HTIB Subwoofer conversion

[weebl]

About 5 years ago, we got a JVC HTIB from my in-laws for Christmas. It had a 5 disc DVD player, and a powered subwoofer among other things. Not audiophile stuff, but it was good for primarly cable TV viewing and occasional DVD at home. The DVD section started to go, with the trays doing weird things, but still able to play.

Finally, the sound went, coincidentally, just before we bought a new TV.

We're not rushing into replacing that system (have another DVD player we're using instead), but eventually, I want to do the following in no particular order:

- New Blu-Ray player (offerings from LG and Sony look promising, something basic with clear pictures is all I want_
- New receiver (Yamaha, model yet to be decided upon), which will power my 2 pairs of car speakers from my younger days - Boston Acoustics and Infinitys. Those Bostons put most mainstream speakers to shame, and the Infinitys aren't too shabby either. I've finally resigned to the fact they'll never make it into the minivan. Yes, I'll have custom MDF enclosures built for these as well. The Yamaha receivers get a big plus, since the handle the 4 ohm impendence automatically (as well as 2, 6 and of course 8).

Of course, I would need a subwoofer as well, so I'm wondering if there is a way to open up the HTIB sub and add in RCA plugs for input from the receiver. Suppose I'd need some sort of remote turn on lead as well. Any way to do this? This is a powered sub, not passive.

 

[Quattro Pete]

What are the specs on that sub? Is it really worth messing with? Good sub is what makes or breaks a home-theater setup very often. If you have $100-$200 to spare, you can probably get a pretty decent 10" powered sub these days.

 

[weebl]

Don't know the specs off hand. The sub seemed decent enough as part of the HTIB. I was thinking of kind of using this sub as an interim one until I'm ready to upgrade it. I suppose another option besides disassembly is figuring the pinout of the proprietary cable that connected it to the "brain". This thing had all the speaker outputs coming out of the powered sub was well. Possibly a repair manual somewhere would have that information. I believe the model was TH-M303.

 

[Quattro Pete]

OK, this sub has a 6" driver. How big are your main speakers? If they're at least 6" and you do a good job designing the enclsures, I'd just run them in full-range mode ("LARGE" setting on the receiver) and forget this sub altogether. If those Bostons are as good as you're describing, they'll do the sound more justice than that JVC sub. No offense, but the components in these HTIB systems are really really poor quality.

 

[weebl]

Okay, I may just do that then, and get a sub at some point down the road. I found schematics last night, but they don't tell me anything about the pinout. I knew HTIB components are usually mediocre, to average at best, I figured with a sub, you don't hear it the way you do full range speakers.

The Bostons are 5 1/4" and the Infinitys are 6 1/2". Absolutely crystal clear sound from these, and they did put out some decent bass for full range speakers.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Yeah, to me personally, these small HTIB subs sound very muddy. They're designed to be crossed over high (since they're supporting very tiny satellite speakers that can't even reproduce lower midrange) and aren't capable of low end output, which is what a proper sub was meant to do. But I'm picky about my sound. I'm guessing some people would be OK with it if they never had an opportunity to hear anything better (not saying you).

What about your center speaker? What are you going to use? You want to have 3 very similar sounding speakers (L/R/C) to achieve a seamless front sound stage. Otherwise, as actors move across the screen, their voice tones will change as the sound goes from L to C to R. Again, no big deal for some, but others will find it distracting.