Speakers and Wiring

Home theaters use a lot of wires to connect all of your components together. Its important to know what those cables do and why they go where they go.

The best example of why this is true: Surround sound. Did you know that you need special cables to get surround sound? If you were to use those red and white composite cables, you would get stereo surround. Only a digital connection, like fiber optic or digital coaxial, will give you true surround sound.

Connecting a Powered Subwoofer: Receiver Pre-Out

If you have a powered subwoofer (meaning it plugs into an AC power outlet, like your microwave), than it probably has some RCA jacks on the back of it. Your receiver would need a subwoofer pre-out to complete this setup, which is optimal for subwoofers.

- How to Hook up a Powered Subwoofer
Added January 15th, 2008.
Last update January 15th, 2008.
Written by Joe.

Connecting a Non-Powered Subwoofer Using Front Speakers

In the event you have a sub that is not powered, it may not have RCA jacks on it. Either way, you won't be using them; instead, we connect our front speakers to the subwoofer and then the subwoofer to the receiver. A pre-out is not needed for this setup.

- How to Hook up a Non-Powered Subwoofer
Added January 15th, 2008.
Last update January 15th, 2008.
Written by Joe.

Hooking up your Speakers

Connecting speakers is simple, but there are some guidelines to follow. For instance, you want to match up your positives and negatives, use the right gauge cable, and keeping your cable lengths the same.

- Running your Speaker Wire
Added January 15th, 2008.
Last update January 15th, 2008.
Written by Joe.