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Setting up my home theAter sustem (1 Viewer)

mumblesxdo

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Ok so my wife bought me a home theater sustem as a gift. I have the following: a denon avr-1611 reciever and Four A340 compact satellite speakers with a 4" woofer and a 1" tweeter. One A 3CEN .4 with two 3.75" woofers and a 1" tweeter. One SUB 300 with 10" long-throw woofer unit. Frequency Range: 28-20000Hz. All the speakers are Jamo. I have a few questions. 1. How good of a setup do I have? 2. What speaker wires should i buy to connect all this? 3. Should i buy any more speakers? Or replace some? 4. How do I setup my system for optimal performance?
 

Steve Tannehill

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First, welcome to HTF, JaH! OK, your speakers look like this: http://www.amazon.com/Jamo-A340-HCS7-Theater-Speaker/dp/B001211V5E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358683929&sr=8-1&keywords=jamo+a340 One of my friends has a Jamo system and it sounds quite good. Your Denon receiver has good specs, supports 3D, and is 7.1. http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-1611-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B003IPC5FM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358683794&sr=8-1&keywords=denon+avr1611 You can run in 5.1 mode, or add 2 additional back speakers to get full 7.1 sound (which is offered on a growing number of blu-rays. Your Denon also supports 7-channel stereo). You use the Denon receiver's Audyssey function to set speaker levels for your room. Lamp cord from Home Depot or Lowes will work for the satellite speakers and maybe the subwoofer....if lamp cord does not work for the subwoofer, it may need an male RCA to male RCA cable. I'd have to see the manual to be sure on that. I'd say your wife did pretty well picking this out!
 

gene c

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I agree with Steve. She either knows a little something about this stuff, had some help picking it out or she (and now you :) ) got real lucky. Jamo makes some very good speakers. But they also sell some flea-market quality stuff. That setup looks pretty good. The Denon 1611 is better than both the 1610 that came before it and the 1612 that came after it. Ya, she had some help. No one is that lucky ;) . Get 12, 14 or 16 gauge wire (or lamp cord) for the 5 speakers. 18 gauge is a little thin. For the subwoofer, you will need the rca cable Steve spoke of but not the traditional red and white kind. You need either a subwoofer cable, a composite video cable or a coaxial digital cable. They are all the same specification, but different than the red and white stereo cables. After running Audyssey go back into the receiver speaker setup menu and double-check the settings. make sure the speakers are set to Small and the crossover to 100 (80 would work at lower volumes). Feel free to re-adjust the volume on the subwoofer and center channel to suit your taste. You will also have to make the appropriate settings in the cable/satellite box, Bluray player, etc. Come back with more questions if you need to. Brand and model numbers are very helpfull.
 

schan1269

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If you "buy two more"... I'd buy slightly bigger main speakers(sticking with Jamo) so you can have your front two speakers sit on an 80hz crossover(the Denon allows multiple crossover across pairs)...that would improve upon an already good speaker choice.
 

gene c

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Jamo lists those speakers as going down to 50 hz, which very optimistic for a 4" woofer. With what he already has maybe a 100 hz crossover setting is better then the 80 hz I suggested earlier, even at moderate volumes. Getting larger fronts is a great idea but I wouldn't get just any Jamo branded speakers because some of them are Energy speakers (maybe even some Athena, Mirage, etc.) in a Jamo dress. I'd try and match the center as closely as possible, at least the same type of tweeter. But it's going to take quite a bit of research. In the mean time, he should have a decent setup to enjoy.
 

mumblesxdo

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Thanks guys. Much helpful. Next question. Lol. So in the back of my sub woofer i have dials. What should i set these dials to?
 

schan1269

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I assume one is crossover...all the way up(the AVR will have crossover control) The other is volume, start out with it set 50%...then adjust once you run your speaker set to get the AVR gain close to 0( +/- 1 is good enough) If you have an RCA marked LFE, use it...it bypasses the crossover knob. Whatever the manual says for break in, follow it.
 

