Speaker Connection

[Bluenotes]

Hi all,

I'm new to this game, & hoping some seasoned vets can help.

I recently inhereted a pair of really nice speakers. It appears that they are KEF brand, model Q55 (please forgive me if this makes me sound like an imbecile, I don't know what I'm talking about.). The back of each speaker has four outputs: two black, two red.

I'm attempting to connect these speakers to a Pioneer amplifier, which appears to be model VSX-454, which I am then in turn attempting to connect to my MacBook Pro. The amplifier has lots of inputs and outputs, the details of which elude me. I have a Y-Cable plugged into the Phono outputs on my amp, the other end of which goes into the headphone jack of my laptop.



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I KNOW this isn't the best setup for this system, but I can't figure out what is? Can anybody help? I'm a musician & am going crazy listening to music that doesn't sound good on speakers that I know sound amazing!

Any help is appreciated!

Best,
Notes

 

[j_garcia]

You have the speakers connected correctly. There's no magic there. That speaker wire is likely pushing the limit for being too small for those speakers (looks to be about 18-20AWG). Specs appear to be 91dB sensitivity and 8 Ohms from what I found. Use at least 14AWG wire and you should be fine for a short run.

I'd honestly just pick up an inexpensive CD or DVD player and use that, you'll likely get better results than using the headphone jack on most laptops.

 

[Grador]

I agree with getting a cheap CD player for better quality, but to use your laptop you picked THE ONLY input on the back of the receiver you cannot use for this purpose. The phono input is expecting you to plug a record payer in, which is ~10% of the power that your headphone jack is putting out. To use your computer on the receiver plug it into any other input and that Y cable will do you just fone

 

[j_garcia]

It depends on the output voltage of the headphone jack, but yes, it should work. I was going to mention that the phono input was probably not the right choice as well.

 

[markw]

Lose the phono jack and use virtually any other input.

Aside from possibly overloading that input, a phono stage also applies unique equalization* designed specifically for record playback. Anything except a magnetic phono cartridge will sound awful when played through it.

* see here for more on RIAA Equalization