Right off mx5 topic

warrior · Post by **warrior** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 5:27 pm

I need a bit of help with my home theatre setup, I hope this is ok to put this on here?

I have a home theatre amp and the out signal for the sub is for a RCA lead, the problem is that my sub has just speaker cables. Can I marry to two together?

Any help would be good.

If this is not meant to be on here then I am sorry and just ignore this post.

Cheers

Simonmx5 · Post by **Simonmx5** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 5:32 pm

An RCA cable basically just combines two wires, so you should be able to get an RCA cable and just chop one end off and you will be left with two bare wires. I'm no expert though.

MrGrey · Post by **MrGrey** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 5:51 pm

an RCA plug is simply just a style of plug and you would have no hassles wiring them together.... just get a pair of female RCA plugs from dick smith and unleash a little soldering skill... the positive signal goes to the center and the negative (earth) solders onto the outer sleeve bit.

this pic shows how it should look like after soldering.

any more questions just ask

warrior · Post by **warrior** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 5:57 pm

Fantastic....thanks guys.

warrior · Post by **warrior** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:15 pm

What am I missing here guys? I cut an old RCA lead open and there is only one wire inside?

Should I just buy a RCA plug and wire and solder speaker wire too it?

GRUVBB · Post by **GRUVBB** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:22 pm

The negative could be a fine screen embedded in the insulation. If connecting to a two wire setup the wire with the stripe is usually the positive conductor. Post a pic of what you have cut open ...... I dont mean the slab of beer. That will make people thirsty and jealous.

warrior · Post by **warrior** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:38 pm

Yeah that sounds right, there is a very fine wire running down the middle of a plastic insulator. So a double wire soldered into a RCA plug then the other end split into a positive and negative wired to the sub should work right?

GRUVBB · Post by **GRUVBB** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:52 pm

Your description is a bit ambiguous. Fan you post a pic of the wire you have cut????

GRUVBB · Post by **GRUVBB** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:55 pm

Your conductor could be encased in a hard plastic dielectric with a thin screen surrounding it and then an outer layer of insulation. Without seeing a pic I am not recommending anything for safety sake.
Is your sub passive or has it got a built in amp?.... Does it plug into a wall socket as well as connection from amp?

marcellarius · Post by **marcellarius** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:59 pm

Does your subwoofer have a built-in or separate amplifier?

The sub out socket on the back of your amp will likely be preamplified but intended to be fed into a dedicated amp for your subwoofer. Just wiring them up without an amp won't do what you want.

warrior · Post by **warrior** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:46 pm

The home theatre has the amp built in and the sub is not powered.

Sorry camera not working so cant post pics.

warrior · Post by **warrior** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:49 pm

This is what I intend to do.

Buy a RCA plug

Wire speaker cable to it as the picture, negative and positive

Connect the other end to my sub, negative and positive.

The home theatre has the amp built into it

The sub is just a speaker in an enclosure, it is not powered in anyway.

marcellarius · Post by **marcellarius** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 10:21 pm

I'm assuming you're talking about an amplifier/decoder/whatsit like this:

It's very unlikely that an RCA connector would be used for an amplified output on an amp like this.

If it's a home theatre in a box sort of thing, and it uses RCA connectors for the speakers, then wiring up a cable could work. I'd be inclined to just find/buy a cheap cable ( http://www.cablesdirect.co.nz/catalog/e ... e_number=1 ) and cut an end off rather than soldering a plug onto some speaker cable.

NicF · Post by **NicF** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 8:24 am

I've never seen speaker power leads in an RCA format, the coax cable and RCA plug aren't designed to carry much current. I would suspect you need a separate amplifier between the receiver and sub. Cheap enough if you don't want to rattle your windows.

A word of warning, assuming your receiver sub out is outputting preamp only and not full power, it will be designed for a high impedance load, like the input stage of an amplifier. Hooking it up direct to a low impedance like a sub may cook the preamp in your receiver.

GRUVBB · Post by **GRUVBB** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 10:06 am

Have you tried Googling the connection/installation diagrams for your Home Theatre System? This may shed some light on your situation.

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