HELP! i just bought a weird sub!

[teekay]

the model is sony ss-wg v8. it has two rca cables coming out of the back and another thick cable with a 9-pin mini-din connector. on the front it has a power button and surround sound mode controls. i can't figure out what plugs into where, especially the minidin thing. i've never seen it before! :(

[Resident Loser]

...any info or model #...I'm thinkin' you either got some gray-market goods or a piece-part sub from a Sony surround system using a dedicated wiring scheme. Neither of which bodes well...

Can you provide any other info? Are you in the US or another location?

jimHJJ(...???...)

[stuartlittle]

Sounds like a G9 cable, which is a cable that carries the 5 channel surround sound signal. Some surround sound processors send out the signal in individual channels using RCA cables and some use the G9 cable. There are adapters that convert from G9 to RCA http://www.midiland.com/products.asp. You may or may not have much luck using this sub with your system, but someone on here will know better than I do.

[teekay]

i agree. i think it's a piece-part sub from a Sony surround system. i've tried contacting sony care and visiting nearby electronic stores but nothing's working. yes i'm in the us, ames iowa. i got the sub at a clearance sale in a small town in iowa. i didn't know much about subs at the time so i didn't think to make sure i knew where the cables went. bad idea. if i could find a way to convert the mini-din to an rca, that'd be great.

[Resident Loser]

...to adapt nearly everything to nearly anything...however, the functions of each individual pin in the DIN-type connector is my biggest concern...chances are the two RCAs are the inputs, particularly if one is red and the other white. The DIN connector MAY be outputs to front, center and rear speakers or maybe not...without any paperwork or identification of the existing connections, it could be fatal to what you may be thinking of connecting it to...

You say there is a "power" switch and "surround mode"control, are there any other markings that might identify things to increase the accuracy of any educated guesswork the forum members can provide? With a "mode" control, it could even be part of an add-on to a game or PC sound system ...Is the model number actually "ss-wg v8"? Any warning labels? Something like "use only with..." or some such?

jimHJJ(...any little bit of what may seem meaningless info could be helpful...)

[teekay]

it says magnetically shielded type and then the model on the back. on the front it says surround sound system. i saw the exact same sub on ebay sometime and the seller said it has a 100 w amp inside. it's sealed so i couldn't check. i think he was just trying to sell his sub. what i think currently (this seems to be changing every few days) is the mini-din plugs into a pc sound card (i've checked online and some sound cards have this kind of output, called a G9 or 9-pin output for 5.1 6-channel surround sound) and then the other two rca's go to the surround speakers. i saw another surround sound system (different brand though) online and that's the way it was hooked up. makes sense since the sub has surround mode controls; the surround speakers would have to draw from it to be controlled. thanks a lot for your help. my challenge now is to find where to buy a sound card with this g9 connector.

[gc18534]

Well, since I bought it for $12 and thought it needed an electrical power source (since I didn't get any sound out of it) I decided to dissect the speaker by cutting a hole in the back. I figured, "perhaps there are 2 power lines to the amplifier" but turns out that there is no amplifier built into the back section of the speaker.

Looking in the back, the 2 grey wires go directly into the speaker. I can't tell if the 9-pin cable connects to the speaker itself, though it wouldn't make much sense to amplify the sound and send it all the way back to the receiver only to make the sound travel all the way back down the 2 grey wires. This is kinda weird.

I don't think I can rip off the front section without permanently damaging the speaker. The back section can be easily fixed with some liquid nails and particle board. Yeah, I know I'll probably lose quality that way, but still, if I wanted quality I'd get something more expensive than $12.

So I guess the dude at the tool sale was right. It is a functional speaker without using the 9-pin connector whatsoever. The 9-pin goes into the plastic front section for whatever reason, so if you don't have a sony receiver with the plug you can cut it off with wire cutters if the speaker works.

Since my receiver needs a powered subwoofer, this doesn't work for me. Oh well. Maybe I can find something to amplify the speaker later, though I have no idea if it'd be worth it since I could dissect a $50 5.1 kit or get a cheap home theatre one for $100 if I wanted a budget subwoofer.

The speaker comes from a kit. It's from Sony Asia: MHC-RG88. (In case that helps anyone). That's about all I can remember for now, but I think this might help some poor confused soul out there, like I was until I dissected the thing.

Updated info: Seems like it's a 180 Watt RMS sub.