4 surrounds in a 5.1 setup (1 Viewer)

[Mike Likens]

This is what I am considering. I am using a receiver as a pre/pro with a 5 channel amp. I recently upgraded my mains and now have a pair of bookshelves sitting idle. My surrounds (bipoles) are currently located in the back corners. What if I move the bipoles to the side walls and add the bookshelves to the rear wall and power them with the amps in the receiver. Does anyone else have a setup like this? Did it help the surround field or is it overkill in the surround channels?

This will also be a start for a future upgrade to 6.1.
Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Clinton McClure]

While using your receiver as a pre/pro, it is my understanding that you shouldn't use your speaker outputs or damage to your receiver and/or other equipment may result. (At least that's what it says in my receiver's manual.)

 

[Mike Likens]

Clinton, thanks for your response. I was not aware of any possible damage to the equipment with this kind of setup. The manual for my receiver does not mention anything about this kind of setup. What receiver do you have and exactly what kind of warning do they issue?

 

[Clinton McClure]

Mike, I'm using a Yamaha RX-V995 as a pre/pro and have an Anthem MCA-5 amp. In the Yamaha manual, it states If an external power amplifier is connected to the main, center or rear output terminals, do not use the corresponding speakers terminals (main,center or rear).
I scoured the manual but could not find where it says it could damage the unit, so either I picked that up in a conversation or dreamed it up. Going on that, I would make sure to check with the manufacturer of your receiver to see if it possibly could damage anything before trying it.

 

[Mike Likens]

Clinton, thanks for responding. I wonder what kind of damage this could produce. Last night I experimented with this hookup just to see if the speaker terminals were still active and they were. One would think that if the manufacturer didn't want a malfuction to occur they would deactivate the speaker terminals when the preout is in use.

Interesting. I think I will email Pioneer with this issue to hear what they say. Thanks again.

 

[Wes]

If I were you I would put a Dolby Prologic receiver on the surround channels and create an DIY EX/ES processing for the rear speakers. You would love the separation it gives to the surrounds. If the DPL receiver has Preouts you could feed them back into the 5channel amp but you will need one additional amp to power that EX channel!

Wes