An active is a passive subwoofer with a amplifier built on top or bottom. Thick or small wires can be hooked to a line level source such as a subwoofer pre-amp from a A/V reciever. Then hook your spare amp to the passive subwoofer. If the wires doesn't have any connectors called Phono or RCA plugs on the ends. Go to Radio Shack or a store similar it and buy a pack of phono plugs. There are solderless (doesn't give you a good physical connection) and terminal (makes a good solid connection from soldering). The positive wire connects to the middle terminal of the phone plug. The negative connects to the outside terminal of the phono plug.