It’s easy to get lost trying to figure out what plugs where and how to get the best sound when setting up a home theater system.
It gets trickier when you have a passive subwoofer, which can differ than most people have. Can you connect a passive subwoofer to a receiver?
You can connect a passive subwoofer to an AV receiver by treating it like a speaker and connecting the subwoofer directly to your AV receiver through the connectors on the AV receiver. speaker. You can also power it with an external amplifier and treat it as a powered subwoofer that connects to the pre-out.
Read on and find out why it’s better to have an external amplifier when you’re connecting your subwoofer to your AV receiver, plus how to connect this equipment, and more information on subwoofers and passive receivers.
Also read: Does a Subwoofer Need an Amplifier? ?
What is a passive subwoofer?
Trying to figure out how to set up a home theater system can be difficult for a beginner.
There’s a lot to look at and play with, like meters and meters of cable and wires, different types of equipment, and a dizzying number of inputs, outputs, and ports. You also have to decide whether to drill holes or not. But most of the confusion comes from the AV receiver.
What is a passive subwoofer?
Subwoofers are special types of speakers used to reproduce low-frequency sound . These types of rigs work much like your old speaker because these types of subwoofers do not have an amplifier. A passive subwoofer must be connected to an external amplifier for power.
This setup may seem like a big deal because it requires additional equipment, but some people prefer passive subwoofers because they are lighter. Since these subwoofers don’t have a built-in amplifier, there are fewer components to weigh them down.
Passive subwoofers are also very easy to maintain, especially when compared to their self-powered counterparts.
How do passive subwoofers compare to active subwoofers?
If a passive subwoofer doesn’t have its own amplifier, an active subwoofer works by itself. It has an amplifier and speaker setup within the same build. It uses a single cable to connect to your receiver or preamp line output.
Since powered subwoofers are self-powered, your receiver will be able to focus on powering the tweeter and midrange speakers that are powered by the receiver. amplifiers.
What does a receiver do?
Your AV receiver receives all signals from different input devices. The computer will then figure out what these signals are and then amplify them.
Finally, the receiver will send the signals to output devices such as your subwoofer, speaker, sound system, projector, and TV. .
Experts and enthusiasts call the AV receiver the heart, brain, or center of your home theater system. But what exactly does it do?
Your AV receiver manages the different video and audio sources. It has a pre-amplifier section that allows you to change or select the audio source to listen to or the content you want to watch.
You must connect your Blu-ray, television and other audio and video sources to your receiver. AV so you don’t have to plug in cables every time you switch between playing a DVD or watching a show you recorded on PVR.
The receiver will let you enjoy the content you want, no matter what devices they’re on , with the push of a button.
Other things your receiver can do
In addition to letting you manage and switch from one video and audio source to another, your AV receiver can also it may allow you to do other things. We list them below.
- Tune to regular and satellite radio. Some receivers let you listen to free HD radio channels.
- Make way for surround sound. Your receiver can also decode digital and analog surround sound formats. Receivers are available that can also work with lossless codecs like Dolby TrueHD, as well as DTS Master Audio and other codecs used on Blu-ray discs.
- Have multiple speakers. Your receiver has five or more channels that can feed and amplify sound sources for surround sound systems.
- Control all electronics with ease. Your receiver gives you additional user interfaces for all the devices connected to your home theater, including your own remote control, on-screen menus, and even a menu displayed on your TV.
Where do you connect your passive subwoofer?
The thing about AV receivers is that you will probably have a lot of ports, switches and switches, and that can usually mean a lot of cables.
The good news is that if you’re trying to connect subwoofers to your receivers, you only have to worry about one of two areas: the speaker connectors and the pre-out.
The pre-out
The pre-out section is where the connectors for audio equipment that has amplifiers built in. As such, if you have a powered subwoofer, you’ll be using one of the ports in this section to plug it into the receiver.
Some receivers even have a port that is specifically labeled subwoofer.The pre-out section is also very useful if you want to have more speakers in your setup or if you want to use a separate amplifier.
Speaker Connectors
Subwoo self-powered fers and any equipment that is hardwired and has its own built-in amplifier s, can be plugged into the pre-out section. But passive subwoofers must be connected using one of the speaker connectors.
You will treat your subwoofers as an extra set of speakers that can draw power.
How do you connect a passive speaker ? Subwoofer to a receiver?
As you can see, there are two main options for connecting a passive subwoofer to an AV receiver depending on your setup.
If you have AV receivers designed To connect to an active subwoofer, a Japanese electronics manufacturer, Denon, does not recommend connecting a passive subwoofer directly to your AV receiver. Instead, the company suggests the following steps:
- Connect your passive subwoofer to an external amplifier.
- Use the subwoofer’s pre-out slot.
- Connecting your AV receiver to the input of the amplifier.
Alternatively, you can also try connecting your passive subwoofer right where you would connect your speakers on the receiver. You will need to open the setup menu on your AV receiver and choose large front speakers and no subwoofers.
Which is better?
Between these two methods for connecting your passive subwoofer to a receiver, you must use an external amplifier. Doing so would convert your passive subwoofer to an active one, ensuring that your subwoofer gets enough power to reproduce bass lines.
You must remember that a receiver or amplifier must have enough power to sustain low-frequency sounds. produced. through the subwoofer. Passive subwoofers will require a lot of power to recreate bass sounds. Your receiver may not deliver enough power for your subwoofer to perform optimally if you connect it directly to the speaker connectors.
Powering it from an external amplifier solves this problem.
Conclusion
Can a passive subwoofer be connected to a receiver?
Yes, a passive subwoofer can be connected to a receiver using the speaker connectors. However, it is recommended that you use an external amplifier to act as a go-between for your receiver and the passive subwoofer.
See my top recommendations for subwoofers.
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