Definitive Technology BP9080 & Yamaha receiver Issue

[diyankov]

I will try another receiver. Honestly these monster cables are so thick that they put a lot of pressure on the terminals. I think they may have damaged something back there.

 

[Hunter21]

Could be. Probably bent one of the connections inside the amp. If the same problem happens with a different amp could be something else

 

[diyankov]

Hmmm.... you sure none of the leads are touching the back of the amp where the wires are terminated.

Yeah pretty much.

 

[diyankov]

Right. A buddy of mine will bring his Yamaha to test (same model but 2 yrs newer).

So if I need a new receiver any advice on what I should buy that won’t damage my wallet? The speakers are big w/ atmos. I would stick to Yamaha because I am familiar with them but may consider denon or others...

 

[diyankov]

Could be. Probably bent one of the connections inside the amp. If the same problem happens with a different amp could be something else

The terminals that had the monster cables installed are considerably wobbly-er (is that a word?) than the rest of the terminals. I would probbaly remove some of the insulation so they are more flexible or just get new cables.

 

[lovinthehd]

Curious, why would you use the LFE for the powered woofers in the speaker without initially powering the amps they're feeding? Is the speaker supposed to somehow work with a line level signal without the built in amp?

 

[Russdawg1]

Right. A buddy of mine will bring his Yamaha to test (same model but 2 yrs newer).

So if I need a new receiver any advice on what I should buy that won’t damage my wallet? The speakers are big w/ atmos. I would stick to Yamaha because I am familiar with them but may consider denon or others...

Denon X4400H from Accessories4Less.com easy pick over basically everything. It’s 9.2 but has processing for 11 channels if you ever need or want a 7.2.4 or 5.2.6.

 

[diyankov]

Curious, why would you use the LFE for the powered woofers in the speaker without initially powering the amps they're feeding? Is the speaker supposed to somehow work with a line level signal without the built in amp?

Honestly I was just doing tests to eliminate possible causes. The speakers work with only speaker wires and no electricity but without any woofers. The sound level seems lower as well. I won’t run them that way of course.

 

[Hunter21]

I'm a big Yamaha fan, especially their aventage line. For me they have lasted forever. My dad still has his old Yamaha from 1987 still works even the cassette player, use it as a garage system now. AVENTAGE RX-A680 is a good inexpensive one, or if you want to pay a bit more you could get a RX-A880BL.

 

[highfigh]

Hello everyone, first-time poster here!

Recently I bought Def Tech bp9080 floor speakers and I am running them on my Yamaha RX-V675. I know my receiver is not a high-end unit and that I will have to upgrade it eventually. Right now I have only hooked up these two speakers to the receiver with a speaker wire (monster cables). They work and sound great!

My speaker settings are: Speakers - Large, Woofer - No/OFF

However, the bp9080 speakers have built-in powered subwoofers and have LFE input ports. My receiver has two LFE output ports. When I add the LFE cables into the mix, my receiver shuts off right away (regardless of volume level). Anything above muted sound causes the receiver to shut off.

Speaker settings are: Speakers - small, woofer - Yes/ON. Double Bass - OFF

What am I doing wrong? The weird thing is that if one of the speakers (either left or right) is hooked up with the LFE connection everything works fine. The moment I add the second speaker everything shuts down.

DefTech customer service said my receiver is summing the sound levels from the speaker wire and the LFE cable and is recognizing it as a short, so it shuts off as a protection. The place I bought the speakers from said my receiver sucks and I need at least 140-150W per channel to run these towers - anything below that won't work... but they sound awesome right now, and how's that related to the LFE signal? I am super confused.

Is there any advantage of running these speakers with LFE vs only a speaker wire? Would I see any sound improvements?

Thoughts?

Hello everyone, first-time poster here!

Recently I bought Def Tech bp9080 floor speakers and I am running them on my Yamaha RX-V675. I know my receiver is not a high-end unit and that I will have to upgrade it eventually. Right now I have only hooked up these two speakers to the receiver with a speaker wire (monster cables). They work and sound great!

My speaker settings are: Speakers - Large, Woofer - No/OFF

However, the bp9080 speakers have built-in powered subwoofers and have LFE input ports. My receiver has two LFE output ports. When I add the LFE cables into the mix, my receiver shuts off right away (regardless of volume level). Anything above muted sound causes the receiver to shut off.

Speaker settings are: Speakers - small, woofer - Yes/ON. Double Bass - OFF

What am I doing wrong? The weird thing is that if one of the speakers (either left or right) is hooked up with the LFE connection everything works fine. The moment I add the second speaker everything shuts down.

DefTech customer service said my receiver is summing the sound levels from the speaker wire and the LFE cable and is recognizing it as a short, so it shuts off as a protection. The place I bought the speakers from said my receiver sucks and I need at least 140-150W per channel to run these towers - anything below that won't work... but they sound awesome right now, and how's that related to the LFE signal? I am super confused.

Is there any advantage of running these speakers with LFE vs only a speaker wire? Would I see any sound improvements?

Thoughts?

You're not connecting the LFE input to the speaker connectors in any way, are you?

The guy at Def Tech sounds like he's new, or from the marketing department.

 

[Hunter21]

No he said he's got them on the sub out rca on the receiver.

