Need help setting up my 950 (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Aguilar]

Well, I got my 950 on Monday and it was a breeze to set up.

I have run into a glitch though. I do not think it is a problem with the 950 but with my amps. I have 2 Parasound 855's and I am bi-amping my energy Veritas mains and my center. All has been fine and dandy until this morning. My amp that is running the center channel, my left main channel and one rear speaker is clipping. The red lights on my amp are lighting up and it says that amp 3,4&5 are not doing so well. I checked my wiring and it is correct going to my speakers. I did change out the wires from the 950 to the amp, but to no avail.

Please help.


Jeff Aguilar

 

[Bob-N]

Did you check for shorts? The RCA's on the 950 are really close together and could be causing fits with your amp. I got the "free" pair of Outlaw interconnects with the large connectors. Just the weight of the cables shorted the connectors together. I put a wad of Post It notes between each pair to keep from shorting them out.

Also, can you biamp the 855? I'm wondering if you're amp is seeing half the speaker impedance due to the biamping. What do you get when you don't biamp? Is it ok?

Just some thoughts. Good luck.

 

[Jeff Aguilar]

My first thought was to make sure that the RCA cables were not touching each other. I went out and bought some other splitters to go out the back of the 950 to make sure that they did not touch.

I will have to consider the biamping thing.

Jeff Aguilar

 

[AntonS]

Mmmm... are you sure anything bad would happen if RCA interconnects touch each other? The outer ring on every interconnect is ground, and it should be common for every channel.

I'd be checking speaker wires first.

 

[Jeff Kohn]

My first thought was to make sure that the RCA cables were not touching each other. I went out and bought some other splitters to go out the back of the 950 to make sure that they did not touch.

If this were an issue, I would think that Outlaw would make sure that their own interconnects do not touch when hooked up to their own pre/pro.

 

[Jeff Aguilar]

Bob,

I was thinking about your post and it got me to consider something. My bi-amping was done this way, Left speaker on one amp, right speaker on the other amp and my center was also on the same amp as my right speaker. I split up my center channel so that half was on one amp and the other half was on the other amp. It seems to be working, I do not seem to be clipping the amp now. I hope that this continues to work.

Jeff Aguilar

 

[Bob-N]

Jeff,

I don't know if I would consider your hook up method as "biamping". My understanding of biamping is that you are using two channels of amplification to one speaker, effectively doubling the power to one speaker. In your previous hookup, I would think that the single amp channel is being over driven by your center and right channel speaker especially if the 855 is only rated at 85W/ch.

Sounds like you've solved your problem. Good deal!

Jeff K, you'd think so but have you seen their interconnects? Really heavy duty, great cables IMHO. However, my guess is that there is only about 1 mm or 2 between the outer casings of the RCAs when connected. If the top one "droops", you've got a short.

To be honest, I don't know what would really happen if you shorted the RCA outer casings. No effect as AntonS mentions? Dunno.