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Speaker setup (1 Viewer)

Randy Noel

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Mar 28, 2002
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101
Let me try this question again. Here's what I would like to do, and I don't know if it is possible. Can I hook up two surround speakers to the same speaker wire, which is AR's 14/4 in-wall wire? What I want to do, if feasible, is use my four existing surround speakers as my rears, with a pair of each mounted above and slightly behind my seating area, creating in effect a bi-polar effect, and upgrade my fronts. This is all new to me, so any advice would be appreciated.
 

ToddJoseph

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Joined
Sep 9, 2000
Messages
66
Randy,
You can do this, however you will be losing sound quality. Ie if your eciever is rated 100x5 channels, your now using 7 channels so that drops your power rating to around 72 watts per channel. What that will do in HT will be losing alot of your punch in dramatic scenes such as explosiions etc.

Just use two speakers and angle them towards the listening area,or go out and purchase bi-pole speakers. I have the klipsch reference series all around. Many people talk about timber matching witch I agree. I like both direct reflecting and bi-polar speakers. I would just hook them up and experiement...
 

Randy Noel

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 28, 2002
Messages
101
Would the loss in power only be noticeable at fairly loud volume? Thanks, this is helping a lot.
 

ToddJoseph

Stunt Coordinator
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Sep 9, 2000
Messages
66
Randy,
Im speaking from experience, I have done this before!!! I think its very noticeable, but you need to let your ears do the talking...
If your upgrading your fronts, you should just upgrade all of your speakers...Why? Timber matching!!! Each manufactuer has different effieciencies when it comes to speakers. Each tweeter and mid range and bass has sensitivity ratings. Matching your fronts, center, and rear will give you the optimum sound and enjoyment that your looking for!! Having two different sets of speakers may or may not give you what your looking for.
Case in point, my first HT had Cerwin Vegas up fron, and Yahmaha center, and rears... That is all I could afford and boy after upgrading to all Klipsch speakers, feakin night and day.
I highly recommend you check out Klispch, they have are one of the most effiecient speakers made. Mine have a 98db rating which means I could power them with a 40 watt reciever and they will sound good. Klipsch, Paradigm, PSB, are some mid-Fi speakers.... What can you spend on speakers? You can always upgrade the fronts, then the center then the rears if you do not have the $$$ now, it all takes time. Thats what I did.. Upgraded the receiver, then the speakers then the sub woofer over a 3 year period of time.....Well worth the wait...
I hope this helps!!!!
Im not sure what the poster before me meant by creating a 16 ohlm load? Speakers are rated from 4 to 8 ohlms, which the the lower the ohlm of the speaker the more power you need to drive them. Splitting 2 8 ohlm speaker to my knowledge does not create a 16 ohlm load which means they would be super effiecient.....Oh well but what do I know:)
 

Citizen87645

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 9, 2002
Messages
13,056
Real Name
Cameron Yee
Thankfully I have knowledgeable electronics techs at work who can patiently explain things to me. I too considered adding a set of surrounds to make a total of four surrounds from one set of outputs. I never tried it, even though my receiver's manual said the unit would be okay driving a 4 ohm load. My concern was harming my receiver but also I thought everything would just sound weird. The final decision not to try it was based primarily on not wanting to risk frying my receiver.

Anyway, wiring the speakers in parallel halves the impedance (measured in ohms), while wiring in series doubles it. So a standard 8 ohm speaker becomes 4 ohms in parallel connection and 16 ohms when in series. Parallel wiring is as simple as running a second cable to the other speaker, "piggy backed" off the first. Wiring in series is a little trickier by wiring the Receiver+ to Speaker 1+; Speaker 1- to Speaker 2+; then Speaker 2- to Receiver-. Remember this is just for one side.

The biggest issue besides how it sounds is whether your receiver can handle driving a 4ohm load. Be sure to check your manual. If you wire in series you're safer.
 

Randy Noel

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 28, 2002
Messages
101
I might like to give the series setup a try. Any chance of giving me more detailed instructions on how to do this, or point me to a site that details this? Thanks for your help.
 

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