Help with new purchase, getting gray hairs

[MarkNiceOne]

Hello all and hope some of you with knowledge can help an admitted clueless individual with a purchase. 3 weeks of reading, company websites, stores with clueless 18 year old employees, and I'm near meltdown. And my needs are simple (in my simple mind).

My current audio system is vintage; 31 band equalizer, 2 channel receiver with 40 watts, CD player, and a 50 inch HD TV with a DVD player. Got the TV and DVD player hooked up, then ran a single set of cables to my vintage Kenwood receiver and I have TV or DVD through the stereo. Suits my needs perfect. It works.

Now the dumb question which I preface with this: I don't play video games, never use radio, no iPod, don't want Blu Ray, no Sirus. Just the TV I have, the DVD player I have, and playing music CDs is all I want. Zero else I'll use in a component beyond that.

I got a 3rd set of vintage speakers I'd sought for some time, all 3 pairs being highly efficient (over 100db). I want to run all 3 pairs with an equal amount of power. The smallest speakers will take 125 watts.

Selector boxes such as those by Niles seem to not work or be the route to go from what I've read, and regardless as I want to increase the power over my current 2 channel stereo receiver (40 watts) to 80-100 watts per channel (per speaker pair).

Can I run all 3 pairs of speakers in a 7.1 audio/video receiver WITHOUT a sub-woofer and have "normal" sound, i.e. just 6 very loud speakers (3 pairs) ?? No desire for a sub woofer in the least, not what I want for my type of music. System's in a 14x20 room and am looking for front row at a rock concert sound "drive" and eviction notice volume which is best I can explain it. I want to be able to use my vintage carousel CD player (still seems better and more reliable than anything new for less than a fortune) but more importantly I want to retain ability to use my vintage 31 band equalizer. Also please note all 3 pairs of speakers are 8 ohms.

Some audio/video receivers I've looked at are rated at 6 ohms, is this a problem with my 8 ohm speakers ?? I guard them like children so obviously don't want to fry anything.

If a 7.1 audio/video receiver is what I should get, it seems companies that were high end quality in "the old days" are now often reviewed by buyers as junk (Denon for example). My vintage receiver has run trouble free for decades with FM, 2 videos, CD, etc. What company should I buy for reliability, keeping in mind my minimal actual needs, without having to sell one of my girlfriends to pay for it ?? I don't have the desire to pay a 4 figure sum for a receiver, some of these components choices cost as much as half the cars I've owned. I'll sacrifice my increased wattage want for reliability to stay within a sane budget, but 50 watts to each pair of speakers would be the minimum.

I appeal to the knowledgeable to save me some more gray hairs which I can't afford. HELP

 

[Chopper231]

It looks like that EQ is not going to wook with any 7.1 receiver.
If you are interested in a like-new 7.1 receiver, I have an Onkyo TX-SR806 for sale. It has it's own bulit-in EQ's and is rated @ 135 watts/ch. Paid $875 new will take $400. Thanks

 

[Chopper231]

Contact

Contact granjefferson@yahoo.com

 

[highfigh]

Audioholics has a classifieds section and posting equipment for sale in open threads is a violation here. You might want to move the ad for your receiver to the classifieds.

 

[highfigh]

Hello all and hope some of you with knowledge can help an admitted clueless individual with a purchase. 3 weeks of reading, company websites, stores with clueless 18 year old employees, and I'm near meltdown. And my needs are simple (in my simple mind).

My current audio system is vintage; 31 band equalizer, 2 channel receiver with 40 watts, CD player, and a 50 inch HD TV with a DVD player. Got the TV and DVD player hooked up, then ran a single set of cables to my vintage Kenwood receiver and I have TV or DVD through the stereo. Suits my needs perfect. It works.

Now the dumb question which I preface with this: I don't play video games, never use radio, no iPod, don't want Blu Ray, no Sirus. Just the TV I have, the DVD player I have, and playing music CDs is all I want. Zero else I'll use in a component beyond that.

I got a 3rd set of vintage speakers I'd sought for some time, all 3 pairs being highly efficient (over 100db). I want to run all 3 pairs with an equal amount of power. The smallest speakers will take 125 watts.

Selector boxes such as those by Niles seem to not work or be the route to go from what I've read, and regardless as I want to increase the power over my current 2 channel stereo receiver (40 watts) to 80-100 watts per channel (per speaker pair).

