Active (Powered) Sub-woofer and Receiver question?

Question

I recently had two 250 Watt powered sub-woofers fall into my possession (Sony SA WX700). Being the responsible college student, I am taking it upon myself to put together a sound system that will shake my apartment complex to the ground. I am relatively new to the world of audio, and have spent a few weeks researching the various components necessary.
I'm currently looking at receivers, and I have a general question so that I can better understand what I need. From what I have to deduced, the power rating on a receiver (i.e. 800 Watts) is the maximum power that can be drawn from the receiver for speakers.

What I am trying to figure out, is if active (powered) sub-woofers would factor into that maximum power rating. For example, if I purchased an 800 Watt receiver, would I only have 300 Watts left for speakers after I hooked up the sub-woofers?

Answer 1

when buying an av receiver its NOT the max wattage that you go, thats usually a heap of crap thats stamped all over the box



its



RMS or continous power



which is the true wattage of the receiver and thats a lot lower than the max wattage and it depends on how much channels the receiver has got,



and your subs have got there own power supply so if you get a receiver which is 400w rms and you add your 2 subs you should be getting 900w rms

Answer 2

You can't do this. Your Powered Sub woofer won't be able to draw enough power from the receiver. If your system is only 450 watts, I imagine the 5 main speakers are probably 75-80 watts each leaving less than 100 watts for the subwoofer. The system is not designed for a high wattage powered sub. Those subs are usually about 30 - 50 watts. You won't hear much if at all. Another issue is most of these subs are front firing, where you all the effects of bass in the first place. Suggestion, though it may look funny, build a small platform with a hole large enough for the actual subwoofer grill to face downward (leave at least 1 inch from floor to the grill protecting the subwoofer cone. It will not be the same as a true downfiring sub, but it will be closer to the real thing.

Answer 3

No, powered subwoofers use their own amp, not the receivers. You need to look at the watts rms with channels driven. A 2 channel stereo receiver might say 100 watts rms per channel, 2 channels driven. A 5.1 surround receiver might advertise 100 watts per channel, but in the specs it says with 2 channels driven, so when when driving 5 channels you are getting much less than 100w per channel. You need to look at the more specific power ratings, "800 watts total power" doesn't help you much.