# Active sub with passive system.



## ankursamtaney (Apr 26, 2010)

Am helping a friend put together a system for his living room, consisting of the following:
3 x Behringer Truth B2031P (L + C + R)
2 x Behringer Truth B2030P (rears / surrounds)
1 x Behringer B2092A - Active Subwoofer.
5.1 Receiver - yet to be decided upon. Either Denon, Pioneer, Yamaha or Marantz

the fronts (incl center) and surrounds are passive speakers, which will go into the receiver / amp. however, the sub is an active one; it was news to me that active subs were _the_ way to go with home theatres. Anyway, so the only way to connect this sub would be through the RCA sub-out

My question is:
Are the RCA sub-outs on the receiver / amp, 'post' volume? i.e. if i turn down the volume on the amp, will the output going to the Sub also go lower? .. If not, how does one balance the sub to work with the rest of the speakers?

Furthermore, isn't it a pain to have an active sub woofer hooked up to a passive system? it means that I can't simply turn on / off the whole kit using the remote of the receiver, but have to manually switch the sub on / off from a switch on the wall. I know some (probably more expensive) subs have auto-on/off features based on the input signal, but any easier yet practical options to work with the set up I'm talking about?

Any suggestions welcome. Thanks, in advance!


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## Dale Rasco (Apr 11, 2009)

My question is: Are the RCA sub-outs on the receiver / amp, 'post' volume? i.e. if i turn down the volume on the amp, will the output going to the Sub also go lower? .. If not, how does one balance the sub to work with the rest of the speakers? 

*No, the volume on the receiver will control the volume of the sub. There is no need to manually adjust the volume of the subwoofer once it is initially set. *

Furthermore, isn't it a pain to have an active sub woofer hooked up to a passive system? it means that I can't simply turn on / off the whole kit using the remote of the receiver, but have to manually switch the sub on / off from a switch on the wall. I know some (probably more expensive) subs have auto-on/off features based on the input signal, but any easier yet practical options to work with the set up I'm talking about? 

*The majority of subs, regardless of price range, have an auto-on/off switch these days.*


Hope this helps....


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## ankursamtaney (Apr 26, 2010)

Thanks. Helps, but is disappointing 

The set I was considering here is pretty much a Studio Monitor set-up. So the sub, unfortunately, doesn't have an auto on / off mechanism.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

ankursamtaney said:


> Thanks. Helps, but is disappointing
> 
> The set I was considering here is pretty much a Studio Monitor set-up. So the sub, unfortunately, doesn't have an auto on / off mechanism.



Something like this might work for turning on you sub automatically.
http://www.bitsltd.net/SmartStrip

Matt


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## ankursamtaney (Apr 26, 2010)

Thanks, Matt.

Another one of the zillion benefits of living in the US! Haven't seen anything of this sort in Singapore (yet), but will scout around for it.


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