Bass management may or may not kill the sub signal, depending on how it's set up. Most home theater subs are powered subs hooked up to the sub/LFE output of the receiver or pre/pro; that output gets the .1 signal (when the .1 channel is used, for DVD's, DVD-Audio, and SACD) as well as any re-directed bass from the full-range speakers. If your main speakers are set to "large" (as many people choose when using nearly full-range speakers from a 2-channel system), then nothing is re-directed to the sub and the sub is "dead" for 2-channel listening. If the mains are set to "small," however, then the receiver's bass management kicks in and the sub/LFE channel will be active with 2-channel material. DVD-Audio and SACD are a bit of an exception, however, as 5.1 analog inputs typically bypass a receiver's bass management (the Outlaw 950 includes some analog bass management, and I think the Lexicon MC-12 and MC-8 pre/pros also do something along those lines). At that point, you are dependent on either the player (and the 222ES may have some functionality along these lines, I'm not sure) or a separate bass manager like the Outlaw ICBM .

Either approach could be used in your case (speaker or pre level inputs).

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