Adding a soundbar for daily use

[Mudfrog]

So currently I have an Onkyo TX-NR809 receiver. Well, for the second time the HDMI out has stopped working. It should be covered under the extended warranty, but while it's on it's month long journey I'll be stuck with the crappy TV speakers. For a while now, I've thought about adding a soundbar to use for daily tv use, something that will not have quite the power draw of the receiver. My wife likes having the TV on for back ground noise so it could potentially save a bit of money.

I'm going to go with the Vizio SB3820-C6, once I receive my receiver back it will share my subwoofer with the soundbar. I'm assuming it's as simple as using a splitter like this: splitter.

So do any of you use a soundbar in conjunction with a receiver? How do you have it set up and for what uses?