How to Hook Up Dual Subwoofers for a Home Theatre
Subwoofers are an integral part of the home theater system. They provide the room-filling "oomph" required by many of today's special effects-driven movies and provide the low-end foundation essential to all forms of music. For the most accurate bass with the lowest amount of distortion, use two subwoofers. Two subwoofers working together reduce the load at given volume on each subwoofer by half. This produces a much higher-quality bass sound.
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Instructions
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Position one subwoofer between the left front and center channel speaker, and place the other between the right front and center channel speaker. The subwoofers should be on the same horizontal plane as the front speakers, or slightly behind their horizontal plane. Placing one subwoofer in each front room corner is also possible--although corner placement tends to yield boomier, less accurate bass overall.
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Connect the subwoofers to the receiver, using a high-quality subwoofer cable and Y-splitter. The Y-splitter plugs into the male end of each subwoofer cable; the other end of each cable plugs into each subwoofer. Another subwoofer cable will plug into the singular end of the Y-splitter and connect to your receiver using the "LFE/Subwoofer" input.
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Select the crossover frequency that's appropriate for your home theater system. With larger floor-standing speakers select a lower crossover such as 50 to 60 Hz. With smaller satellite speakers, a higher crossover of 100 to 150 Hz is required. If using bookshelf speakers, opt for something in between such as 70 to 90 Hz.
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Turn on the receiver and play a selection of music. Begin gradually turning up the volume on the subwoofers until the bass is how you like it. Ideally, the bass won't be so loud that it's overbearing, but not so low that the music sounds thin. The volume on each subwoofer should be set identically as you make the adjustments.
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Adjust the phase of the subwoofers. On the back of each subwoofer will be a phase control switch. It usually has two selectable positions of 0 and 180 degrees. Zero degrees is the default position. Try both phase settings, ensuring that both subwoofers are set to the same phase when you make the changes. The position that produces the most audible bass is correct. If both positions sound the same, use the default 0-degree setting.
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Tips & Warnings
When using two subwoofers, make sure they are both the same size, make and model for the best performance. Two subwoofers usually result in more even bass coverage, especially in larger rooms.
Don't add a second subwoofer for deeper bass. The advantage of using two subwoofers is that they produce louder bass with less distortion than a single subwoofer.
