Sorry guys this question is probably a joke to the audio world, but I received a Audioquest g-snake subwoofer cable yesterday and I do not understand how to hook it up. One end has two ends coming out, one of which runs the full length of the cable, and the other which is about 6 inches long. I have an Energy Encore 8 with a input terminal and a x-over terminal just under it. How do I connect this cable to my sub/receiver? Sorry if this is a terrible question, I just thought the cable was going to have two ends, and would be pretty basic.
I am not driving the sub using left and right (black/red) inputs. I plan on running a cable from my receiver to my subs RCA input. So you guys think it would be ok to connect each forked end of the subwoofer cable to the subwoofer in slot and x-over slot?
Jan: I thought that only a summing amplifier or active mixer would do such a thing?
If it were simply 2 inputs in parallel to the amplifier input, wouldn't the gain be unaffected?
I realize it's very unlikely they're in parallel..
If you have a typical receiver with bass management, you should probably just plug it in to the in jack (not the crossover one), but I don't know if the sub would like having inputs on both jacks.
I'm not certain what you are calling a "summing amplifier", Andre. But, that is essentially what you have in many subwoofers with two channel inputs whether you wish to call it a summing amplifier or a mixer. It is in most cases relying on what amounts to a "stereo to mono" transformer or an active op amp of some type to make the combination.
Most inexpensive powered subs assume a mono low frequency content which is still fairly reasonable with music but not always true when playing video sources. These low cost subs will only include one low frequency input. If the sub is driven from a LFE output on a processor, the one input will probably suffice since the processor has done the combining before its output.
Better processors have for a long time included stereo (two channel) outputs for LFE. Using only one is quite effective since most extreme low frequency content is still donwmixed to mono even in video usage. Using both output/inputs provides the best signal. How the sub deals with the two indpendent inputs is a matter of cost and design choices. Feeding a (usually cheap) differential op amp the signals are combined and through common mode rejection the result is an approximate +6dB increase in gain or a -6dB decrease in the noise floor depending on how you wish to view the results.
I've never really thought about two signals in parallel since without a combining device of some kind that arrangement spells potential disaster to me, but, if the signals were truly in phase, I would assume there would be a roughly +3dB increase in gain since the amount of voltage would be doubled into the same load.
db-bass - Read your owner's manual. I would bet the manufacturer suggests using only one of the two inputs and never both. If you are running from a LFE output, you don't need the X-over in the sub so you would go directly into the sub input. If you have no processor to split out the low frequency content prior to output from the pre amp, then plug into the crossover input on the sub and adjust roll off and level at the sub.
Jan thanks for the help. I have the sub connected to my Pannasonic XR-55. This is the only amp source in my system. Do you have any idea if this receiver has the "processor" that you mentioned?