I came across a Sony setup (HCD-541) w/ the subwoofer (SEN-R5420). The sub has the system power cable and speaker inputs, and connects to the receiver via a "system control" cable. The receiver doesn't work, although it will power on. It lights up, as does the sub, but the display doesn't light up, and tuner and such doesn't work.

Question is can the sub work by itself? It's got the power cord, and an input used to get low level from the receiver, and I'd like to hook it up in place of my under performing Yamaha 6" sub. This thing is a monster, and I hate to get rid of it just because the receiver quit working. Thanks!

hi guys. im new here and i just ran across this thread. Im in the same boat as codaic. did anyone ever find an awnser for him? thanx

Hi,

When I acquired this set (from the dump), it came without the power cable.

I fixed this by soldering out the (sony) connectors and fixing the flatcable directly to the circuitboard.

When I did this I took out the circuitboard to get some room for soldering, this is quite easy to do with easy connectors and all.

I remember there is some text printed next to the pins which tells you a little about their functions.
I recon it's just a matter of shorting a couple of pins just like you'd do in a pc power supply.

You just need to find out which pin activates the relay in the subwoofer.
Maybe it's easy to trace the circuitry, if you find the relay you want.
Maybe you could take some measurements on the connector, there definitely is a standby power supply for the 'standby' led.

I can't really help you at this moment, because I was happy to get it working and didn't really have a good look at it.

If you're still serious about this, maybe you could take some high resolution pictures of the circuitboard and post them up here.
What you want to find is a more or less direct connection from the power butten, thru the flatcable to the relay you hear when you turn the system on or off.