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Zone 2 on Denon AVR3600 question (1 Viewer)

PaulDA

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St. Hubert, Quebec, Canada
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Paul
I just picked up a Denon AVR3600 (from my cousin) as a secondary system. We will be buying a house in the fall and finally all my gear will be in the same domicile.

Right now I have this setup

In our temporary residence in Ohio:
Sony WEGA 27" (non HDTV) w/16x9 "cheat"
Integra DTR6.4 receiver
Sony DVD/VCR combo
Denon DCD-460 CD player (still going strong after 15 yrs)
Aiwa AD-F800 cassette deck (a fine machine in its day)
Harman Kardon HKTS6 sat/sub system
a pair of Boston Acoustics VR-M60s
on layaway:BA VR-M50s, VRC, PV900


In storage:
Sony WEGA 32" (non HDTV) w/16x9 "cheat"
Denon AVR3600 receiver
JVC 2900 S-VHS VCR
Denon DRM-550? cassette deck (came with AVR3600)

on loan to a friend:
a pair of Celestion DL6 bookshelf speakers (mid-80s vintage)

still to buy:
a universal DVD player (likely Denon 2200/2900)

My primary set up will be (in dedicated basement theatre room):
Integra DTR 6.4
JVC S-VHS
"universal player"
Boston Acoustics speaker set
Aiwa cassette deck
32" Sony

My secondary set up will be (in main living room):
Denon AVR3600
27" Sony
Sony DVD/VCR combo
Denon CD player
Denon cassette deck

My question is this (sorry about the long list, I've never properly inventoried my gear):

What I thought of doing was installing the HKTS6s (8 ohms) as the 5.1s and using my Celestions in zone 2 (probably in the dining room). However, the Denon manual for the 3600 is unclear (to me) about setting up zone 2 speakers. I don't have it with me in Ohio but I read it over the weekend and the A/B wiring on the back panel suggests a bi-wiring configuration (can't do it with the speakers involved) or running A+B speakers (for which a 16ohm rating is DEMANDED--also not doable with speakers involved). Is this really the way it is or is the manual unclear? I used to have a Denon AVR1600 (sold it to my brother in law--replacing it with the 3600) and it had a feature I really miss, a speaker A/B,A+B selector. (My Integra lacks this also, regrettably). Does anyone know if I can get the 3600 to work like the 1600? I remember years ago having my Celestions (8ohms) hooked up to my roommate's old Pionneer receiver (late 70s vintage), along with his pair (I don't remember the type), and we didn't look at things like ohms. We just hooked them up, fired up the system and ran it for years.

AVRs seem a bit more finicky these days, compared to the "good old days" of stereo, so I'm concerned about blowing things up (had that happen to me twice with a new Arcam AVR200 a few weeks ago). Is this 16 ohm thing a serious concern? Buying additional speakers is not an option. Only other way I'd do this is to hook up the Celestions as the mains and try to blend them with the HKs, but I fear the results will be, well, less than satisfactory. (Perhaps if I go with a phantom centre setup, that might work).

Any ideas?
 

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