Can I run all 3 pairs of speakers in a 7.1 audio/video receiver WITHOUT a sub-woofer and have "normal" sound, i.e. just 6 very loud speakers (3 pairs) ?? No desire for a sub woofer in the least, not what I want for my type of music. System's in a 14x20 room and am looking for front row at a rock concert sound "drive" and eviction notice volume which is best I can explain it. I want to be able to use my vintage carousel CD player (still seems better and more reliable than anything new for less than a fortune) but more importantly I want to retain ability to use my vintage 31 band equalizer. Also please note all 3 pairs of speakers are 8 ohms.

Some audio/video receivers I've looked at are rated at 6 ohms, is this a problem with my 8 ohm speakers ?? I guard them like children so obviously don't want to fry anything.

If a 7.1 audio/video receiver is what I should get, it seems companies that were high end quality in "the old days" are now often reviewed by buyers as junk (Denon for example). My vintage receiver has run trouble free for decades with FM, 2 videos, CD, etc. What company should I buy for reliability, keeping in mind my minimal actual needs, without having to sell one of my girlfriends to pay for it ?? I don't have the desire to pay a 4 figure sum for a receiver, some of these components choices cost as much as half the cars I've owned. I'll sacrifice my increased wattage want for reliability to stay within a sane budget, but 50 watts to each pair of speakers would be the minimum.

I appeal to the knowledgeable to save me some more gray hairs which I can't afford. HELP

It's not mandatory that a 7.1 receiver be set up with 7 speakers and a sub. You could use just the two front channels with a Niles speaker selector if you want but there's really no reason to use a 7.1 receiver for that unless you need all of the video and digital inputs.

A receiver rated for 6 Ohms will have no problem with a Niles SSVC-4 or SSVC-6 and 8 Ohm speakers. The advantage of the SSVC over the SS-4 or SS-6 is the separate volume controls for each pair, so you could balance the level of each. With most new receivers, you won't be able to use your 31 band EQ.

 

[Davemcc]

Do you want to run all three sets of speakers at the same time?

I'm thinking that you could leave the existing TV system exactly as it is and build a completely separate, parallel system alongside it. The new system could comprise simply the CD player, a NAD integrated amp (with A/B speaker selector and tape loop for the EQ) and your two favorite pairs of music speakers. It doesn't have to be a NAD. Any old school integrated with multiple speaker outputs, a tape loop and enough power will do.

 

[PENG]

If a 7.1 audio/video receiver is what I should get, it seems companies that were high end quality in "the old days" are now often reviewed by buyers as junk (Denon for example).

I think that is a bad example. I have owned 3 Denon receivers, the 1705, 3805 and 4308, and have no issues whatsoever. They sold many units over the years so there are bound to be complaints by some unhappy owners.

If you are only interested in 2 channel listening and your speakers are all 8 ohms you should be able to get a two channel integrated amplifier that offers A, B, A+B speaker connections. In that case you will have many choices, including Denon (not junk at all) products in the <$1000 range.

 

[MarkNiceOne]

My current system has A, B, or A and B speaker selection.

Goal is to drive all 3 pairs of speakers at the same time.

But looks like I have a choice of a 7.1 or my EQ, not both. Depressing, thought the 7.1 a simple fix.

If a speaker selector (Niles) and a higher wattage 2 channel receiver will work with 3 pairs of speakers I'd rather go that route.

Any way I can have my EQ still work with any of the speaker pairs with a Niles selector, or must they all wired to the selector and thus bypassing any EQ ??

And which Niles selector model specifically do you guys recommend ?? Some reviews show certain models drop a large amount of power or create noise.

The simple goal is to drive all 3 speaker pairs with the same wattage, as well as run the TV/DVD through the system. I constantly use the EQ to adjust the actual recorded CD as my ears have a "Mutt Lange" sense of balance among the musicians recorded.

Hard to believe nobody uses equalizers, guess from doing sound for bands I'm used to finer adjustments of individual instruments, often I disagree with the original recording's producer.

My very, very deepest thanks to all of you for clarifying things for me, as well as saving me the money from buying what won't won't work. ALL stores thus far had led me to believe I could use the EQ and drive all 3 speaker pairs equally with just a 7.1 receiver.