I bought Def Tech BP2006TL + Def Tech Sub for 70usd. What now?

[Daniil]

I wont be surprised that there will be some (justified) trolling here. But anyway, here we go.

For the last few weeks i was in "slow search" mode to buy some speakers for my lounge bar which i own.
And as it always happens, i didnt wanted to spent much (because we dont really play any loud music at all), neither did i want to buy a 50bucks worth of boombox for that purpose.


So today, i was walking along the "second-hand shop"here (in Philippines). Ive decided to drop by just to find out that the shop is on a "CLOSING SALE". So i`ve ended with a obvious gem find. I pay a guy 75 bucks (in local currency) for fully working:

1x Definitive Technology speakers BP-2006 Bipolar Array
ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Definitive-technology-speakers-BP-2006-Bipolar-Array/162821339315?hash=item25e8e878b3:g:5j4AAOSww9xZAhUg

2x Definitive Technology speakers BP-8
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Definitive-Technology-BP8-Main-Stereo-Speakers-Home-Theater-Bipolar-Full-Range/192206038410?hash=item2cc05f658a:g:maIAAOSwn-tZMjL4


plus the guy gave me an (old?) dvd\tv\cd SONY player with amplifier. Altho he said (which was obvious for me) that "somehow thats probably not the right amp for these speakers".
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okay. Thought #1. Yeah im a stupid idiot with lots of stupid idiots luck. Because even the fast run around ebay shows that those 3 towers just cant cost anywhere near 70usd.

Thought #2. I grew up in a family where my father play 60-70s rock 24\7 on a very good system.
I do appreciate that kind of quality, but for the last 15 years all i did is live alone, travel the globe and setup my own bar. So im kinda far far far away from whats "right" now in terms of speakers\amp setup.

So question #1. Is there a "right" Def Tech amp which is "suppose"to come with those speakers\speaker with sub? As my little education tells me the "full setup"whould have been llok like:

1x Def Tech bp2006
2x def tech bp-8 speakers
2 of some "tweeter"?
and.... and some amplifier to fire up that whole setup?
Am i right?

So if i am... what kind of amp should i look for?
Those (both) bp2006 and bp-8 speakers kinda consuses me. There are way too ,any internal speakers & subs. So i do understand that there is no way they can property work from the öld\standard" amp.

Because when i connected that whole setup to a given SONY cd-tv-dvd player with an internal AMP....

BP-8 sounds GREAT... but they lower "subwofer"part wont even reacting to the amp.
And if i connect 1 BP8 and 1 BP2006...... BP2006 also plays highs\mids nice.. but the SUB section is almost dead. If i conenct BP20006 alone (no side speakers) its plays nice... and there is some bass coming. So yeah. Obviously its a question of getting a nice AMP now.

Any directions?
Ive spent more then 2 hours in Google, but still im not get it. How does that INITIAL home theater based on those speakers\sub was SUPPOSE to look like?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

before we get too deep into the woods few things out of the way:
a) Welcome to AH. I think you've came to right place.
b) I love to troll, but this is not right time to do so, I mean I's 8:30am at the office and I'm still on my 2nd cup of coffee
c) Clearly you've found pretty good deal
d) Could you please clarify the quantities of speakers that you have bought:
is it ONE DT BP-2006 speaker and A PAIR of bp-8 speakers? Or did I get it wrong
e) What is exactly the model of your Sony gizmo? (I'm guessing it's part of HTIB)

 

[Daniil]

before we get too deep into the woods few things out of the way.....(I'm guessing it's part of HTIB)

1. Yes, you`ve got it right. Its a total of 3 "towers".
a) 1 pcs of Definitive Technology speakers BP-2006 Bipolar Array
(*thats the one which require separate power plug & have some ädditional AFN input.

b) 2 pcs of 1x Definitive Technology BP-8 speakers.


c) As for the "SONY gizmo".... its called "STR-D390".
Whoaaaa... ive just google it.... YEAR OF PRODUCTION: 1992. LoL

Link on description: https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/str-d390.shtml

Lol. Im wondering how that thing even play SOMETHING out of those 3 towers at all.
Heck im also wondering how anything from 1992 plays anything by itself ))

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

ok, a single BP-2006 speaker is kinda useless for you.
a pair of Definitive Technology BP-8 and Sony Stereo analog receiver.
specs here:
https://docs.sony.com/release/STRD390.PDF - I don't see why would say it's CD/DVD player - it's just stereo receiver - ie: it has a build-in Radio, Pre-amplifier and an amplifier in a single unit. Nothing else.
50w cleaner power or up-to 60w "dynamic"
some basic Speakers measurements here:
http://www.hifi-classic.net/review/definitive-technology-bp-8-551.html , important parts here:

The system's sensitivity was 90 dB, as rated. At a standard 2.83-volt input (equivalent to 1 watt into 8 ohms), the woofer distortion was between 1.5 and 2 percent in the upper part of its range (200 Hz to 2 kHz), reaching 5 percent at 53 Hz and 10 percent at 30 Hz.

