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There is a way to turn it off and leave it off. This is a twenty year old Sony "subwoofer". It is not a sub-woofer. This is what passed for a "super-woofer" back twenty years ago. It produces additional bass - or thump - at midbass frequencies. It does not have the ability to produce deep bass. Use it as an end table or what have you but for a small price you can buy what is actually a subwoofer. Otherwise, if you really want this unit, replace the plate amplifier with a new unit, you do not repair old subwoofer amplifiers from mass market manufacturers.
Heh, this thing has history. I bought it by mail from J&R Music in 1987. Right after I ordered it I was posted to an Embassy in South America so I redirected it via Panama to my new location. The Speaker dissappeared enroute. 3 years later while working in Scotland, I got a letter from our military command in Panama advising they had discovered a box addressed to me in a warehouse in the canal zone. The shipped it on and, in 1991 it arrived in a box showing signs of massive abuse and water. I pulled the thing out, noted a few dings and bumps, insured it was not wet and plugged it in. The silly thing worked. Since then it has been part of my video system in Scotland, Califoria, Maine and now Idaho. It works as it always has. The only change has been to the reveiver from an old Sony to a newer Onkyo.
It works fine when I listen to a movie or TV show at normal levels but if I want to listen to a music channel or a record at my normal listening level, it turns itself off and on automatically, as it was designed to do. I just wish I could figure out how to properly set it up for low level lstening. In short, a manual would help
Third wives/husbands have a history too, but not too many people want them around.
You can but the service manual here for 20 bucks.
Servive manual
For what it's worth, this was a reply from some interent stranger about the same question on another site:
"Yes, there are a coupla calibration steps that may solve your "early-off" sub problem.
It helps to increase the SubOut voltage from the primary receiver. This goes along with the sub calibration process (sound meter and whatever test disc or tones you use). The SubOut voltage level is found via the remote's Sub Level set-up scale, typically -20dB to 0dB for a Yamaha. This ought to be set closer to -- but NOT at the full end of this scale to avoid possible distortion.
If your subout level already is maxx'd, then leaving the sub amp ON all the time may be all you can do with this unit.
In increasing this on the rcvr, one then needs to reduce/lower the sub amp's own gain setting to compensate, again best using meter and test tones.
One more tip to boost sub amp voltage input is using a One-Female-to-Two-Males Y-splitter (RadShack is good) to utilize the sub amp's L & R inputs; you will need to recalibrate the sub output balance again."
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I can't find a manual under that exact model number at the Sony support site. You may have better luck with the extra numbers they want.
Jim
Im not familiar with your Sony sub.
However what is obviously happening is that you have a voltage sensing circuit in the sub that is borderline switching on the output from your receiver.
Now im not going to rant about sound quality or high bass levels, your obvioulsy attached to this box and thats cool. All you need to do to solve your problem is increasse the RMS voltage from your receiver sub out to the actual sub input.
Do you have any electrical test tools or knowledge ?
The esy answrr is as stated to increase the sub out level on the receiver, if this does not work then a simple $30 preamp in the sub cct could also be an easy answer.
Let me know what youve got and ill be happy to explain electrically what to do
Alan
My electrical knowledge is limited to the odd light bulb replacement. There are many things in life I do not know and electricity is way up there. As a result, it is also an area that I stay far away from. I appreciate the advice so far and will see what options my receiver has.
To the folk who advised increasing the voltage out to the sub, though the receiver does not have anything that is so labeled, I was able to figure out what it does have to serve the purpose and goosed the db's out. It looks like that might have solved my issue so thank you all
Jim
Good news
Sometimes familiar sound is just what you want.
Alan
Yep, and the best part of this forum is the ability to ask questions of folk and get good answers.