My father-in-law got a new DVD player/surround sound system. It's one of those that fronts, center and rears are wired through the sub. How does that pass 5.1? I've seen them, but never had any experience with them. I have a reciever with sub pre-out, so I've never had to deal with one.

My father-in-law got a new DVD player/surround sound system. It's one of those that fronts, center and rears are wired through the sub. How does that pass 5.1? I've seen them, but never had any experience with them. I have a reciever with sub pre-out, so I've never had to deal with one.
Brand? Model #?

Brand? Model #?

I have no idea, I just would like to know how you can get 5.1 surround sound when all the speakers are connected through the sub.

I have Polk RM10 5.1 speakers and the owner's manual for the sub says that you only connect the other speakers directly to the sub if your receiver is two channel or Dolby Pro Logic with no "Sub out."

Otherwise, each speaker should be connected directly to the receiver.

I have Polk RM10 5.1 speakers and the owner's manual for the sub says that you only connect the other speakers directly to the sub if your receiver is two channel or Dolby Pro Logic with no "Sub out."

Otherwise, each speaker should be connected directly to the receiver.
All subs with 2-channel speaker-level inputs/outputs can be connected to a pair of speakers that way regardless of whether the receiver is 2-channel or not and regardless of whether it has a sub out or not.

But that is not what the OP is asking about. There are many HTiB systems which require all the speakers be connected to the subwoofer. With these systems, the subwoofer unit usually contains the amplifiers for each of the speakers as well as for itself. The head unit, or player, is only used to read and/or decode the media.