I have a set of the powered sub with Energy Connoisseur speaker system includes center box as well. Also I own a sub. I am powering this setup as a3/1 theatre, problem is the advertised 500 watts from my reciever is more like 100wattsx5 (probably less knowing Sony;s tactics) My powered subs rarely come on. Is there such a thing as damaging your soeakers by under powering them? Unitl now I have been living in an apartment so there was no chance to turn em up, but now .......

Thanx 

 #1 - A 500 watt receiver is supposed to be 100x5.  There's nothing false or misleading about that.

 #2 - Your sub(s) has its own amp, the receiver is completely and entirely irrelevant as far as powering it (them) goes.

If your sub isn't coming on, you might want to ensure the you have it set up to.  Somewhere in your receiver setup there'll be an option to set the sub output to "sub+main" or something like that.  You must set it that way or the sub won't be used for anything but the .1 track on 5.1 material.  If there are channel trims, the sub's might not be high enough to trigger the sub's auto-on feature.  Trim the signal up and turn the sub down to fix.

"Power" of your system has nothing to do with anything.

You cannot damage your speakers by underpowering them.  Rest assured, you've never fed more than 10 watts RMS into them... ever (unless you're deaf now as a result).

 Make sure your speakers are set to small and the subwoofer to on, otherwise you will only get the .1 channel and no bass redirection at your chosen crossover setting (should be 80 regardless of the speakers unless they are satellites then higher is better) or bass management of cds, mp3s, etc. etc. 

Receiver specifications are usually for any two channels driven and are done that way for a reason, you don't need much of the power at any given time and rarely across all channels for any length of time with full spectrum sound, with a sub you should have plenty of headroom (peak power reserves available without clipping the amp section) in a small to medium size room (2000 cubic feet or smaller) given no large, permanent openings to other rooms.

500 Watts and 100 watts X 5 are not the same thing. I thought you guys knew somthing on here.

scorpion_saga:

500 Watts and 100 watts X 5 are not the same thing. I thought you guys knew somthing on here.

I guess you weren't so hot at math.  By coincidence, you know absolutely nothing about audio equipment either.

 In terms of the auto-on of your subwoofer, if you are using this auto feature, know that the sub's electronics are awaiting a certain voltage level prior to switching on. This is predetermined at the factory. If your sub is not switching on at lower volumes, try jacking up the receiver's sub out (in the on screen menu system) and lowering the sub's actual volume control to compensate (so the overall bass loudness doesn't run you out of the room). This will cause the sub to 'kick on' earlier without  you having to bump the volume way up to do so.

Yes, receiver ratings are horribly liberal these days. They not only give a 'total power' number, but it's typically computed by multiplying the receiver's output at ONE channel at 1kHz x the number of channels. A typical reciever will not deliver anywhere close to this rated output.

Proper receiver ratings should be XXX watts per channel FIVE (or seven) channels operating, from 20-20,000 Hz, no more than .01% Total Harmonic Distortion. This was the standard back in the 70's and 80's but since moving to multiple channel systems, something had to go, usually it's the power supply and that causes power output to drop.