Have subwoofer turn on with a/v receiver

[muncybob]

We are doing some work in our living room which is where the sound system is normally located. Due to limitations I must have the sub almost at the opposite end of the room as the receiver and due to this it is plugged into an outlet and not the receiver. In our temporary location in another room I have the sub close to the receiver and have it plugged into the back of the receiver which means it powers up when the receiver is turned on. The Mrs would like that to happen once all equipment is retuned to their original locations but I don't know of a way other than an extension cord to do this...and it seems to me that the extension cord is not the ideal set up(don't know why, but it just doesn't "sound right" to me). Do I have any other options? Not a big deal really...she just doesn't think that little red light should be lit up when we aren't using the receiver and I'm not about to unplug the sub after each movie or music session.

 

[j_garcia]

The sub should NEVER be plugged into the receiver....EVER. Tell her not to worry about the little red light.

 

[Takeereasy]

Put some black electrical tape over the red light or black out the light with marker if you must. J garcia is 100% right. NEVER plug the sub into the receiver, the outlets on the back are suited to run a Small fan for cooling purposes or other very small power requirement devices. Subs draw a boatload of power. Not good for the receiver is the short of it. Also maybe the sub has an auto on/off switch on the back whereby it detects the signal automatically and shuts off about 10 or 15 min after fed the last signal by the receiver. Check the back for the options. Most subs have the options of : on, off or auto. Select auto if you have that option.

 

[MDS]

Ditto on what the others have said about plugging into the switched outlets on the receiver - never do it.

If you really want to have the sub turn on only when the receiver is turned on, the way to do it is with a power strip/power conditioner that has its own switched outlets - then turn the strip on and off to power up/down the whole system.

 

[sivadselim]

You could use something like THIS, plugged into the receiver's switched outlet, with the sub plugged into either simply some sort of triggerable power switch or a powerstrip/protector that has 12v trigger input capability (there are several available).

 

[muncybob]

I guess it's a good thing that I've hardly used the system in it's temp location and hopefully everything goes back to the main room tomorrow!

 

[bandit]

does anyone remember the "clapper" clap on - clap off...
On second thought that probably would be a problem for a subwoofer wouldn't it. oh well - nevermind.

But as stated before - never plug anything substancial into those reciever outlets. They are designed for it. I almost wish they'd eliminate them from recievers all together.

Bandit.

 

[xboxweasel]

I used to have an older sub that would hum when no signal was sent to it. So I wired up a 120VAC relay to a duplex receptacle. The relay was powered by the receiver's switched 120VAC outlet. When the receiver was turned on, it would trigger the relay, which would energize the duplex receptacle. Really simple and solved my humming problem. You could do something similar. But, like everyone mentioned, it is not really needed.

 

[bongobob]

If you really want to have the sub turn on only when the receiver is turned on, the way to do it is with a power strip/power conditioner that has its own switched outlets - then turn the strip on and off to power up/down the whole system.

Do you mean there are power strips that have a set of outlets where if one is activated it will trigger the second outlet to fire up? That would fix my no amp problem which has no trigger... - B

 

[MDS]

Do you mean there are power strips that have a set of outlets where if one is activated it will trigger the second outlet to fire up? That would fix my no amp problem which has no trigger... - B

Not quite exactly like that but many simple power strips have both 'always on' and 'switched outlets'. Alway On means exactly that - as long as the strip is plugged in to the wall, they supply power. The switched outlets only become active when the power strip is turned on. If you have a strip like that you would have to use its power button to turn everything on. So if the receiver and sub were connected to the switched outlets, when you hit the power button on the strip the receiver and sub will turn on.

If you want something more sophisticated as you describe where turning on one outlet causes the others to turn on after a delay you would need a power console/ power conditioner type of device. Some of them even allow you to program the sequence of startup as well as set the delay time.

Belkin has some new products that look interesting: http://catalog.belkin.com/PureAV.process?Section_Id=202493 I haven't bought one so can't vouch for them, but these are examples of what you need. I had found the manuals for some of the models sometime back but can't remember where and they don't appear to be available from that site.

 

[bongobob]

Thanks. I've heard of the Belkin's but the description doesn't say much about which model(s) might have the features I'm looking for. Time for some research.....

 

[joebob]

The Monster HTS 1000 MKII will do it. It's a power strip style and retails for $150. You can find it online for around 100. I didn't even know it had the capability when I bought it. I was getting sick of turning my amp on and off manually all the time. My research led me back to the power conditioner I already own. It even comes with the 12v cable. I found the cable in my box of misc A/V stuff. Now, I am using it to switch my amp and sub, works great.

 

[dp_pb]

Does the sub have a remote? if so you could use a programmable remote to switch the receiver and the sub on/off at the same time.

alternatively you could look at a sub with an auto on/off feature that detects an audio signal from the receiver and switches on automatically such as http://www.mordauntshort.com/summary.php?PID=28&Title=Premiere+309W

hope this helps..
dp