Surround Sound Speakers for TV Help

[uuf361]

Ok, please bear with me as I am completely useless when it comes to anything techical.

I have already got installed, Plasma Screen, linked to DVD Recorder and Amplfier (all JVC). The Amp is linked to 5 surround sound speakers (Sony) and I have just bought (off ebay so am not necessarily expecting much) a Passive subwoofer (Sony). The only thing it looks like you plug in to the subwoofer is a regular speaker wire ? And I don't get how that would then send sound/power through the amp to the other little speaker!

Am I being very thick or do I have the wrong subwoofer ?

[gilbertd]

As it's a passive sub woofer, it will only have a connection for speaker wire. That wire goes to the sub woofer output on your amp. That's where the 5.1 bit comes in, Front left and right, rear left and right, centre and sub.

[uuf361]

Now i am going to sound thick

The subwoofer out on my amp has a hole to plug something in, i.e. not a speaker wire....so do I have to go an buy a special wire the has speaker 'bits' on one end and a plug the other ?

You can tell this is all new to me!

[gilbertd]

It's probably some sort of hi-fi mans special plug but without seeing it I can't tell you what it needs to be. I know this is usually the last resort, but have you tried looking in the manual for the amp to see what it needs?

[uuf361]

Have manual in front of me and as usual it's a little on the unhelpful side, so will go and see the man from the local hi-fi shop tomorrow.

[gilbertd]

It might be a 3.5mm jack plug, it might be a 1/4" jack plug, it might be a thing called a Speakon plug, no telling really. But to answer the original question, that's where you connect it, all you've got to do now is work out how!

[robscim]

Scott

I don't know if it helps but I've got a Sony wireless surround sound with a sub-woofer. Give me a shout if you want to come and have a shufty! I suspect you have a connector into which you stuff the bare wire (but I'm certainly not an expert!!).

Cheers

Rob
885908

[IanParker]

uuf361 said:

Ok, please bear with me as I am completely useless when it comes to anything techical. I have already got installed, Plasma Screen, linked to DVD Recorder and Amplfier (all JVC). The Amp is linked to 5 surround sound speakers (Sony) and I have just bought (off ebay so am not necessarily expecting much) a Passive subwoofer (Sony). The only thing it looks like you plug in to the subwoofer is a regular speaker wire ? And I don't get how that would then send sound/power through the amp to the other little speaker! Am I being very thick or do I have the wrong subwoofer ?

The subwoofer you have will need a separate amp if you want to use it in a 5.1 system.
Does it have two speaker inputs and two speaker outputs ? If so, you can run the front speaker cables from the amp to the subwoofer then on to the main front speakers (Left & Right) This will make the sub work but will not be true 5.1.

[gilbertd]

IanParker said:

uuf361 said: Ok, please bear with me as I am completely useless when it comes to anything techical. I have already got installed, Plasma Screen, linked to DVD Recorder and Amplfier (all JVC). The Amp is linked to 5 surround sound speakers (Sony) and I have just bought (off ebay so am not necessarily expecting much) a Passive subwoofer (Sony). The only thing it looks like you plug in to the subwoofer is a regular speaker wire ? And I don't get how that would then send sound/power through the amp to the other little speaker! Am I being very thick or do I have the wrong subwoofer ? The subwoofer you have will need a separate amp if you want to use it in a 5.1 system. Does it have two speaker inputs and two speaker outputs ? If so, you can run the front speaker cables from the amp to the subwoofer then on to the main front speakers (Left & Right) This will make the sub work but will not be true 5.1.

It won't because it's a passive sub that he's got. A passiver should work OK with a surround sound amp though.

I've just done a Google and found a picture on the back panel of a JVC 5.1 amp. The sub connector on the one shown is a phono socket. It will look the same as the audio inputs on your amp which are usually coloured red and white or red and black. Single 3mm hole in the centre with a metal ring around the outside. Is that what yours is? If that is the case, you just need a phon to bare ended cable to connect it.

[uuf361]

Just read my manual and it now says (in tiny letters) that I need a powered subwoofer so obviously have the wrong thing

[richb]

Scott - sounds like you know about as much as me There's a great web site at avforums.com which I found really usefull a few months ago when I was in a similar position. There are sub forums for stuff like "sony" or "subwoofers" and some people who really know their stuff. Rich...

[uuf361]

Will go and check it out, maybe they can point me in the direction of what I really want to buy

[scared but happy]

uuf361 said:

Just read my manual and it now says (in tiny letters) that I need a powered subwoofer so obviously have the wrong thing

Correct you need an amp. Do what I did and find a cheap one on Ebay with one blown channel (left/right) does not matter and use that.

[IanParker]

gilbertd said:

IanParker said: uuf361 said: Ok, please bear with me as I am completely useless when it comes to anything techical. I have already got installed, Plasma Screen, linked to DVD Recorder and Amplfier (all JVC). The Amp is linked to 5 surround sound speakers (Sony) and I have just bought (off ebay so am not necessarily expecting much) a Passive subwoofer (Sony). The only thing it looks like you plug in to the subwoofer is a regular speaker wire ? And I don't get how that would then send sound/power through the amp to the other little speaker! Am I being very thick or do I have the wrong subwoofer ? The subwoofer you have will need a separate amp if you want to use it in a 5.1 system. Does it have two speaker inputs and two speaker outputs ? If so, you can run the front speaker cables from the amp to the subwoofer then on to the main front speakers (Left & Right) This will make the sub work but will not be true 5.1. It won't because it's a passive sub that he's got. A passiver should work OK with a surround sound amp though. I've just done a Google and found a picture on the back panel of a JVC 5.1 amp. The sub connector on the one shown is a phono socket. It will look the same as the audio inputs on your amp which are usually coloured red and white or red and black. Single 3mm hole in the centre with a metal ring around the outside. Is that what yours is? If that is the case, you just need a phon to bare ended cable to connect it.

Passive subs are not powered, so require an external amp. They often take the power output from the front speakers and use a built in croosever to send the higher frequencies back out to the main speakers while sending the low frequencies to the sub.
Active subs have a built in amp and use the line level output from the amp.