Cheap 2-channel amp for exterior speakers

BrianTwig · 12-27-2006, 10:09 AM

My uncle has speakers in his cieling on his screened in porch. They are being driven currently by 'zone B' on his receiver (a 65W per channel Onkyo) and when they are run in conjunction with the main 4.1 system (no center) they are barely audible and he has to turn the volume all the way up to get much sound out of them.

So, a quick simple fix I think would be for him to run zone B into a 2 channel amp and power those speakers with that. Am I right?

If so, what would be a cheap 2 channel amp he could use?

These speakers are just to have the audio on the back porch and for when people are outside grilling and the such. Nothing fancy needed.

Thanks!

Wayne A. Pflughaupt · 12-27-2006, 08:29 PM

Quote:

So, a quick simple fix I think would be for him to run zone B into a 2 channel amp and power those speakers with that. Am I right?

Yes, as long as the Zone B has some RCA outputs. If Zone B is speaker outputs only, you’re out of luck.

Quote:

If so, what would be a cheap 2 channel amp he could use?

The cheapest thing would be to pick up an old stereo receiver from a pawn shop.

Regards,
Wayne

BrianTwig · 12-28-2006, 07:27 AM

Thanks Wayne.

Philip Hamm · 12-28-2006, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianTwig

My uncle has speakers in his cieling on his screened in porch. They are being driven currently by 'zone B' on his receiver (a 65W per channel Onkyo) and when they are run in conjunction with the main 4.1 system (no center) they are barely audible and he has to turn the volume all the way up to get much sound out of them.

I think something may be hooked up wrong if the "zone B" is a speaker output. If that is the case (Zone B is a speaker output) that receiver's Zone B should work fine for this use unless the speakers are like 32 ohm or something ridiculous like that. You should not need anything but to troubleshoot the wires. Start by trying hooking up the main stereo wired to the output just the same way you have the screened in porch speakers and see what happens.

It's possible that with both the main "4.1" (is this an old "Dolby Surround" receiver?) and Zone B activated it's too much for the Onkyo. If the receiver's "Zone B" has an RCA line level output, I agree with Wayne's advice. An old pawn shop stereo receiver will work perfectly. I'm using a circa 1983 JVC 30WPC receiver to drive a similar situation in my house and it works great.

BrianTwig · 12-28-2006, 01:36 PM

Thanks Phil.

On checking the wiring, outside of checking the connections, no further inspection is possible as all the wires were put in during construction and are therefore burried in walls and ceilings.

Also, being a technology moron, with a 2nd cheapo receiver, could the Onkyo be hooked up to it in someway so the outdoor speakers would be playing the same as inside?

So we know the original/main receiver we are dealing with here, it is the Onkyo HTR330 and you can see a description of it here...

http://www.accessories4less.com/cgi-bin/item/ONKHTR330S

All outputs are speaker level

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