Setting up the Kenwood HTB-504 (1 Viewer)

[TommyB]

Yesterday I purchased the Kenwood HTB-504 HTIB (I've seen a lot of discussion about this product on the board and people looking for it - Sears is closing them out for $430, if you store is out of them, you can order online and have them ship it to your nearest location).

I am relatively new to home theater and have a question regarding speaker set-up. I am currently running a pair of Pioneer S-H452F-K for the front speakers. I was going to use the front speakers that came with the HTB-504 for my surround, but they are a little too big to put on my stands. My question is, can I connect the Kenwood fronts to the B speaker output (system has A/B switching) and if so, where should I place them, in front of the listener or behind the listener? If I do put them behind the listener, is this going to screw up the 5.1 sound I am trying to acheive? Also, is connecting the extra speakers going to push the amp too hard, and will I have loss of sound to the other speakers?

Another thing, I purchased RCA Digital Audio Cable (gold plated) for the digital connection between my DVD and receiver. Is this the correct cable to use, or do I need cable that specifically says coaxial? When I play a DVD with DTS or Dolby Digital, the respective lights show on the receiver, so it seems to be working.

One more question in this already too long post...how much of a difference will it make upgrading to a $50 Monster Cable subwoofer cable? I am currently using the cable that came with the sub.

Thanks in adavnce for any help.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Yes you got the right cable

You should place the speakers facing in to the center of the room and slightly behind the listeners. You shouldn't have a problem with the speakers, except that Pioneer and Kenwood speakers may be ofa different timbre, meaning that they might sound funny being used together (different manufacturers, different timbre)

 

[steve nn]

I would upgrade the sub cable, but not to monster. If you are using the cable it came with, then you do not need much length unless you have not tested your sub placement options? This can make a huge difference. You can get a good quality cable for much less. Be sure to upgrade your speaker wire to. 14-16 gage will do you fine. Sounds like you can be confident in your DVD connection .

 

[TommyB]

Actually, I have the sub sitting in front of our loveseat right now due to the current cable length (needless to say, wife is on my case about getting a longer cable ). Should I go with a less expensive cable than Monster, if so, where would be a good place to pick one up?
Also, I do have 16-guage running to all 5 speakers right now.

 

[Robert_J]

There are a lot of good cables besides Monster. For example, my friend's sub needed to be in a corner but there was a doorway between the corner and entertainment center. His wife would let him just leave the cable across the walk-way. We used a generic RCA video cable to a wall plate with an RCA to coax adapter. In the wall we used RG-59 coax cable to go up, over the door and down inside another wall to a second wall plate with adapter. A second generic RCA video cable runs to the sub. Over thirty feet of cables (all from Wal-Mart), wall plates and adapters for around $25. His wife is happy and the sub sounds incredible.

-Robert

 

[steve nn]

TommyB I tried to send one your way but you have that option closed on your HT control panel.14-16 gage is great. You can go to BBuy or CCity or Rshack and get a good sub cable for $12 to $25. Depends on the length? The sub in front of your love-seat sounds like a big ouch. Corner load it if you can or along a side wall, see what works best for you. Corner most likely. This will make a huge difference, night and day. I think you might be misunderstanding your wife on sub placement. She probably knows how much better it will sound loaded in a corner .

 

[TommyB]

I had actually decided to place the subwoofer at the intersection of the sofa and loveseat. I would put it in a corner, but I live on the top floor of an apartment and wanted to reduce the vibrations to the downstairs neighbor. I know that I will probably loose some sound quality, but I guess thats a sacrifices I'll have to make until we get into a house.

Also, I just set the e-mail option to "on"...didn't realize I had the option closed :b

 

[steve nn]

Our love-seat and couch come together like yours but we have a gap in back where a corner table sits.I tried my sub there and it was't all that bad. So the sub was under the table with the furniture on both sides but it was still corner loaded though. It is good to keep the neighbors happy to. When you get a house you can fight about what room to use for HT. I had to use the living-room. Our den is to small and our family-room has built in book shelves along the sides of the fireplace, it just wont work. I here about the living-room probably 3-6 times a week. It does't quit look the same as it did five months ago. I do find a way to plod forward though. One step at a time-easy does it-I keep coming back it works.

 

[TommyB]

I went ahead and connected the extra speakers to the B output, however, when I am using both the A and B fronts, I get no sound from the center or surrounds. Is there any way for me to get output from all 7 speakers, or are the three I mentioned not going to play when I have the B set selected?

 

[steve nn]

I believe the manual will address this for you. I remember reading on this subject. I do not think you can do the configuration you desire.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

A few thoughts if I might chime in:
Almost all of your interconnects are COAXIAL. If you cut one, it will look just like your CATV coax.
The higher the frequency, the more sensitive the signals are to the cable. Subwoofer frequencies from 20-120 hz are easy for nearly any coax cable.
But subs seem to be sensitive to having a snug-fitting RCA plug so make sure your cable has a tight fit.
Sub Placement: Go ahead and put the sub up front near your TV/speakers. Corner is better. If you are worried about your neighbors, just turn down the intensity. Dont try to control the volume with placement - the intensity knob is a better control.
The up-front placement also means you can buy a shorter cable, and hide things better. This is good for SAF (Spousal Acceptance Factor).
Do a search on "calibration". You will find lots of posts about how to level-adjust your speakers so they compensate for your room placement. Plan to buy the $40 Radio Shack SPL meter. The AVIA or Video Essentials DVD's are nice, but that receiver has test-tones so you dont really need to buy the disks. (Check your local video store - they sometimes rent these.)
Hope this helps.

 

[Vin]

I went ahead and connected the extra speakers to the B output, however, when I am using both the A and B fronts, I get no sound from the center or surrounds. Is there any way for me to get output from all 7 speakers, or are the three I mentioned not going to play when I have the B set selected?

The B speaker outputs would be used for setting up another pair of speakers in another room/location. For instance, say you wanted to be able to have music playing on your deck....you would connect a 2nd set of speakers to the B speaker connections on the receiver to accomplish this.

When A+B are selected, the receiver will automatically switch to stereo mode, except that it can now send the stereo signal to 2 sets of speakers instead of one and nothing goes to the center channel. Also, the B outputs share the power supply with the surrounds making it impossible to have the surrounds and the B mains playing at the same time.

Hope this helps,

Vin

 

[steve nn]

Bob M your right. I wish I would have put it that way because it is the way to go. We all have to adjust the sub down to some degree.

 

[TommyB]

Thanks to everyone for all the advice!!

Vin...you are right, I am not going to be able to play the second set of fronts along with the surrounds/center. However, I am going to leave them how I have them (along the back wall, behind the couch, facing the center of the room) for when I listen to music. I listen to a lot of Techno/Dance tracks and I like the way that the set-up fills the room, more of a "club" like effect.

For the subwoofer, I went ahead and moved it to the front corner of the room (I also bought an Acoustic Research sub cable). The difference in sound is termendous!! Much better than where I did have it. One question though...I currently have the sub firing against the side wall, is this correct placement, or should I have it firing away from the wall (due to space limitations, I can only set it up firing to the left (away) or right (wall), not directly towards the listeners)?

 

[ThomasV]

while we are on the subject of 7 speakers - does anyone know if the new HTB505 coming out will allow for 7 speaker hookup? I am wiring up for 7 speakers and am thinking about putting the additional surrounds in the ceiling. I want these for movies.