Sound advice: Connecting subwoofer is easy

Q Do I need to buy a special subwoofer cable to connect the subwoofer to my receiver?

CHERYL BRESSO, CLINTON, PA.

A You do not need a special cable -- just a cable with RCA jacks on each end. When connecting with the subwoofer cable, you set the receiver to "Subwoofer > Yes" and set the front speakers to the appropriate size. "Small" would correspond to teacup-sized speakers, "large" to anything bookshelf-sized or larger.

There is more than one way to connect a subwoofer. If your subwoofer has speaker-level inputs, you might get better results with them, especially if you have small front speakers.

To use the speaker-level inputs, connect the receiver's left and right channels to the subwoofer with speaker wire, then from the subwoofer to the front speakers. Then you set the receiver to "Subwoofer > No" and "Front Speakers > Large." Balance the sound using the subwoofer's volume and crossover controls.

Try both connections and use the one that sounds best to you.

No need to wait for Blu-ray recorder Q I have several VCR tapes (of various important family events, weddings, anniversaries, etc.) that I would like to copy to DVD format with a DVD-VHS recorder. However, now that Blu-ray will be the standard, should I wait for a VHS/Blu-ray recorder that will copy to that format? Because the quality of the VHS tapes and the few DVDs from my camera is not high-definition, I don't think it should make a difference. What do you think?

A There is no need to wait for a Blu-ray recorder. A DVD far exceeds the video quality of VHS, so it will capture all of the resolution as long as you use it in the SP mode, which records two hours on a single disc. I recommend recording on DVD-R discs over DVD+R, because the DVD-R discs seem to be more compatible across brands of DVD players.

Although we aren't seeing Blu-ray video recorders in the marketplace just yet, they have been around for a long time. Blu-ray was originally developed for the Japanese market as a high-definition recording format, not as a home movie format.

Although recordable Blu-ray for mass-market consumers is still a long way off, as a movie format Blu-ray has had some positive developments lately. Although many movie fans plan on sticking with DVD, there are some good reasons you might want to seriously consider getting into Blu-ray sooner rather than later.