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A few newbie questions

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Trunt View Drop Down
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    Posted: 15 March 2017 at 6:56am
Hi again guys,

So I've got my 5.1 yamaha RX-V381 receiver and I've got some bookshelves (diamond 220's) and a sub (wharfedale SW150BAV) that I want to connect to it.

I've just found that the receiver wants to use an audio pin cable connection to my sub, although my sub doesn't have that port. I figure it would be fine to connect it to either one of the other channels that I'm not going to use and adjust the cross over with my speakers. Would that work?

My other question is which speaker port to plug my bookshelves into, whether it is front L+R or surround L+R, or does it not matter?

Finally, does it matter what speaker wire I use for my sub and speakers? 

Thanks a lot guys,

Trunt
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Darkstar View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Darkstar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 March 2017 at 8:16am
Originally posted by Trunt Trunt wrote:


I've just found that the receiver wants to use an audio pin cable connection to my sub, although my sub doesn't have that port. I figure it would be fine to connect it to either one of the other channels that I'm not going to use and adjust the cross over with my speakers. Would that work?

Yes, you should just connect it to the regular outputs. The "subwoofer pre cut" is something you would use with yamaha subwoofers.
One thing to note though is that your subwoofer has two "speaker level inputs", this may suggest it may have a dual voice coil of some sort. My Hi-Fi sub has a DVC and will be fed half the power without connecting both inputs. Keep this in mind as you may have to parallel both speakers to the subwoofer, or vice versa.

Originally posted by Trunt Trunt wrote:


My other question is which speaker port to plug my bookshelves into, whether it is front L+R or surround L+R, or does it not matter?

Front L+R is fine since you have no center speaker.

Originally posted by Trunt Trunt wrote:


Finally, does it matter what speaker wire I use for my sub and speakers?

This is speakerplans and most people here won't even bother about what kind of wire you use, there's plenty threads on Hi-Fi forums on how you can make yourself some "high end" cables for cheap.
Wire gauge is irrelevant unless you want to put your speakers 10m away from your receiver.


Edited by Darkstar - 15 March 2017 at 1:25pm
Bass =/= Enough
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bob4 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bob4 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 March 2017 at 7:40pm
Hi Trunt, 

Your Yamaha RXV381 has only a line-level subwoofer output, labeled "Subwoofer Pre Out". You have to use that. Very simple. Just take a standard RCA cable and connect this "subwoofer pre out" to one of the subwoofer's LINE inputs. It doesn't matter if it's Left or Right Input. One connection is enough. The subwoofer pre out outputs a combined L+R bass signal, and at the subwoofer end it doesn't matter either because internally the sub is doing exactly the same thing to the two inputs. It won't mind if one input doesn't have anything connected to it.

For the main speakers just get some standard speaker wire.You can just go with bare wire into screw terminals, which requires some fiddling. I've found that I prefer adding some banana plugs to messing about with bare wire and tightly spaced terminals at the back side of the amplifier…. 

Depends really on your budget and mindset. 

1) If you are not too fussed about spending some extra money on ready-made speaker wire with banana plugs, buy a pair of appropriate length
2) If you're a DIY type, buy the required length of cable, 8 banana plugs (two sets of four in different colors to make your life easy), and a pair of pliers or a specific cablestripping -> strip cables, attach bananas on all ends
3) Buy speaker wire, cut to length, strip, attach to appropriate screw terminals 

4) if you can't be arced, have a professional hifi/AV guy sort it out for you (or a savvy mate?)


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