Need some receiver advice (1 Viewer)

[Volcomstone4u]

I currently have a Denon AVR-486 7.1 receiver. I cannot use my 7 speakers that came with the system due to small children. I do however plan on buying two Polk audio tsi400's and a cs10 center channel. So my question is can I use my current receiver to power my new speakers?

 

[Al.Anderson]

Yes, no problem whatsoever.

Although curiosity has the best of me, why are towers that can tip over better than bookshelfs that you can mount high?

 

[Volcomstone4u]

My living room arrangement does not allow for mounting with the exception of the 2 fronts. On a second question, should I dual amp the tsx400s with the all the front speaker inputs ? Since it is a 7.1.

 

[Al.Anderson]

The effects of bi-wiring or bi-amping are heavily debated. Most people think bi-wiring is snake oil, and bi-amping can only provide a benefit if you yank your speaker's crossover and perform the crossover in line with the amp. I'm guessing you'd be bi-wiring.

That said, if you have a receiver with discrete channel amps (which yours has), one benefit is to simply provide more power to the fronts. It's probably unnecessary, but if your speakers have dual posts with a detachable jumper, it can't hurt to try it out for fun.

 

[Volcomstone4u]

Thank you. That is exactly what I wanted to know.

 

[schan1269]

You can always add weight to the bottom of the interior of the towers. Remove the woofer if you have to get in there.

 

[Volcomstone4u]

I'm going to attach them to my entertainment center to make sure they don't get pulled down. Thank you for the tip though.

 

[Volcomstone4u]

I have one last question, when I hook up the speakers, are there any special settings on the reciever that need to be changed? Since there will only be 3 speakers and a sub attached to a 7.1 system.

 

[JohnRice]

Just set all the surround speakers to "no" or "off" in the receiver's speaker configuartion. It will configure itself for a 3.1 channel system and create phantom surrounds using the L&R speakers. Set all the speakers to "small" so the bass is all sent to the sub.

You won't actually gain anything by bi-amping your fronts. When you run out of power with this type of receiver, it is the power supply that is being exhausted, not the amp circuits themselves. There is absoultely no way to change that or produce more power. When the power it has coming in is used up, it is used up.