JohninKansas, thanks so much for the detailed tutorial. I will study it and get back to you.

Artbrooks said If your Altec Lansing speakers are at all like mine, the power cable goes from the sub-woofer (the big square box) and plugs in with a regular 3-prong plug. Mine doesn't have a converter, which is a big (3x4 inch), usually black, box at the end of the cable where it plugs into the wall or power bar. If that cable is missing - or not plugged in - than your speakers don't have any power going to them and cannot function. Artbrooks, my speaker setup is like yours. The power cable goes from the subwoofer to the wall socket without a converter. I've checked the power cable and wall socket, and I don't see any problems.

One more question: I thought the subwoofer would make a big difference in the quality of sound, even for classical mnusic, not just for hard rock. In the old days, the output of stereo speakers dropped precipitously below 50 Hz, so bass boost helped a lot. Would a subwoofer make the sound quality better now?