Passive Subwoofer to an AV Receiver

[admin_exported]

I need to purchase an AV Receiver (my earlier post today asked about the Sony STRDH800 and Pioneer VSX519). However, can I connect the speakers from my existing Denon DHT500SD 5.1 home cinema system directly to an AV Receiver?

These speakers were part of a 5.1 home cinema pack, with a passive subwoofer. The DVD player has now stopped working so I want to connect these speakers to a new AV Receiver. Can I do this (I see there are connectors on the AV Receivers for the speakers but not for a passive subwoofer with the black/ red wiring)? Am I going to have to purchase a new active subwoofer for this to work. I'm a bit confused and do not want to be spending a small fortune. Any advice appreciated.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Yes, you'll need something to power that passive subwoofer, and since a mono power amp won't be cheap, you'd do better to look at a budget active subwoofer.

This should give you some pointers

 

[Big Aura]

yup, afraid so. A passive sub is amp'ed in your home cinema all-in-one set-up, whereas a Home Cinema Reciever will only pass through the .1 to be amped by the active sub.

 

[timbo999]

Can you not connect a passive sub to the speaker terminals? Kind of like a speakon/neutrik cable on an MJ Acoustics sub? wild thought and i'm guessing you can't. would like to know, though!

 

[rjb70stoke]

A good while ago I used to use an old stereo amp, as a power amp, to drive a Mission Passive sub, which was coupled with my Kef speaker system.

It was easily the best bass I have ever "felt", and Im including my new Kef Egg speaker system active sub in that.

Could be a good fix/compromise on a budget, as there is plenty of old amps available on eBay.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Can you not connect a passive sub to the speaker terminals? Kind of like a speakon/neutrik cable on an MJ Acoustics sub? wild thought and i'm guessing you can't. would like to know, though!

Not really, because:

a) the combination of the sub and the satellites is going to present impedance problems for the amps in the receiver, which may struggle and trip the internal protection if you're lucky, and if you're not run the risk of damaging the amp stages, and
b) connecting up the way you suggest would involve running the receiver in 'no sub' configuration, which would send a full-frequency signal to the satellites too, running the risk of damaging them. Not to mention sounding pretty nasty.