• Welcome to the Off-Topic/Schweb's Lounge

    In addition to the Mac-Forums Community Guidelines, there are a few things you should pay attention to while in The Lounge.

    Lounge Rules
    • If your post belongs in a different forum, please post it there.
    • While this area is for off-topic conversations, that doesn't mean that every conversation will be permitted. The moderators will, at their sole discretion, close or delete any threads which do not serve a beneficial purpose to the community.

    Understand that while The Lounge is here as a place to relax and discuss random topics, that doesn't mean we will allow any topic. Topics which are inflammatory, hurtful, or otherwise clash with our Mac-Forums Community Guidelines will be removed.

Home Theater Question

Joined
Jul 4, 2008
Messages
73
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Sapporo, Japan
Your Mac's Specs
mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro 2.8 i7, 8GB, OS X 10.6.8
I just got a new speaker set for my home theater system; when I tried to connect the subwoofer to the existing receiver/DVD player there is no where to plug it in. The new subwoofer has a regular composite jack (standard A/V RCA wire), and the receiver has a subwoofer jack except it's for speaker wire, not composite cable.

What do I do?
 
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
1,115
Reaction score
43
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
Unibody MacBook Pro 2.26, 4gb RAM, 500gb HD
That's odd. I would have thought every home theater receiver made in the last 10 years would have a RCA subwoofer line level input.

Most of the jacks on the back of the receiver are in pairs, but this input would be by itself since the sub is only a single channel.

What is the make and model of the receiver?
 
OP
C
Joined
Jul 4, 2008
Messages
73
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Sapporo, Japan
Your Mac's Specs
mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro 2.8 i7, 8GB, OS X 10.6.8
It's a Pioneer XV HTD540, about 5 years old, home theater in a box.

I moved and now I want to mount the speakers on the wall, but the speakers that shipped with this DVD/Receiver are too big. I bought a Sony 5.1 speaker set (I forget the model) that has smaller wall-mountable speakers; and a powered sub.
 
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
1,115
Reaction score
43
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
Unibody MacBook Pro 2.26, 4gb RAM, 500gb HD
If it was a box set that came with speakers originally, then you may be somewhat limited in what you can do.

Does the powered subwoofer have speaker level inputs?
 
OP
C
Joined
Jul 4, 2008
Messages
73
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Sapporo, Japan
Your Mac's Specs
mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro 2.8 i7, 8GB, OS X 10.6.8
The back of the sub has a level knob, a bass boost switch, a phase switch (normal/reverse), power save switch, line in jack (composite), and a power button.

Now that I'm home from work I can give some more details. :Smirk:
 

rman


Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
12,637
Reaction score
168
Points
63
Location
Los Angeles, California
Your Mac's Specs
14in MacBook Pro M1 Max 32GB 2TB
Check your receiver again. Normally all of your regular speaker will use standard speakers, whereas your bass/woofer will use an rca plug. Check the back and see you see a monitor input, that takes an rca plug.
 
OP
C
Joined
Jul 4, 2008
Messages
73
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Sapporo, Japan
Your Mac's Specs
mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro 2.8 i7, 8GB, OS X 10.6.8
No Dice.

I have the red & black speaker wire inputs for the surround speakers, and they're all labeled from the factory: Front Right, Front Left, Center, Subwoofer, Surround Right, Surround Left.

I also have a component out, rca video out, 2 rca audio in's, rca audio out (it's for only one aux setting, so it wouldn't work for the sub) and one coaxial audio in (it's an rca jack not coax jack though it's labeled coaxial in). Then there's a digital audio jack, and an fm & am antenna jacks.
 
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
1,115
Reaction score
43
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
Unibody MacBook Pro 2.26, 4gb RAM, 500gb HD
You may be 'up the creek'.

Almost all receivers have a line level output jack for a sub.

Almost all powered subs have a speaker level input option. (This isn't the most desired option as sound quality is slightly lower, but it works.)

If the design of either one of these items was a little more flexible, you'd be okay. But these two are polar opposites.

Can you return the speaker set for something with speaker level inputs?

One final idea... This is a common problem in car audio systems. Factory radios rarely have RCA line out jacks for subs. They sell converters that convert speaker level signal to line level signal. They are designed for vehicle applications, but I would bet you could figure something out.

Here's an example of what might work...

Amazon.com: speaker level line converter
 
OP
C
Joined
Jul 4, 2008
Messages
73
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Sapporo, Japan
Your Mac's Specs
mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro 2.8 i7, 8GB, OS X 10.6.8
Okay,
I cut the head off of the composite cable that came with the sub, inside was two copper wires, one for the prong part (the positive?), and one for the other part (negative?). I put the positive one into the red speaker jack, the negative in the black, and the sub works. However, the sub is very strong even at the lowest level setting. Is there a power difference between the composite wire and speaker wire outputs that I should be concerned about?
 
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
10,345
Reaction score
597
Points
113
Location
Margaritaville
Your Mac's Specs
3.4 Ghz i7 MacBook Pro (2015), iPad Pro (2014), iPhone Xs Max. Apple TV 4K

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top