Speaker question for audiophiles

STBRetired wrote:
One last thing. You should go through the setup menu for your radio and set the subwoofer setting to "off". With the subwoofer setting set to "on", the radio will route most of the lower frequencies to the subwoofer. Setting it to "off" will have the radio route those frequencies to the regular speakers instead.

Wilco. Never would have thought of that.

ON EDIT:

I went out to the trailer. It is a Clarion M303. In the menus, the sub-woofer volume is set to 0 (out of a range of -6 to +6) and the REAR/SW setting is set to REAR, not Sub-Woofer. That is what they were set at when I went out there. I hope that is what you were referring to.

One last thing. You should go through the setup menu for your radio and set the subwoofer setting to "off". With the subwoofer setting set to "on", the radio will route most of the lower frequencies to the subwoofer. Setting it to "off" will have the radio route those frequencies to the regular speakers instead.

p220sigman wrote:
Bottom line, it shouldn't create any problems sitting in the closet in the house.

Thanks guys. I just didn't want to damage anything and don't know anything about electronics.

Your son is correct that it is a powered subwoofer. The black/red/blue wires are pretty standard for the power for an amp. Red - power; Black - ground; and blue - turn-on trigger. More than likely, the two white wires were for a high level (speaker level) input, but since you had RCA cables, you were getting the signal that way instead of via speaker wires. It still would be wired incorrectly if the amp was on when the stereo wasn't though. The amp should turn on/off with the stereo. Bottom line, it shouldn't create any problems sitting in the closet in the house.

Apparently, it is a self-powered sub according to Collins. The plug is supplying electric source.

It's not being powered by RCA jacks. The connector wires could be for power and/or control such as sub volume level? It's hard to say without knowing the specific model?

EDIT: I see you've added a photo.

1492 wrote:
So it sounds like, no pun intended, it's a self-powered sub? As mentioned, subs are non-directional. So can place it pretty much anywhere you have room, out-of-sight preferred in most cases. Maybe in the under bed storage for new massage feature? Or just get rid of it. :)

In addition to the two RCA jacks, it also has a power connector with, I think, 4 wires. It is definitely powered by more than just the RCA jacks.

We are putting it up in a closet at the sticks and bricks house. We will re-install it whenever we decide to get rid of the trailer.

ON EDIT:

I went out just now and looked. There are 3 wires on the connector, black, red and blue. Originally, there were also 2 white wires, but they have been cut off. Here is a picture of the sub-woofer's controls/connections. The power plug you see has 6 pins, but like I said above, the connector that plugs into it originally had 5 wires, and 2 of those were cut off.

So it sounds like, no pun intended, it's a self-powered sub? As mentioned, subs are non-directional. So can place it pretty much anywhere you have room, out-of-sight preferred in most cases. Maybe in the under bed storage for new massage feature? Or just get rid of it. :)

wa8yxm wrote:
Just be sure to tape up the connections and label them in case someone else wixhes to sub woof.

Actually that speaker goes to below the audio range (20Hz is the bottom of audio) into "Sub Sonic" (often down to 10 or less HZ) so you "Feel" more than hear what it does for you.

I got a pair of female-female RCA gender changers and filled one side with liquid electrical tape, then plugged them into the RCA connectors. The hot pin of the plugs is enclosed in the gender changers, and the other end is insulated. The power plug was already enclosed as long as I don't stick an ice pick in there. :)

I put the sub-woofer in the closet in the house. When we go to get rid of the Airstream, I will re-install it just like it was when I bought it.

p220sigman wrote:
If you unplugged it an everything else still works, you should be fine if you are satisfied with the sound. In all likelyhood, it was not run off of a separate amp either, so it probably didn't have a draw when the sound system was off. But you may still need to find if it had a separate amp if you are worried about it drawing power. If it has a separate amp and that amp is powered when the system is off (unlikely, but possible if the person wiring it wired the turn-on trigger wire and the power wire together), just disconnecting the speaker won't stop that power draw. If it has a separate amp, it could be anywhere, but I'd check the compartment the speaker is in and the radio location first. When you find it, you should be able to just remove the fuse and don't have to remove the whole amp.

If the radio is reasonably easy to pull out, pull it and see if there is a subwoofer pre-amp output. If there is and there is an RCA type cord plugged into it, there is an amp somewhere for sure. If there is an output and it is not being used, the sub was probably running off of the internal amp in the radio.

My 29 year old son was over this evening and I discussed this with him. He looked at the sub-woofer and pointed out that the sub-woofer has two knobs, labelled "GAIN" and "FREQ." He says that means the amp is probably in the sub-woofer, so I am good on removing it.

I can pull the radio and look at the back. I will do that. Thank you.

If you unplugged it an everything else still works, you should be fine if you are satisfied with the sound. In all likelyhood, it was not run off of a separate amp either, so it probably didn't have a draw when the sound system was off. But you may still need to find if it had a separate amp if you are worried about it drawing power. If it has a separate amp and that amp is powered when the system is off (unlikely, but possible if the person wiring it wired the turn-on trigger wire and the power wire together), just disconnecting the speaker won't stop that power draw. If it has a separate amp, it could be anywhere, but I'd check the compartment the speaker is in and the radio location first. When you find it, you should be able to just remove the fuse and don't have to remove the whole amp.

If the radio is reasonably easy to pull out, pull it and see if there is a subwoofer pre-amp output. If there is and there is an RCA type cord plugged into it, there is an amp somewhere for sure. If there is an output and it is not being used, the sub was probably running off of the internal amp in the radio.