Definitive Technology refers to the impedance of the BP8 and its companion bipolar systems as "compatible with 8-ohm outputs." That characterization is probably justified by the system's relatively high sensitivity, which enables normal listening levels to be generated with less input power than many comparably priced speakers need. Nonetheless, we measured a minimum impedance of 3.2 ohms at 240 Hz and dips to approximately 4 ohms at several other frequencies.

Bottom line, you could use this amp and these speakers BP-8 as is. The limiting factor would be your sony amp. That said, depends on your listening preferences and room size - this combo could be plenty of loud.

Then you start play with louder volumes, be very vary - as soon you music starts to sound distorted - turn it down immediately.

TL;DR: I think you have a foundation for good stereo system here. Upgrade to new amp if you could find one cheaply. Sell BP-2006 - who knows - maybe someone needs a single speaker, if they damaged the other for example. I guarantee you - you'd get more than $75 for it

 

[Daniil]

ok, a single BP-2006 speaker is kinda useless for you...

Since i was thinking to use that "foundation" in my lounge bar. I was thinking... isnt this a right way for me?

a) get one more BP 2006 tower (since youve said that ONE IS USELESS i will be brave enought to assume they needs to be in pair?)

b) when i will get TWO bp2006 + TWO BP-8..... buy a good amplifier and power those 4 baby up?
Or this is still wont be a correct setup?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

you really don't need more that two tower speakers in a system.
Either sell pair BP8 and buy ONE bp2006 tower or sell bp2006 and keep pair bp8.
I won't bother with four of them. The Sony doesn't support 4 channel of amplification and trying to hack it to use it anyways will do nothing but harm.
After you settle on pair of towers, next I'd start building toward 5.1 system, Ideally you'd find center speaker which matches the tower speakers. Two (not necessarily matching) surrounds and possibly a sub.

 

[Daniil]

Forgive me for my stupidity. But for providing a nice sound in the square shaped bar\lounge area, wont the 4 speakers (powered) by amp will be a better idea rather then "5.1" setup?

Can i go with the idea of:
a) buy one more bp2006 (so that will be a couple).
b) Buy amp (which one will i need then?)

So i will have two bp-8 + two bp-20006 (4 speakers powered by 4 channel amp?).

Or there is something wrong\bad about this idea\path?

thanks a lot man! Sorry for too many questions.

 

[Montucky]

Forgive me for my stupidity. But for providing a nice sound in the square shaped bar\lounge area, wont the 4 speakers (powered) by amp will be a better idea rather then "5.1" setup?

Oh yeah. 4 Speakers would be great. You just need an amp that can power all four of them. Lots of older receivers (and even modern integrated amplifiers) have an A/B/A+B selector switch where you can run speaker pair A, pair B, or both pairs at once.

It's tough to recommend a particular amplifier since there are thousands upon thousands of models over the years, but I would look for something from a reputable brand (ie Yamaha) with an honest 100 Watts per channel and you'll be set.

 

[Daniil]

Oh yeah. 4 Speakers would be great. You just need an amp that can power all four of them.

Another dumb question here. Actually two.

a)Bp-2006 is an active speaker. Right?
And bp-8 is passive one.

When i will (if thats the right way) have that setup:
two BP-2006 speaker + two BP-8 speaker.... Is there anything "wrong" with the fact that 2 belongs to active family, and 2 belongs to the passive family of speakers?

Am i right to assume that they will play FINE together, altho (active) bp-2006 will be louder\more bossy & bassy . Or is there any hidden rocks in such setup?
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Second question. About amps & channels. If i have big square "open room", and my plan is to just hang\put those 4 speakers into the corners... do i need 2 or 4 channel amp?
Can anyone pinpoint (for a sake of sample) any reasonable\publicly wide accepted amp for such setup?

