Why aren't my subs turning on?


I have a pair of Von Schweikert VS-3/S subs. Auto-on appears to be the only option, but they do not turn on unless I manually turn them off and then on? They are being fed from the line level (called LFE) outputs of an SMS-1. One to each sub. Both were purchased used from diff owners; hard to believe that they both are independently defective in the same way. They both play when I run the auto-eq frequency sweep. I am sending same question to VS, but your thoughts would help. TIA.
swampwalker
Could it be something with the SMS-1? Would it be easy to verify it's functioning? (Make sure the subsonic filter is set the way you want.)
You probably have to leave the power off/on switch in the ON position at all times in order for that feature to work.

They will turn off 15 minutes or so after you stop playing music. Once you start playing music again (as long as the switch is ON) they should turn on and begin playing. That's how most subs with auto-off/on usually work.
Plato- I am leaving the in the auto-on mode all the time, but they don't turn on when I start playing.

Jameswei- The SMS-1 does "work"; at least it goes through auto-eq or manual eq, emitting frequency sweep tones and teh eq can be adjusted.

All- the subs show a red light when plugged in, in the auto-on mode and in "stand-by" They are supposed to switch to green when activiated by a signal. That does not happen unless I manually turn them off and then turn them back on, while music is playing.
The LFE channel is not the same as bass. The LFE channel is used by DVDs for low frequency effects such as explosions, earthquakes, and airplane flyovers. Some preamps allow you to direct bass output to the LFE channel, so that all bass is redirected to it. If you could do this, then you would get a response when playing musical material out of your subs. Otherwise, you should send the right and left channels to the subs if the subs have a high-pass filter in them that you can use to roll off the high frequencies that are being fed them. Another alternative is to feed the left and right channels to an outboard crossover, that would allow you to feed only the low frequencies to the subs. Since frequencies below 100 Hz are non-directional, your subs' performance would improve if you fed both left and right channels to each sub and used a crossover frequency of 80 Hz for the subs.