2. cables
  3. 175151-164950

Another Subwoofer Cable Topic

Sorry folks, I cannot find a reasonable answer to this quandary and not many people are willing to answer it properly.

Powered subwoofers seem to enjoy having a left and right RCA input, despite the driver being 100% mono. Practically all manuals say the same thing, choose one of the RCA inputs (usually Right) and everything will be fine.  I have not found this to be true.

Somewhere, in the annals of the internet(s) I had found an audio discussion where someone explained it. On a basic level, the mono driver requires 2 incoming volts to properly drive. One single RCA output delivers 1 volt of signal. Using that one input will cause the driver to activate and make bass, this is true.  But using both RCA inputs doubles the voltage and the driver functions much better.

In my floor standing system I have two subwoofers that both use NHT monoblock amps. They both have left/right input RCAs. When I connected a SINGLE connection to the block, I had to crank the volume to the maximum to get any reasonable bass out of the subwoofers.  At that time I bought a splitter so that the single LFE out on the receiver (I have left and right LFE outputs, hence two subs) could split into two to cover both left/right inputs and suddenly there was more bass than could possibly be endured and I had to crank the volume way down. So, that seems to prove the theory that using one single RCA input is not correct.

So, on to my quandary.

In my office reference system I have a powered sub that currently connects via two RCA.  The sound quality is pleasant and enjoyable. I wouldn't mind tightening the bass down a bit more. To that end I want to switch to actual Subwoofer cables, that have been specifically tuned to amplify bass. The question is, should I buy two subwoofer cables or buy one cable and two splitters?  Yes, buying two cables is more expensive.  However, ANYTIME you split a signal, there *WILL* be signal quality loss.  That's just the way it is. The more point to point the connection is, the better the signal flow. So...has anyone actually tested whether two sub cables works better or the same as a single sub cable split?

 

128x128guakus
lordrootman's avatar
lordrootman
383 posts
 

@guakus  Unfortunately I’m not expensive cables believer 

im using simple quality build from Amazon Mediabridge 

Mediabridge™ Ultra Series RCA Y-Adapter (8 Feet) - 1-Male to 2-Male for Digital Audio or Subwoofer - Dual Shielded with RCA to RCA Gold-Plated Connectors - Black - (Part# CYA-1M2M-8B) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KCQSW3E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_KY7K8WZC8TTT7R0QXYSQ

Post removed 
lordrootman's avatar
lordrootman
383 posts
 

I’m using mostly balance XLR on all my SVS subs 

and Mediabridge RCA Y splitter on my old subs for 

guakus's avatar
guakus OP
352 posts
 

@lordrootman 

Understood. 

I am a believer, and I did do one test on my subwoofer which helped seal the deal for getting better cables for it.  Keep in mind this is purely rhetorical and only impacted this setup, so other people might have a different result.

When I was spec-ing out my subwoofer cable, I was reading up on what was "assumed" made a good subwoofer cable. It seemed the most expensive had a conductor that was a solid core of copper plated in silver.  Well, I just happened to have some old Audioquest Component (R,G,B) cables that had that EXACT same conductor.  A solid copper core plated in silver. At the time I was using some very old Audioquest Ruby X3's on the subwoofer.  I connected the RGB component cables and.....lost almost all my bass. I cranked it to full 250 watts and the bass was still weak and flabby. However, according to most people, it shouldn't matter because a conductor is a conductor and shouldn't limit or stop the signal.  IN other words, it not supposed to be "tuned."

Now, with that said, Component cables are setup to propagate a 75 OHM, high speed video signal and not audio. It was also a single conductor, end-to-end.  The Ruby X3 has three solid copper conductors per cable and was designed to propagate all signals from 20hz to 20Khz.

So, it clearly means that one cannot just connect any RCA ended cable to a subwoofer and expect good bass.

Ergo, I became a believer that it is possible to create a cable through careful conductor choices and geometry choices that would propagate a low frequency signal better than another cable. :)

More to discover