading through my post and providing me something to work with. I was just beginning to lose hope. I will post on those sites and hope for the best!

[zeron 0]

On 2/10/2017 at 9:44 PM, James Pokluda said:

Zeron,

 

Thank you very much for reading through my post and providing me something to work with. I was just beginning to lose hope. I will post on those sites and hope for the best!

 

You're very welcome.

 

While there seem to be very knowledgeable people at the two sites I suggested, they have rather strict rules for types of posts acceptable there. You might want to re-iterate what you want (like the type of equipment or circuit) at the end of your post as a question or a set of questions as clearly and directly as possible.

 

Good luck.

[James Pokluda 0]

Zeron,

 

I will observe the rules and try to make sure my question is as clear as possible. I put it at the top of the post thinking it would be the first thing to read and would get the point quickly for those who may know the answer to the question immediately without the background information, but I provided the extra background information for someone who might would feel the need to know exactly what's up to provide the most accurate answer.

 

I will re-iterate my question at the end as well, as you have suggested. I think that is a good idea.

 

Thank you so much!

[CECAA850 29375]

On ‎1‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 5:15 PM, James Pokluda said:

I feel it would be possible to even just use the back panel of a subwoofer that has high-level inputs and outputs to cross over the frequencies to 2 channels. Then, I would just run the wire from the sub frequency channel into an rca converter and plug that into the subwoofer. I don't care that it isn't pretty, at this point.

  If you use the high level inputs and outputs on your sub plate amp you MAY be running it through the plate amps crossover.  All manufacturers do not handle this in the same way, consult your manual.  Some have a fixed crossover, some have no crossover and some have a variable crossover on the signal going to your speakers.  If you want to be sure you're sending a full signal to your speakers while still sending the high level signal to your plate amp just run one set of wires to your speakers and one to your plate amp off the same terminals of your amp.  There will be 2 wires coming off each post that way.  Another method to accomplish the same thing is to run your wires to the plate amp and use the input terminals to also run the signal to your speakers.  Basically run your speakers and plate amp in a parallel wiring configuration.