 

[highfigh]

Yeah, but I think something is wrong with the receiver. I just replaced the speaker wires. I removed the monater cables and plugged normal speaker wire. I noticed the left channel didn’t work. Turns out the negative (black) output for the righ channel doesn’t always make a good connection. I had to wiggle it so the speaker started working. Once both speakers were running I reset the receiver again added one LFE at a time. Everything worked fine (both speakers plugged with LFE). Then I touched that black terminal on the back of the reciver and the thing went off. I don’t know how that may have affected the system because during the previous tests the speaker was working fine and I never really moved that cable at all.

If you didn't tighten the plastic collar on the binding posts, it adds to the stress from the Monster Cables and they ARE heavy. The Connections may have been damaged inside of the AVR- if you can solder, make sure the connections are OK- if you can't, find someone who can.

NEVER stress connectors with stiff or heavy cables.

 

[Hunter21]

If you didn't tighten the plastic collar on the binding posts, it adds to the stress from the Monster Cables and they ARE heavy. The Connections may have been damaged inside of the AVR- if you can solder, make sure the connections are OK- if you can't, find someone who can.

NEVER stress connectors with stiff or heavy cables.

I've almost had that happen to me but I noticed it before it was too late and just replaced them with regular 14 gauge wire without banana plugs, and if the receiver is caput and you have to get a new one, please make sure you have enough ventillation around it. I know a guy who has a nice Yamaha I bought after his Kenwood stopped working after 3 years who just shoves it in the same spot inside a cabinet with the doors closed and put stuff on top of the vent holes of the receiver

 

[diyankov]

You're not connecting the LFE input to the speaker connectors in any way, are you?

The guy at Def Tech sounds like he's new, or from the marketing department.

No. LFE cable goes from LFE output on receiver to LFE input at speaker.

 

[diyankov]

If you didn't tighten the plastic collar on the binding posts, it adds to the stress from the Monster Cables and they ARE heavy. The Connections may have been damaged inside of the AVR- if you can solder, make sure the connections are OK- if you can't, find someone who can.

NEVER stress connectors with stiff or heavy cables.

Right! I can solder but have to open the unit and see if I can get access to the back.

I can run normal 14 gauge wire, but I figured the Monster cables are “higher” quality. If the sound won’t suffer I am all for getting rid of these cables.

 

[PENG]

Recently I bought Def Tech bp9080 floor speakers and I am running them on my Yamaha RX-V675. I know my receiver is not a high-end unit and that I will have to upgrade it eventually. Right now I have only hooked up these two speakers to the receiver with a speaker wire (monster cables). They work and sound great!

My speaker settings are: Speakers - Large, Woofer - No/OFF

If they were my speakers, and I am a beginner in this crazy hobby, that's the way I would hook them up, for optimized performance without having to experiment a lot and plot a lot in room response graphs.

However, the bp9080 speakers have built-in powered subwoofers and have LFE input ports. My receiver has two LFE output ports. When I add the LFE cables into the mix, my receiver shuts off right away (regardless of volume level). Anything above muted sound causes the receiver to shut off.

Speaker settings are: Speakers - small, woofer - Yes/ON. Double Bass - OFF
What am I doing wrong? The weird thing is that if one of the speakers (either left or right) is hooked up with the LFE connection everything works fine. The moment I add the second speaker everything shuts down.

When you said ".....with the LFE..............everything works fine, was it either one LFE connection to either subwoofer out at the receiver?

You may also want to double check the polarity of the speaker level connections, i.e. + to +, - to -, and also try a different subwoofer cable.

DefTech customer service said my receiver is summing the sound levels from the speaker wire and the LFE cable and is recognizing it as a short, so it shuts off as a protection.

That makes no sense, you followed instructions from the manual, right?

The place I bought the speakers from said my receiver sucks and I need at least 140-150W per channel to run these towers - anything below that won't work... but they sound awesome right now, and how's that related to the LFE signal? I am super confused.

I think the dealer sucks more than your receiver, but the receiver may also suck, if and when you push it.

Is there any advantage of running these speakers with LFE vs only a speaker wire? Would I see any sound improvements?

I doubt it, unless you have exceptional hearing, and the patience to tune everything up, or you have the appropriate tools, knowledge, patience, and time to do it.

 

[PENG]

Right! I can solder but have to open the unit and see if I can get access to the back.

I can run normal 14 gauge wire, but I figured the Monster cables are “higher” quality. If the sound won’t suffer I am all for getting rid of these cables.

I suggest you attempt that only after you have done everything you can troubleshooting.

 

[PENG]

His post indicates he set woofer to on/yes in the avr ("Speaker settings are: Speakers - small, woofer - Yes/ON. Double Bass - OFF). If that's settings on both on the speaker and avr, that might need clarification.

That connection is correct according to the manual. It makes sense too.

 

[Russdawg1]

Right! I can solder but have to open the unit and see if I can get access to the back.

I can run normal 14 gauge wire, but I figured the Monster cables are “higher” quality. If the sound won’t suffer I am all for getting rid of these cables.

I highly doubt u would be able to hear the difference between monster and 14 gauge. If it was indeed better, everyone would use it!

 

[diyankov]

Been super busy lately. Just did some more testing. So when I touch any terminals or LFE output the left speaker cuts off. Obviously a bad connection. Just opened it up and saw that one of the soldered points at the eboard has developed a crack. Every time I move a cable (plugging/unplugging) the solder lifts off the board just a hair. See photo. I am mot sure if that can be soldered back up.