Subwoofer RCA connection

[Feltran]

I've noticed that some receivers/processors/pre-amps have two RCA outputs for the subwoofer, and some only have one. Also, subwoofers have a L/R input, and an LFE input.

If you have a receiver that only has one output for the subwoofer, would you generally plug it into the LFE plug, or would you use a Y-splitter to plug it into the L/R inputs?

Also, I've seen some people suggest that they think they get better results when they have two cables going to the subwoofer instead of one. Has anyone had experience with this, and would this be a reason to buy something that has two subwoofer outputs?


(I'm only talking RCA in this post, for whatever reason, I don't think any of the equipment I've been considering has speaker-level outputs for subwoofers)

 

[Cherian]

The subwoofer out connector on most pre-amp and receivers uses its internal crossover to extract the low frequencies (2 channel application). In most multi channel application the .1 signal is decoded by the pre or receiver and sent to the subwoofer out connector.

Subs with left and right inputs one must set the front speakers to large and then send the full analog signal to the sub (front left and front right). The sub then uses its internal crossover to extract the low frequencies. I find this is best for 2 channel. For movies just feed the subwoofer out from the pre or receiver to the LFE in of the sub.