Subwoofer quandry - I should know this..

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by spaz, May 7, 2004.

  1. spaz

    spaz Specialist

    Hey all...

    This is not as PC specific as most issues here, but I know that there is a ton of knowledge floating around here...

    I picked up a JBL subwoofer from ebay as I wanted to try to improve the punch a little on my system. Currently have a Monsoon MM700 speaker set, but I changed out the satellites for a pair of Polk Audio bookshelf speakers that I mounted about 8feet up the walls. ANYway, the Monsoon subwoofer has a line in and separate +/- outputs for each satellite on the sub. The JBL sub, however, only has a single line in and single line out. These take the small stereo jacks. Looking at the JBL manual, it is expecting good old fashioned pc speakers which have one connecting to the other and one connected to the audio source.

    So, I tried splicing RCA jacks to the speakers and fashioning a split adapter with RCAs from the sub output, but got no sound at all. The sub works as I was able to connect it to the line out from the sound card and get bass... but still no way to connect the satellites.

    Anyone come across this problem or have an idea? Thanks in advance.
     
  2. goldfish

    goldfish Lt. Sushi.DC

    Ok, so sounds like the old sub had an amp in it as well, which drives the speakers. The new sub sounds like its got an amp for itself, but not for any other speakers. What you'll need to do is connect your line out to the sub, then out of the sub into the old sub, and then that will drive the speakers. Unfortunatley, this means you've got 2 subs running, so you may want to turn down the old one if you can.
    But if you have a "Sub out" jack on your sound card, which some newer ones do, you can plug that into the sub and have a normal out going to the old sub which drives the sats.

    Hope that helps :)
     
  3. spaz

    spaz Specialist

    Thanks a bunch for your help. I did try the config running through the new sub to the old sub and out to the sats, but only got output from one side. :(

    I have a new audigy 2 card (sorry I didn't include that in orig post) and tried connecting the new one up, but no sound.

    Truth is that the old one sounds fine... and I compared the two by just running the output to the subs one at a time and it's punchier then the JBL. I think I'll use the new one for "scientific experiements." Muahahaa...

    Have a great weekend!
     
  4. goldfish

    goldfish Lt. Sushi.DC

    You too!

    I like the sound of scientific experiments ;) Try taping it to a table and see what you can make vibrate across it. You could have coin races! :p
     
  5. spaz

    spaz Specialist

    Hehe...
    Well, I was thinking I'd open that sucker up and pull out the amp and maybe build a speaker box out of a couple of speakers I have laying around. Mabye it'll be useful, yet!
     
  6. ASUS

    ASUS MajorGeek

    Just had sick thought
    Buy another
    then! you could make.
    HEADPHONES
     

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