My Toshiba Home Theatre finally kicked the bucket after 6 years of using it.  And lastly we primarily used it as an Amplifier to play sound from Computer, DVD Recorder and Sky.  Every thing is wired to the DVD recorder and we use Optial from DVd recorder to Amplifer/reciever.

So because we already had the speakers from Toshiba SD-42HK we thought our best bet was to just buy a reciever.

Well with New Year sales going on, we went to Harvey Normans and found the Pioneer VSX 517 for $299.  Pretty good price.  Compared to the next model up at $499.  And pinoneer is reputable

We stripped the wires from the toshiba so that we could hook them up.  But we are having a problem with the subwoofer.  We got a adapter connecter thingy from Jay Car, stripped the wire and plugged it into the Subwoofer plug in the bottom.  But upon reading the insturction manul it seems this is for powered subwoofers.

There is also an additional subwoofer plughole at the top  and in the book it says it is from DVD player for 5.1 Channel analog outputs and the top one is for multi channel inputs.

I am just wondering what this means?

Did we wire the connecter/adapter thingy wrong, which is why there is no sound from the Subwoofer?  As we had to cut the wires on the speakers, strip them.  So, maybe we got the negative/postive wired wrong?

Is it because my subwoofer does not have its own power souce?

Is there another output hole thingy we can plug the subwoofer into?

Or do we need to invest in a powered subwoofer? If so, what would be the most cheapest and from where?

As it stands, the current speakers work and are a big upgrade from crappy TV speakers.  But we would like subwoofer for the Boom boom sounds..and get the good effects.

Also, another thing I noticed with the volume, when we make it louder the DB go down, and when we make it quieter the DB go up.  Shouldn't it go the other way?  ie start at 0 for low and then the high db for the loudest sound.

I just find that a bit odd.

I look forward to your advice.