Daniel

 

[-Jim-]

Forgive me for my stupidity. But for providing a nice sound in the square shaped bar\lounge area, wont the 4 speakers (powered) by amp will be a better idea rather then "5.1" setup?

Can i go with the idea of:
a) buy one more bp2006 (so that will be a couple).
b) Buy amp (which one will i need then?)

So i will have two bp-8 + two bp-20006 (4 speakers powered by 4 channel amp?).

Or there is something wrong\bad about this idea\path?

thanks a lot man! Sorry for too many questions.

You are correct to look for another bp2006 to complete the pair => if you can get a deal on one => after determining if the Sub-Amp works on the one you have.

The BP8s have a Nominal Impedance: 4 - 8 Ohms which should work fine as a stereo pair with the Sony Receiver /Amp (with BoredSysdmin's caveats). At 40 Watts they should be slightly over 100 dB at 3 meters => almost like being at a Disco - too loud for any Lounge I'd stay in for long.

However, the Sony Receiver will drive two stereo pairs of speakers, but the speaker impedance (according to the manual) needs to have a nominal rating of 8-16 ohms. I couldn't find what the bp2006 nominal impedance is but I suspect 4 - 8 Ohms as well. You need to be cautious here as to not blow up your gear.

If I were you I'd hook up the BP8s (about 8 feet apart a foot away from a wall) to the "A" speakers on the Sony STR-D390 and carefully test them and the Amp out. If you have a CD or DVD, or BluRay Player - I'd use that as a source with your favorite Music on a CD. (Plug it into the CD inputs with RCA cables.)

After ensuring it all works fine, I'd arbitrarily hook up the bp-20006 (between the BP8s) with the high level input to one (Left or Right) Speaker "B" on the STR-D390; and after making sure only speaker B are selected, test the bp-20006 with the same source and tunes.

Then I'd shut it down, leave everything as is, and connect the REC/DAT output for the same channel you chose for the high level input (via RCA cable again) to the LFE input. Then I'd plug in the power for the bp-20006 after turning down the volume control to minimum. Then power up the STR-D390 after making certain it's volume control is to minimum. Play your source material, and slowly raise the volume up on the STR-D390, and then the bp-20006. If all goes well, then I'd leave the volume of the bp-20006 as is, and reduce the STR-D390 to minimum; then I'd select both the A+B Speakers and slowly raise the volume and listen carefully. I'd expect a slight mismatch in loudness as the bp-20006 has a sensitivity of 92 dB whereas the BP8s are 91 dB.

If all goes well, all the speakers will perform and the STR-D390 will provide enough power to satisfy you. If not, please advise and I'm sure the gang here will offer more suggestions.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[Daniil]

Ok. I will need to read that text a few times to get all the details.
However im trying to understand, the whole idea behind phrase "very carefully test the gear".
Is that because of Om difference? Or because that old Sony is way too underpowered for 4 of those speakers?


Here is another question. My both BP-8 seems to play nicely. Ive heard a way cleared music, but its fine. And pretty loud.

As for the single unit of "Def Tech BP-2006"... Im concerned.
When i connect it as a standalone speaker to the receiver it does sound pretty much exactly like BP-8 are. just as a single one.

However 2 things makes me wonder:
a)lower part of the speaked have a subwoofer, which either dont more at all, or maybe it does move like 1mm "sideways". Which makes me confused if it doesnt have enough power to move, ors its just dead by itself. Any realistic ways to test it?

And one more thing. Which i only find out 1 min ago. Previously i always connected the bp-2006 to the power plug.... and i think its necessary for it to WORK. But i switched off "channel A" (two BP-8), then i turn on "channel B" and start to listen the single "BP-2009". And only a minute later i realize that it palys without even being pluged into the power outlet. So i guess the power outlet is only for sub itself? Which turn us back to the question of.... is it even working? I mean the SUB....


a)There is an RED indicator on the back of bp-2006: POWER. Automatic On\Off.
Its burn as red LED light when i pluf the speaker.

b) There is a "power"(or volume?) knob on the back of that speaker.
Rotating that thing wont change anything. Neither bass. Neither volume. Nothing.

c)I can clearly see that there are 2.5A 250V fuze. But i didnt opened it yet. Maybe the fuze is dead. Ill check that later on.

d)That whole speaker system comes from US. And the seller guy told me that it only runs on 120V. Here we have 220v everywhere. But im running the system via 120V via "transformator"box. But i might assume that some stupid person plug it in directly into 220v and kill the sub. Hmm... but why the "power"LED is still working then?

