Upgrading my garage theater with a new receiver, either Sony 9820 or Yamaha 663, coupled to an existing HTIB by Samsung (hey it was a freebie in a contest). At some point I will add much better speakers but for now it is not feasible. My question is about the sub, it is not an active sub. So will it be able to hook up to the receiver and sound somewhat ok without causing damage to the receiver?

Here is my setup:

Mits. HC1500 proj.
148" BOC screen
PS3
Receiver ?? (see above)
HD DVR Box
HTZ 515 Samsung 5.1

Thanks

Upgrading my garage theater with a new receiver, either Sony 9820 or Yamaha 663, coupled to an existing HTIB by Samsung (hey it was a freebie in a contest). At some point I will add much better speakers but for now it is not feasible. My question is about the sub, it is not an active sub. So will it be able to hook up to the receiver and sound somewhat ok without causing damage to the receiver?

Here is my setup:

Mits. HC1500 proj.
148" BOC screen
PS3
Receiver ?? (see above)
HD DVR Box
HTZ 515 Samsung 5.1

Thanks

Most receivers do not have subwoofer amplification built in. The sub out is a pre-amp output. I don't know the specs of the receivers you're considering, but if the sub output is a phono jack, it's a pre-amp output, and you'll need to get a powered subwoofer, or a separate amplifier for the sub.

Ok, then could I use the existing receiver that came with HTIB to run the sub ("as an amp") and route that to the new receiver? The new receiver then would only be running 5.0 and the other controls the cd player and sub can still run?? Would this work or am I an idiot!!

Ok, then could I use the existing receiver that came with HTIB to run the sub ("as an amp") and route that to the new receiver? The new receiver then would only be running 5.0 and the other controls the cd player and sub can still run?? Would this work or am I an idiot!!

Your old amp probably does not have an input to the power amp section. So you'd be going through two pre-amps. I don't know enough about electronics to know for sure what the consequences of this would be, but I suspect it's not a good idea. My guess is you would overload the input to the old amp's preamplifier, so at best all you would get is noise, much like running the signal through a guitar's fuzz box.

I don't know what your budget is, but even something as cheap as this will blow the HTIB unit out of the water for powering the sub. Not bad for 53 bucks.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-784

Upgrading my garage theater with a new receiver, either Sony 9820 or Yamaha 663, coupled to an existing HTIB by Samsung (hey it was a freebie in a contest). At some point I will add much better speakers but for now it is not feasible. My question is about the sub, it is not an active sub. So will it be able to hook up to the receiver and sound somewhat ok without causing damage to the receiver?

Here is my setup:

Mits. HC1500 proj.
148" BOC screen
PS3
Receiver ?? (see above)
HD DVR Box
HTZ 515 Samsung 5.1


The HTZ-515 specifications are confusing, but I think I can sift the relevant facts out of them. Maybe you might have to help me.

What's confusing is that it is called a 5.1 system, but the manufacturer's web site
http://www.samsung.com/ca/system/consumer/product/2009/01/20/ht_tz515txac/HT-TZ515.pdf
says that the receiver section has 7 channels of power (for 3-4 ohm loads):

"170W x 4 + 180W + 170W x 2"

So help me with the mystery. How are the speakers hooked to the receiver, and are there really 7 sets of power amp output terminals on the back panel of the receiver?

The 2 extras are usually the "B" speakers. Normally the B's are put in another room.

I don't know what your budget is, but even something as cheap as this will blow the HTIB unit out of the water for powering the sub. Not bad for 53 bucks.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-784

Great info Chris, thanks alot. I did not know u could purchase this seperately. That will help alot with the setup!

The 2 extras are usually the "B" speakers. Normally the B's are put in another room.


Hmm. Seems like a not-so-shabby HTIB. The worst part is probably the speakers. It looks very much like a passive sub could be used to upgrade it.

I don't know what your budget is, but even something as cheap as this will blow the HTIB unit out of the water for powering the sub. Not bad for 53 bucks.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-784



Probably not. I've put a number of low cost plate amplfiiers on my test bench and they don't test any better than the amp section of a cheap receiver.

Hmm. Seems like a not-so-shabby HTIB. The worst part is probably the speakers. It looks very much like a passive sub could be used to upgrade it.

It has not been a bad unit for what I use it for. It is setup in my garage for football games, but the biggest problem has been the so called wireless rear speakers. U use a SD card (similar) to plug in the rear of the receiver and that picks up the signal from the plugged in transmitter. The problem is that it never works, the receiver always says "rear check" and no sound is heard from the rears. So essentially I have a 3.1 system and usually about 25 people at my house for the games. It makes it difficult to hear just from the frts.