gene c

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Connect your receiver to the Input labeled Left/LFE (the one on the top/left). This will bypass the Cut Off (Crossover) knob. The other knob is the Phase Control. Set it to "0". Set the On/Auto/Off switch to Auto. It will turn itself on when it receives a signal from the receiver. If you decide to set it to Off when not in use, don't forget to turn it back on again. Ignore the Speaker Level Inputs. Always make sure the sub is un-plugged when making connection. Then, plug the cord into the wall first, then plug the other end into the subwoofer. This will help eliminate any harmfull arching. I have a dead Dayton 10" in my closet because I didn't follow this advice :blush: . Don't forget to use a good surge protector (or Sams favorite, a UPS) on all equipment. UPS...not USP...(edited by Sam)
 

mumblesxdo

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Lol. Thanks. Pretty excited about setting this up. Also what wiring should i use? I saw phenix gold wiring speakers. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00006JPYX/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1358667998&sr=8-8&pi=SL75 What do u guy think? Lemme know cuz i want the best sound that i can get. Id need about 30 ft wiring fr each back speaker. Thanks!
 

mumblesxdo

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Lol. Didnt see how much i "saved". Just looked at the price. Rofl. So brand is not too important? I heard something about oxygen free copper. Hype?
 

schan1269

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Hype. Go to Lowe's/Home Depot/Menards/Do It Best/Tru Value/electric wholesaler and buy a 200ft spool of 14 or 16awg wire for $40. Same stuff you use for toasters, hair dryers...
 

mumblesxdo

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Ok so looked at the back of the sub and this is what it has. 3 knobs labeled level (min-max), cutoff freq (40hz-150hz), and phase(0deg-180 deg). Also four inputs. 2 white two red. LFE left in ( white) out (white) right in(red) out(red). No idea what all this is.
 

Jason Charlton

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Originally Posted by mumblesxdo
Ok so looked at the back of the sub and this is what it has. 3 knobs labeled level (min-max), cutoff freq (40hz-150hz), and phase(0deg-180 deg). Also four inputs. 2 white two red. LFE left in ( white) out (white) right in(red) out(red). No idea what all this is.
Level == Gain == Volume. As was mentioned, start this out at 50%.
Cutoff Freq == Crossover. As mentioned, leave this at maximum, since the crossover will be handled by the receiver. Leaving this set to max on the subwoofer simply means the sub will play anything that is sent to it.
Phase. Leave it be - usually adjusting this has little audible impact. Once all else is set up and running, you can switch it back and forth to see if you notice any difference.
The only input you need is the RCA input labeled LFE in. Connect the subwoofer pre-out from the receiver to this RCA input using a single RCA-terminated cable. All the other inputs/outputs are secondary and not needed in your case.
 

mumblesxdo

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Also just read something about monopole and dipole/bipole speakers. Wtf is all that about? How can i tell if my speakers are monopole or dipple and what difference does it make?
 

schan1269

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Never heard of Amazon/Google Search? There are numerous speaker/cabinet designs. Way too many to list. Monopole is the vast majority of speakers. Di/bipole is a variation of the same thing. Parts of the drivers...or all of them, facing in two directions. The term decribes whether they are in phase or not. You can look up "in phase" and "out of phase" in relation to speakers. Cause I'm not typing a 500 word dissertation about it.
 

mumblesxdo

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Ok so system is set up. But i feel like im not getting optimal sound from my rear surround speakers. Any ideas o how i can chk if its outputting at optimim? Any way to increase output from them?
 

gene c

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You can go into the receivers setup menu and increase the volume of all the speakers individually. You can also do this with the remote control but it may change them back after the receiver is shut off. To check that the surround speakers are setup and working properly you can select "All Channel Stereo", or whatever Denon calls their version. The surrounds will get pretty much the same signal as the fronts. Usually not much happens through the surround speakers causing everyone to ask if somethings wrong. They're only meant for ambience/background noise. Most of the action happens up front.
 

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