Daniel

 

[Daniil]

Now there is another silly question. Im trying to figure it out here if sub\amp on my BP-2006 is dead or not.

What we have:

a) tweeter\speaker on bp-2006 works fine. No distortion.
b) When i plug it into power outlet, RED light with a text Power Automatic On\Off - its light up in red color.
c) FUZE inside the "fuze nest"looks a little bit dusty but solid. Not broken. And w\out it (removed) the LED from point "b"doesnt power up. So i assume that FUZE is working.

D) Now the question is. Am i stupid? What is that OPTIONAL LFE in?
I dont have any cable for that.
Does the woofer even suppose to work without that connection?


Daniel

 

[-Jim-]

I've looked all over to find the Manual for the BP2600TLs to assist in answering your questions but no joy. So I'll use an educated guess based on my experience to try to assist. Here's your latest questions:

However im trying to understand, the whole idea behind phrase "very carefully test the gear".
Is that because of Om difference? Or because that old Sony is way too underpowered for 4 of those speakers?

It's a combination of the potential difference in "ohms" at various frequencies causing the aged Sony to begin to distort damaging the speakers and itself. And a bit of underpowering. Often older receivers can handle loads less at than specified limits, but you want to be cautious not to damage anything. The unique thing about the second set of speakers is I assume it filters out the lower frequencies that go to the built in Sub so it only has to work on those above mid bass level which tend not to require as power to reproduce.

a)lower part of the speaked have a subwoofer, which either dont more at all, or maybe it does move like 1mm "sideways". Which makes me confused if it doesnt have enough power to move, ors its just dead by itself. Any realistic ways to test it?

I think the Sub requires a connection to the LFE input for it to work as I think it's totally independent of the rest of the speaker. The low-frequency effects (LFE) channel is the name of an audio track specifically intended for deep, low-pitched sounds ranging from 3-120 Hz. Typically Home Theater Receivers natively have this output, now often called Sub Out. Like I described above, using an RCA Cable , connect the REC/DAT output for the same channel you chose for the high level input to the LFE input. The reason you want the same channel is you want the Subwoofer to be "in phase" with the rest of the speaker so they all move in the same direction at the same time - this reinforces the bass.

It's good you have LEDs that work as it's indicative that power is making it into the Sub Amp.

I expect the Bass from the BP2600TL is not close to the output from the BP-8; which would reinforce my theory. I expect there is a built in Low Pass Filter after the LFE input on the Sub Amp so only signals lower than about 120Hz will be amplified.

Does the (sub) woofer even suppose to work without that connection? I don't think so.

All you need to test it is a cheap RCA Cable which one can get at a Dollar store around here, but may be less available where you live.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[BMXTRIX]

The 2600 is one of many speakers that DefTech makes that has an integrated subwoofer. They are notorious for the subwoofer amplifier failing and then being only half of what they were originally.

I like to think of them as two completely separate speakers. They are built primarily for use in home theater vs. a stereo setup, but can run either.

It's been a while, but I'm not sure if those speakers can run the subwoofer without either a line level input (full range) or a LFE connection. LFE is the Low Frequency output connection (subwoofer out) found on most A/V receivers on the market. The LFE output provides dedicated subwoofer audio for your system's subwoofer.

You can connect a source to the 'Full Range Low Level In' connection and it will pull off the low frequencies and send it to the subwoofer. The amplifier inside the speaker is ONLY for the subwoofer, so that's all you should hear.

I'm not sure if that particular model handles full range audio input from the speaker connection and then directs the low frequencies to the subwoofer or not.

It would be great if you could take a photo of the connections on the back of the 2600. It should include a couple of speaker terminals (or more) as well as a couple of RCA connections and likely some buttons and dials.

Their newest series is similar, but not identical and they have been making dual purpose speaker/subwoofer combos for years. But, they aren't 'active' speakers. They are a standard speaker that needs to be powered by an amplifier with an integrated powered subwoofer. The two are powered separately.

If you have a full range pre-out, like the 'TV Audio Out' connections from your receiver, that could go to a full range audio input connection on the back of the DefTech and send proper frequencies to the subwoofer. But, if it isn't running, then the subwoofer portion is likely dead.