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Powered Subwoofer On 24/7

K

kolax

macrumors G3
Original poster
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
The subwoofer in my setup is self powered (60 watts) and remains on all the time, unless I remember to switch it off.

I've been wondering how much power I'm wasting when I forget to turn it off. I'm guessing it'll still be using the full 60 watts regardless of no analogue signal. I do have the volume down by about 30% on it.

Who else remembers to switch the subwoofer off?
 
Kilamite said:
The subwoofer in my setup is self powered (60 watts) and remains on all the time, unless I remember to switch it off.

I've been wondering how much power I'm wasting when I forget to turn it off. I'm guessing it'll still be using the full 60 watts regardless of no analogue signal. I do have the volume down by about 30% on it.

Who else remembers to switch the subwoofer off?
Click to expand...

I doubt it is using 60 watts at all times, but if you really want to know get a Kill-a-watt and plug your sub into it. It'll let you know how much power it is drawing at any given time and do a cumulative draw until you unplug it. That is your best way to know how much anything draws. You can pick one up for like $20 bucks online. My kill-a-watt has surprised me more often than not. Items in my house I assumed drew a lot of power, really don't and vice versa.
 
Yeah I think I will get a meter just to see, be useful to have in general.

Thing is, the subwoofer may very well be using near enough 40-50 watts all the time if it is amplifying an analogue signal (it doesn't know when the home cinema is off). A rough calculation suggests it is costing me around £5 extra on power bills if it is consuming a full 60 watts all the time.

Is there any powered subwoofers that turn themselves off based on no analogue signal? Mine might very well do this, but I've had it for 7 years and the manual is long gone and can't find much information about it online.
 
I think you are confusing the Amplifier power with Power consumption, 60W is what the Amp is able to output (sound amplification), Subwoofers don't consume near as much power as you think. If you share which subwoofer you are using, we can see what Amp it is, usually a class D Amp had a consumption of 1 or 2 W (or power). That is why is possible to have a "self-power" device.

Turning the Subwooffer off is not necessary, their stand by power is very very small.
 
Kilamite said:
Ah ok, this is the model:

http://www.gale.co.uk/storm8.html

Does mention max power consumption of 80 watts though?
Click to expand...

It doesn't really say what Amp is using or the impedance of the Woofer, but on any case, you don't have anything to worry about, if the amp got not signal to amplifie, it is just running on leakage current which very low, there is some residual load but it is very minimal that IMO doesn't worth to shut the device down.
 
With everything in standby/as off as you can make it without unplugging, our living room tv setup (LCD tv, ATV 2, Xbox 360, receiver, speakers, subwoofer, BD player, Freesat DVR) was drawing 90W. I considered that significant enough that I put everything but the satellite box on a power strip (satellite box needs to stay on so the DVR will work) and turn it all off at the wall when we're not using it. YMMV but it's definitely worth checking it out with a meter to see.
 
maturola said:
It doesn't really say what Amp is using or the impedance of the Woofer, but on any case, you don't have anything to worry about, if the amp got not signal to amplifie, it is just running on leakage current which very low, there is some residual load but it is very minimal that IMO doesn't worth to shut the device down.
Click to expand...

emt1 said:
You're over thinking things. Just leave it on. It isn't using that much power.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was just curious I guess as to how much power it was consuming. With the speaker not actually outputting any sound, it's obvious now that it won't be consuming much power.

Thanks.
 
I wondered the same thing when I came home with my powered subwoofer.

have a look at the back of your receiver - mine has an electric socket back there for exactly this situation. I have my powered sub plugged in to the socket on the rear of my receiver - whenever I switch my receiver off, the sub turns off.
 
My receiver didn't have a "switched" outlet, so I got one of those APC surge protectors that allows you to plug in a "master" device, and it turns other outlets off and on when the master device is on. My receiver goes in the master outlet for control.

When I turn on my receiver, the subwoofer turns on. When the receiver turns off, the sub does also...
 
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