Quote:
Is there a way to simply turn the thing on and leave it on.

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.

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

Jim

Good news

Sometimes familiar sound is just what you want.

Alan