7 speakers - 6.1 receiver (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Pop]

I am looking to upgrade to Paradigm Monitor 5's as my main speakers over my mini's. currently I have 370cc, 2 mini's and 2 atoms in the rear. They are powered by a denon avr 1804, which is a 6.1 receiver. If I were to buy the 5's, I would move the mini's to the back, but what should I do about the rear center? place one atom there? can I put both? Is my only real option to upgrade to a 7.1 receiver? Anyone with adice, it is greatly appreciated.

 

[David Judah]

You can put both in the back and wire them in series or parallel. If they are 8 ohm nominal then series will create a 16 ohm load and parallel will bring about a 4 ohm load that the receiver will "see."

Your listening habits(how loud you run your system)and the size of the room will determine which would be better. You could try a parallel connection first to see if the receiver can handle it, but be careful since it will tax the amp more than a series connection.

I have a Panasonic digital receiver that has 6 speaker outputs and I run 7 speakers with the back surrounds in a parallel connection. I haven't had any problems with it driving that more difficult load. I previously had a 7 channel receiver and I didn't feel like rearranging my speakers, so that is why I'm doing it that way.

You could run just one speaker in the back, but there is a theoretical problem based on how our auditory system works that under some circumstances could cause back surround information to sound like it is coming from the front. I say theoretical because I've never witnessed the effect in systems that were set up that way, but I have heard other people report that it has happened to them. How often it might happen or under what circumstances, I'm not sure, but it is something to consider when deciding how to configure your system.

DJ