Passive? Power or No Power?

[hemp68]

Totally new here, first posting. I recently purchased a very inexpensive set of speakers on line..one center and one sub woofer to try an complete my mixed home theater system, without doing any research. The subwoofer turns out to be 'passive'? My Sony receiver only has an RCA sub out connection and the sub woofer has standard split speaker wire connections (pos/neg) Can this work at all? If so how?

 

[markw]

You're gonna need an amplifier for that subwoofer.

Either that, or hook it up to a speaker "B" terminal. Sometimes, the mains hook to the sub which, in tuen, is hooked to the amplifier. ...or follow the directions that came with it.

In any case, I wouldn't expect any earth shaking dinosaur footfalls from it.

 

[WoodieB]

The best way to run your passive sub without an amp is to run the left & right front speaker wires to the corresponding input terminals on the sub, then from the output terminals on the sub to the left & right front speakers. A lot of receivers don't react very well to having both the "A" and "B" front speakers driven at the same time.

 

[markw]

I agree , if that's an option.

He wasn't too clear in the original post.