Okay guys, here is the problem. I got a cheap Sherwood receiver and some speakers from my aunt. They sound good, and what not, but they are a few years old. One of the speakers, which I believe is a sub, is an Allison Acoustic Loudspeaker. I looked it up on the internet and found shit, and their website is crap. Anyways, on the back of the sub are 8 terminals. 2 for right channel input and 2 for output, and 2 for left channel input and 2 for output. I have never heard of this before, and am wondering what wires go where? I get bass out of it when I plug in all four input to the back of my receiver, but something just doesn't sound right/seem right.... whats going on? Also...wondering if anyone knows why when I calibrate my sound, left rear works fine, but when playing the right rear, I hear both rear? And when I turn off my "A" front speakers (the allison sub) the "B" front speakers are more clear and vivid? AND ONE MORE FINAL THOUGHT!!! This receiver doesn't have anywhere for a subwoofer using regular speaker wires, so I want to put one as either front "A" or "B" speakers.... since there are left channel and right channel, which one do I use for the sub? Do I put one positive on the right channel, and than a negative on the left channel and bridge? Or.....? I don't want bass just coming from one side.
Just so you'll know..........Allison speakers are some of the best, that's ever been made. I use a pair of Allison AL-115 speakers, as my mains. I wish I could get more of them. Allison has gone out of business, as far as I know. That's why the web site hasn't been updated in a long time. I'm not familiar with their subwoofers. All the speaker connections, on back of sub, is so it can power your other speakers, instead of using the receiver to power them. As far as I know, all powered subs can do this. I don't recommend doing that though, as it just adds confusion to the recipe. Let the receiver power the speakers. There should be two rca type inputs on back of sub, labeled "Left" and "Right", and also say something like "Low Level Input". These are the correct inputs, for the sub connection, to the receiver. The receiver should have an rca type output labeled "Sub". You can use either of those rca inputs on the sub, from the rca output on receiver. Or, you can get a "Y" adapter, and use both inputs on the sub, from the single cable going to it. That's how I have mine connected. BTW......... The only subs that use regular speaker wires to connect it to the receiver, are "Passive" subs (not powered). They are not what most of us want............. Does it have a model number on the Allison speaker? You can go here: http://www.stereounlimited.com/Speakers.htm and buy a new pair of Allison Ones (tower speakers), that normally sell for $6000 pr. They are on sale for $3610 pr. ) I wish I could afford them. They would be in my living room!
I thought the Allison sub looked and sounded good, but just assumed they were cheap since I had not heard about them. I also have a center channel speaker by Allison which does sound amazing. The sub is not powered, all the connections on the back are for regular speaker wire, no rca jacks whatsoever. I assumed as well the two sets of "out" were to power other speakers, but it didn't make sense to me to use them since all the power was coming from the receiver anyways. My receiver has an "A" with right and left channel, and a "B" with right and left channel. If I turn on and "A" and "B" I hear the sub a bit, as well as the front speakers (Sub is hooked up under B), except the front speakers sound muffled. When I turn off B, I hear the front speakers much clearer, but this is not because the sub was drowning them out, the sound from the speakers is actually clearer. Why would this be? On the back of my sub, it has 4 speaker wire clips for left in and right in,(no rca) and 4 speaker wire clips for left out and right out. I have the 2 left and the 2 right (+ -) connected to the receiver on the "B" part for front speakers...whats wrong?
I don't know what to tell you. I don't have experience with passive subs, because I never cared for them. I can't understand why Allison would make a passive sub, since they were considered high end speakers. Are you sure it's a sub? Maybe it's just a speaker with connections for bi-wiring. Don't ask me.........I don't understand bi-wiring either. I know that speakers that are capable of it, have extra connections on the back. I'll ask again...........is there a model number on the back of the speaker? Does the other speakers (fronts) have a decent size woofer speaker in them? If so, disconnect the one you're calling a sub. In the receiver's setup menus, set the subwoofer to "NO" or "OFF", and set the fronts to "Large". Then the bass signals will go to them. See how it sounds that way.
