Pioneer A/V receiver and Bose speakers

[ms1pob]

This is my first time in this forum and have not had much time looking at all of the threads, so I hope this problem has not already been addressed. I have a Pioneer VSX-D850S receiver and recently purchased Bose Acoustimass 3 IV series speakers (AM-3) for my surround system. I have Bose 301's connected to my front speakers and the center speaker is a Bose. My problem is with the AM-3 system. I originally wanted to hook the Bose sub to the passive sub out on the receiver and the two small Bose to the surround out on the receiver. BUT, according to the Bose manual, the acoustimass system connects to the front outs, because the AM-3 is designed to be used for front speakers with a subwoofer (theoretically a 2.1 system). The people at Bose said this: "It is preferable to use the Bose Acoustimass 3 system as the front left and right speakers, but you could certainly use the system for surround speakers as well. Please note though that more bass information will be present in the front left and right channels, so you may not get much as much bass with the system connected to the surround speaker-level terminals on the receiver."
All I want is a nice 5.1 surround system set-up with what I have available. Any suggestions on how to connect everything would be greatly appreciated.

[ttskyline01]

ok here is your problem. your bose am-3 does not have a powered sub. the am-3 is designed to be ONLY played through the front speakers, but you can use it for the rear surround. with that being said you will have to get a powered sub because the receiver does not have a passive sub output. the output is for powered subwoofers or an power amp to drive a passive subwoofer.

[ms1pob]

Thanks for the response. I figured that I could use the small speakers connected to my rear surround. And actually, the VSX-D850S does have a passive sub output, so I can try and hook each speaker through my receiver seperately rather than doing the bose hook-up. If it all works out, I will let you all know. Oh, by the way, I didn't realize until after I posted my original thread, that Bose is not a welcome name on this forum. Sorry!

[ttskyline01]

hey buddy dont worry about it. all that matters is if you can achieve good to great sound for your home theater system.