First Time Setup

[cyt698]

Hi Guys,

I am a new house owner and can finally setup the audio how I want to! I have an amp capable of 7.1 surround and a DVD player connected to it via an optical cable. I am not sure what version of surround output it has as its older than my amp, but plugging my optical cable in turns the two stereo speakers I have currently got into surround mode ( i have since switched the amp back to stereo).

I wanted to ask two things as I have never setup surround before but wanted to try it out.

Firstly - I currently only have two nice front left and front right speakers that until now I have always used in stereo mode. My understanding of surround is that it heavily relies on the center speaker and therefore seems redundant to have these front right/left ones. Is there a way to configure surround successfully without a center speaker to continue having the performance of the two I have currently?

Second question - I do not currently have rear satellite speakers, I do however have nice multimedia small speakers spare that are currently used on a computer multi-media system. I was hoping to cut the headphone jack connector of the end of each of these small speakers and somehow wire them into the amp as my rear satellie ones. Is this possible to do? If I cut the headphone jack off is simply a matter of splitting the wires in there out, or are they usually internally covered in plastic aswell? Or will I have just destroyed my speakers...

Thanks for you help!

 

[Davemcc]

You can do a phantom center channel where your left and right speakers imitate the effect. It would help to know which receiver you have to make sure the setup parameters are correct.

As for cutting a headphone connection off the other speakers, I'm thinking no. Speakers using a headphone source would have to have a built in amplifier which you would burn out it you were to feed it an amplified signal.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

Like Dave said, it would help to know which receiver that you have. My Pioneer receiver is able to do a really good job of taking a surround sound source and playing it in stereo. Sounds just fine. If you only have two speakers, that would tend to be my recommendation for how to play things. If you hooked up rear speakers and didn't have a center channel, then I'd tend to side with Dave on running a "phantom" center channel.

As for using your computer speakers, let us know which speakers you have. I've seen some that have those jacks running from the amplifier to the speakers, in which case you could do exactly what you want to do.

Adam

 

[cyt698]

Thankyou!

Thanks guys, this forum is so handy!

The multimedia system I have that I dont really need anymore for the computer setup is a TDK tremor system. It does have a powered amp/sub that the other two speakers plug into via headphone jacks. Those other two speakers were the ones I was hoping to use as they are small and can be well hidden, and I wont have to spend any more (or much) money to install them to my surround setup.

Example information: amazon.com/TDK-Tremor-Computer-Speakers-3-Speaker/dp/B00005V54W

The two small standing ones are the ones I want to use as my satellite speakers and the amp can just sit somewhere until I think of something to do with it. They have connectors on them that look like this: krcs.co.uk/shop/product/details/3m-stereo-jack-to-stereo-jack-cable

My receiver is a Kenwood VR-906 (amazon.com/Kenwood-VR-906-6-1-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B000800B4C)and it does have an option to switch off center speaker. I was just wondering if that makes it a phantom one or not? I assume its not just going to cancel that channel out completely?

 

[Adam]

Glad that we could help!

Those two speakers with the headphone jacks could be used the way that you want. I will caution you that your receiver can put more power into those than their original amp, so just be aware of that. As rear speakers, you likely won't run into any problems with overpowering them, but if you hear them sounding strange, then turn the volume down.

Also, you are correct about the center channel setting on your receiver - that would be a phantom setting. As long as you have it set up in a surround sound mode, it would just send the center channel information to the two front speakers.

 

[Davemcc]

It's hard to tell from the info online, but it appears that the amps for the satellites are built into the sub module, making the satellite speakers a passive monitor. In this case you could use them with the receiver. Just be aware that they are only rated for 5 watts and they may be of very low impedence. As long as the amps are not in the satellites themselves, you could theoretically use them. But in the long run, I'm sure you'd be happier with a set of inexpensive small bookshelves, like the Cambridge S30.
http://www.wildwestelectronics.net/cambridge-audio-s30-speaker.html

 

[cyt698]

Great

Ok, thanks. Well at least I know I dont have to worry about a center speaker and Im much happier running it in a phantom setup.

I hadn't thought about those small speakers not being designed to have a larger amp run sound to them though. Hmmm.. I might not destroy them from being able to be used in the original amp then incase the quality does give me problems. It would be a bit of a waste to break the speakers and then not have good sound from them...

Those ones you posted looked good. Might be a while before I can convince my other half on spending a couple of hundred bucks on speakers though

I'll see how I go. Thanks for your help!