Harman Kardon PA4000 users.. I have some questions (1 Viewer)

[RickBlacker]

Ok, so I printed off their owners manual and was reading about what it can do... But I am a bit confused on something and I was hoping someone who knew about this amp could help me out.

I would like to add to my existing 5.1 system

2 additional side surrounds speakers one left one right
2 rear speakers, one left one right.

Can I run 2 surrounds and 2 rears on this amp?

Thanks
Rick

 

[Aaron Smithski]

Hello Rick,

Your amp is capable of being bridged into 4 channels each with 100 watts. That means you will have good power to run to your side and rear surrounds...if you can get a signal to them! Does your receiver have decoding and outputs for 7.1?

If the receiver is only 5.1 capable, you could still have side and rear surrounds but you would have to get creative! You could run a pair of Y-adapters out of each of your surround channels' preamp outputs that splits the signal in two. This way, you could run a set of patch cords to each of the four inputs on the back of the PA-4000.

This would not be a true 7.1 setup, but it may be worth a try if you are not ready or willing to upgrade to a 6.1 or 7.1 receiver.

When you say "2 additional side surround speakers", you aren't talking about having a total of 4 side surrounds and 2 rear surrounds, are you? If so, when you use the receivers' preamp outputs you are bypassing the internal amps of the receiver; so all of the speakers would have to be wired to your HK.

Aaron Smith

 

[RickBlacker]

Aaron,
I have the Harman Kardon AVR-520. It does have 7 preamp outs. Currently I have all 5.1 speakers. But I have a big room and want to have more seating and what good side surrounds for all, thus the extra set of side surrounds.
So to answer your question, yes, I am looking for a total of 4 side surrounds and 2 rears.

When you say "2 additional side surround speakers", you aren't talking about having a total of 4 side surrounds and 2 rear surrounds, are you? If so, when you use the receivers' preamp outputs you are bypassing the internal amps of the receiver; so all of the speakers would have to be wired to your HK.

So are you saying that if I use the preamp outputs of my surrounds, the internal amps that push my surrounds now will no longer work?
If that is correct, I am going to be bummed because I was hoping that I could have my receiver push the exisiting two side surrounds, then the amp would push the new set of side surrounds.
:frowning:

 

[Aaron Smithski]

Rick,

That is correct, by hooking up an external amplifier to your surround sound preouts you will be bypassing the 520's internal amps.

What impedance are your side surround speakers? If they are 8 ohm then you could parallel the two pair of side surrounds together for a load of 4 ohms seen by your PA-4000. The PA-4000 is rated for 100 watts output into 8 ohms, but many people have no problems dropping down to 4 ohms with the HK's. I have run a PA-2000 (bridged @ 100 wpc into 8 ohms) into 4 ohm speakers with absolutely no problems.

Do you have a deep listening room or multiple seating rows that you want to cover? A pair of bipoles centered between the seating area would most likely do the trick.

Aaron

 

[RickBlacker]

Aaron.

If you click on my link you can see some images I did. They are actual dimensions of my room, length, width, height. The site is a bit outdated as I have actually moved into it. However, I don't have a riser floor installed yet. I think I will wait until next summer to install that.

To answer your question, YES, I want more seating to enjoy the surrounds. I had some friends over last Friday and I let them sit directly in line with the surrounds and I sat behind them. I was bummed at how the surrounds obviously seemed to stay in front. Thus, I am thinking about a second set of surrounds along with a set of rear surrounds.

My speakers are 8 ohms. I am running Klipsch R7's all the way around.

Today I am picking up another RC-7 for a rear channel as well as a second sub. I currently have a RSW-12, but I am adding a RSW-15. Oh lord it's gonna *POUND*.

Once I have the need/means for having 4 side surrounds, I running 4 RC-7's.

 

[Aaron Smithski]

Looking at the options on your site, it looks like your speaker placement is good except for the subwoofer. If you plan on placing the sonotube subwoofer in the center of the room you will have much of your bass effectively cancelled. The front right corner would be a much better location for the sonotube or whatever subwoofer you are running due to the acoustic coupling that corner loading gives you.

Ah, Klipsch! I recently sold my KG5.5's that I used for 10 years. I was pretty happy with them but was looking for a change; I miss them in many ways!

I do not believe you would have any problem running the R7's in parallel since the Klipsch are such an easy speaker to drive with their super-high sensitivity. The PA-4000 should do well in that application.

Aaron

 

[RickBlacker]

Aaron, na, that sonatube idea is out... I decided to just buy another Klipsch sub. I just didn't have faith that I could build something that could match the years of experiance that Klipsch has, or any sub manufacturer for that matter and I didn't want to have on kickn' sub with one klunky sub.
BTW, I also just ordered my PA4000 about 30 minutes ago. I should have no problems running two more side surrounds as well as 2 rears from what the tech told me.