Audio output to surround via AVR

Danem

Danem

Audioholic Intern
I have a pair of B&W 602 S2 bi-wired speakers and a B&W 602 S2 bi-wired centre speaker.
I am told that to run them from my audio amp (Denon F88 stack) I need an AVR.
However, having looked at all components, including the rear of several AVR's I cannot see how this is done.
Am I barking up the wrong tree, or is it possible?

Advice will be welcomed. Cheers, Dan
 
WaynePflughaupt

WaynePflughaupt

Audioholic Samurai

You have three speakers, and your stereo F88 only has two channels. So yes, you need a surround-sound AVR with multiple amplifier channels (most have 5 or 7).

Not sure what the confusion is on connecting the speakers to an AVR, though. They all have speaker terminals on the back panel that are clearly labeled “Left, Right, Center.”

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
To bi-wire speakers you first, remove the jumper between the top and bottom terminals. and then, run two wires from each speaker output on the amp. One to the top terminals and the other to the bottom terminals.

After all that you might be disappointed to find it does nothing.
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
And what is your definition of "bi-wired"? Post some photos and/or make a diagram of how the speakers are currently (no pun intended) connected.
 
L

Latent

Full Audioholic
your Denon stack is really just a mini stereo integrated amplifier. It can only control and power 2 speakers and doesn't even have a sub preout.

So what you would need is to replace the integrated amp section with any AVR of your choice. You will not need to use the integrated amp component from the stack but you are free to keep on using the source devices if you wish with the CD player still being usable. I think one component may be a dedicated radio receiver but this is generally built into your new AVR anyway.

In your situation I would recommend selling the whole Denon unit and getting an AVR. You may not need the latest video/audio features like 4k And Atmos etc so a refurbished last years (or older) unit or second hand may work just fine and save you some money.

You are then free to find better source devices like a new CD or other disk spinner.
 
L

Latent

Full Audioholic
And what is your definition of "bi-wired"? Post some photos and/or make a diagram of how the speakers are currently (no pun intended) connected.
I'm guessing but he may have new speakers that have bi-wire/amp terminals at the back but he may not be using them bi-wired yet. If this is the case then it's best to just ignore the two sets of terminals and leave the metal straps on them and just wire to one set of speaker posts as this will give you the best and simplest results.
 
Danem

Danem

Audioholic Intern
Thanks for the replies. I am OK in wiring my amp to the speakers
but know very, very little about AVR's. To actually see one will mean a 100 mile round trip by public transport. Have tried to glean info from Sony and several retailers via email and 'phone calls but that is like eating soup with a fork.

The reason for considering an AVR is that I want to couple in a centre speaker to listen to my cassette tapes, and my partner wants to watch internet movies on her 4K smart TV via LAN connection. I have run the LAN from the router to a Switch and just do not know whereabouts an AVR sits between the rest of the setup. Am homing in on the Denon STR-DN1060 though not prepared to find that I have bought an expensive door stop.

So can I feed the audio output from my stack via the amp, into the AVR's inputs and pick and pick up its outputs via my 3 speakers.

I am hoping that I can (with your assistance) get this figured out before the nice people in the green coats come to take me away. Regards to all, Dan
 
L

Latent

Full Audioholic
No you should not be outputting the audio from your stack amp. lets look at a couple of photos:






Top is your current integrated amp.
Below is an example AVR the Sony 1060.


They are basically the same thing with the the only difference being more inputs and speaker terminals on the bottom unit. Once you have an AVR like the bottom option then all your source devices would be moved out of the denon unit and connected to the new unit. The old stack may have some integrated control between the multiple units which would not work the same once you replace the amp with an AVR and many of the control functions will be done on the AVR with it's remote control now.

The AVR has the addition of video processing via HDMI which means sources like blu-ray players and android/roku/apple_TV streaming devices can plug in and be passed onto the TV and by the AVR. You select which source you want to the AVR remote and its sound gets output via the speakers and video passed onto the TV via HDMI out port.

Now if your only source is the TV itself and its smartTV options and built in TV tuner then the situation is different. In this situation you either use and HDMI cable with a feature called ARC turned on at both AVR and TV end or you get an optical digitial output cable and connect it from the TV to one of the optical inputs on the AVR for it to produce sound in 2 channel or 5.1 from Dolby digital/DTS sources. If this is all you need then getting a new generation latest year model of AVR may be a waste of money as even a 10 year old second hand AVR will do the job just as well and will be cheaper. But if you want to switch multiple 4k HDMI sources then a modern AVR is the way to go.

Note you only have 3 speakers and no sub but these AVR's will still work with this but you may not get surround sound etc.
 
Danem

Danem

Audioholic Intern
Hello to all. A couple of days ago I posted to thank all who took time and trouble to reply to my postings with detailed, very helpful advice. Returning here I see no sign of that post, so will repeat my thanks.
You have been a real help. Best regards to you, Dan
 

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