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Subwoofer Cables a Crock?


Dome

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most of the time its best between the main speakers but each room is different and each room's sweet spot is different. Maybe there is no room in the front so you put it in the left or right rear corner? Doesn't have to make fun of bose and behind the couch thing.


Who mentioned B***? Of course, longer cables will be needed in some cases. I just questioned the assumption that sub cables are always over 25 feet long.
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True enough. I made my own interconnects for most of my college life and they sounded great. Some I didn't even crimp or solder. No worse audible quality than the store bought cables I employ today.

Actually I kind of have a soft spot for all that home made stuff we used to rig. Sure was fun. And cheap.

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most of the time its best between the main speakers but each room is different and each room's sweet spot is different. Maybe there is no room in the front so you put it in the left or right rear corner? Doesn't have to make fun of bose and behind the couch thing.


Who mentioned B***? Of course, longer cables will be needed in some cases. I just questioned the assumption that sub cables are always over 25 feet long.

well when you said behind the couch effects, I assumed......

anyways, most subwoofer cables for sale are 25-50 feet, though I have seen 10 and 15 feet.

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My question is - are "subwoofer" cables a crock or are they basically just the same thing as a standard RCA cable with a higher pricetag?

I just found a cable (video/audio 2 into 3 - mono to stereo) at Radio Shack for $3.97. It was an opened package and on clearance. It had Gold knurled leads. Used it on my receiver to sub (one white lead from receiver sub out to red/white sub in) and it works fine. I simply ignored the yellow video cable leads. Radio Shack also had sub specific cables from $4.99 up to and over $100. I'm quite content with this $3.97 cable. It has the size (cable diameter) of the more expensive sub cables along with the "gold" leads, all for a fraction of the cost.

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Yes cables are a croc...odile....

And any driver below this one... Posted Image

I a croc...odile !!!! Act now and have your credit ...card ...ready !!!! I accept VeeSa,Master Cord and USSR Epress !!! Only $1555 plus all taxes I can apply in all ....41..42...43...states and all Canadian provinces!!!

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That's nothing, I've got a subwoofer cable (RCA) that's directional!! Explain that one to me.

The shield and ground return path are two seperate conductors and the shield is only connected to the ground return path on one side of the cable. The idea is that EMI currents get shunted away from the device receiving the signal, ultimately reducing the noise floor. This is especially beneficial for long unbalanced connections (like most subwoofer applications) because the chances of picking up EMI increase with the length of the interconnect.

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I'm with TheEAR on this one! Really cracked me up when they came out with subwoofer cables special made for low frequencies. That deserves a PWK BS Button button.

I think it deserves a lawsuit.

I too think it's a bit insane, but....

Only needing to handle lower frequencies means you can get away with larger cable capacitance...so if you wanted, you could lower the series resistance by going to a larger guage wire (which increases capacitance) and in turn reap a decrease in noise induced by EMI.

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why is my sub now less impressive now that it is supposedly wired(cabled) correctly than it was before when it was supposedly wired incorrectly?

Did you change the configuration of your receiver to reroute the bass to the subwoofer channel?

If your system was setup correctly when the sub was connected to the speaker level outputs, then the subwoofer output should have been off. If you didn't change the configuration when you swapped cables, then that might be something to look into.

Also, when running the sub off the speaker level outputs, there is no crossover happening inside the receiver - just whatever you had the settings on the subwoofer itself set to. When you connect the sub to the RCA cable, the receiver is adding its own crossovers (ideally to both the mains and the sub). This will change the phase at the crossover frequencies which can affect the interaction between the sub and mains. If things end up outta phase, then they actually cancel out and result in less bass.

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Yes cables are a croc...odile....

And any driver below this one... dscf0894as8.th.jpg

I a croc...odile !!!! Act now and have your credit ...card ...ready !!!! I accept VeeSa,Master Cord and USSR Epress !!! Only $1555 plus all taxes I can apply in all ....41..42...43...states and all Canadian provinces!!!

theear, you need an 18 inch not 15 inch... keep up will ya!

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You are not keeping up with only one driver. While I have multiples. [:D] And with no amp worthy ,not even close (I have the iTech6000 and PL380)so... [:P]

Not even talking about my Acoupower 18's .... [:P] And many others [:P] [:P]

Ba HA HA HA

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That's nothing, I've got a subwoofer cable (RCA) that's directional!! Explain that one to me.

The shield and ground return path are two seperate conductors and the shield is only connected to the ground return path on one side of the cable. The idea is that EMI currents get shunted away from the device receiving the signal, ultimately reducing the noise floor. This is especially beneficial for long unbalanced connections (like most subwoofer applications) because the chances of picking up EMI increase with the length of the interconnect.

Thanks Doc.

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All true, except:

  • At longer urns, cables begin to act like antennas, so the better shielding of more expensive cables makes a difference
  • Nelson Pass of monster amp fame proved that large sturdy spade connectors made a slight improvement
  • I feel that the large wave length of low notes conducts better through thicker cable
  • Whatever
  • I use my thick Coincident rattlesnakes on my bass bins, compared to the Home Depot and standard Monster cables, the bass is slightly better, a bit tighter
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why is my sub now less impressive now that it is supposedly wired(cabled) correctly than it was before when it was supposedly wired incorrectly?

Did you change the configuration of your receiver to reroute the bass to the subwoofer channel?

If your system was setup correctly when the sub was connected to the speaker level outputs, then the subwoofer output should have been off. If you didn't change the configuration when you swapped cables, then that might be something to look into.

Also, when running the sub off the speaker level outputs, there is no crossover happening inside the receiver - just whatever you had the settings on the subwoofer itself set to. When you connect the sub to the RCA cable, the receiver is adding its own crossovers (ideally to both the mains and the sub). This will change the phase at the crossover frequencies which can affect the interaction between the sub and mains. If things end up outta phase, then they actually cancel out and result in less bass.

In hind sight, what I believe occurred, is the transition from 2 channel where only music was played through these speakers/sub to HT where even TV was listened to through these speakers/sub. I went from hearing bass every time I listened to my Klipsch speakers (as in 2 channel) to only when CD's or DVDs were played and it took me a bit to understand the dynamics. The sub plays fine when some good "3rd Force" is played or with a solid DVD soundtrack. I think I'm OK for now. I'm still also learning my new receiver and its miriad of settings for TV sound.

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