I’ve bought a Denon 4400 and a set of SVS Ultra Towers.

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Steelers252006

Audioholic
True newbie that knows squat (though I’ve reviewed some cool speakers and receivers). I don’t know what biwiring or bridging, have no idea how to set up a system for the best sound, and I bug the hell out of Danzilla31 on PMs and kinda feel bad about it...so I’ll come back here for this one to get some different thoughts. I’m going to hold off on subs or other speakers for now. Danzilla31 said Crown XLS 102 rocks and will push speakers better, so I’ll buy one of those now. How does it hook up one more time, which cable? And I pressure all speaker wire or cables must be purchased independently? I’ll need a good HDMI, too? Where do I go now? Speakers come Monday!! Woooo!!!
 
S

Steelers252006

Audioholic
True newbie that knows squat (though I’ve reviewed some cool speakers and receivers). I don’t know what biwiring or bridging, have no idea how to set up a system for the best sound, and I bug the hell out of Danzilla31 on PMs and kinda feel bad about it...so I’ll come back here for this one to get some different thoughts. I’m going to hold off on subs or other speakers for now. Danzilla31 said Crown XLS 102 rocks and will push speakers better, so I’ll buy one of those now. How does it hook up one more time, which cable? And I pressure all speaker wire or cables must be purchased independently? I’ll need a good HDMI, too? Where do I go now? Speakers come Monday!! Woooo!!!
Also, what’s a good affordable stand I should consider? I’m eventually going to rearrange my room, so wall mounting won’t be an option.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
I use Monoprice Choice for my speaker cable... I just go for 12AWG. buy the spool of 100'. enough to get you well underway!
And I like their Affinity Banana plugs, too.
You can get certified Premium HDMI cable from them, too.
 
S

Steelers252006

Audioholic
Cool, exactly what Danzilla31 said, is priced well.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
I don’t know what biwiring or bridging
Not worth the trouble. Learn about it in time, but shouldn't affect how you do your rig, now.
The Crown 1502 is pretty solid. You just need a decent quality stereo RCA cable... look at monoprice for that too, about 3' long, that will connect from your pre-out on the AVR to the input on the Amp. Speakers are connected from the amp, not the AVR. Though for stereo usage right now, you could hold off on the amp and just connect to the AVR as you get used to the new gear... add the amp later if you really feel you need it. :)
 
S

Steelers252006

Audioholic
I use Monoprice Choice for my speaker cable... I just go for 12AWG. buy the spool of 100'. enough to get you well underway!
And I like their Affinity Banana plugs, too.
You can get certified Premium HDMI cable from them, too.
How do banana plugs work? What’s biwiting and biamping and bridging exactly? And I need two. RCA cables if I buy the Crown?
 
S

Steelers252006

Audioholic
Not worth the trouble. Learn about it in time, but shouldn't affect how you do your rig, now.
The Crown 1502 is pretty solid. You just need a decent quality stereo RCA cable... look at monoprice for that too, about 3' long, that will connect from your pre-out on the AVR to the input on the Amp. Speakers are connected from the amp, not the AVR. Though for stereo usage right now, you could hold off on the amp and just connect to the AVR as you get used to the new gear... add the amp later if you really feel you need it. :)
So 1502 and
 
S

Steelers252006

Audioholic
True newbie that knows squat (though I’ve reviewed some cool speakers and receivers). I don’t know what biwiring or bridging, have no idea how to set up a system for the best sound, and I bug the hell out of Danzilla31 on PMs and kinda feel bad about it...so I’ll come back here for this one to get some different thoughts. I’m going to hold off on subs or other speakers for now. Danzilla31 said Crown XLS 102 rocks and will push speakers better, so I’ll buy one of those now. How does it hook up one more time, which cable? And I pressure all speaker wire or cables must be purchased independently? I’ll need a good HDMI, too? Where do I go now? Speakers come Monday!! Woooo!!!
Sorry, meant Crown 1002 I think it is.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Hey man, congratulations. That’s exciting!

Yeah, monoprice is good value, and blue jeans cable too.
Don’t get sucked into the crazy claims of cable manufacturers and super chocolate midrange and lighter than air highs and tighter bass etc. it’s all bs. Obviously some cables look nicer than others and if they will be visible it might be worth it to you to buy nicer cables in that regard. Just don’t expect any better sound. Some do have banana plugs built in already which can be handy. Especially if you don’t want to mess around installing them yourself.

Biwiring? Don’t do it. It’s called “buy-wiring” for a reason. There are ways to do it with external crossovers and stuff but that’s a conversation for the far future.

For the crown, you’ll need to go from the “main out” rca connections on the denon to the inputs on the crown. Afaik crown has rca inputs for this and you won’t need special cables. But on my Yamaha for example, it only has 1/4 inputs so I need RCA to 1/4” TS(tip and sleeve). Local music store for less than 10 bucks. I actually made some before bought any so the point is it’s simple if you need to. Setting the level can be tricky but it’s also not hard.
 
S

Steelers252006

Audioholic
Thanks, man, am super excited!! What a specific power strip for all these plugs?
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Well. That can be a hot topic lol. IMO you won’t find any audible improvement. I use an APC H10. When I got it, we were having power company issues and I liked that it buffers over/under voltage. At least the indicator lights tell me that lol.
So I can only recommend the one I use. I also had a monster power strip for awhile. If anything besides a whole house system, maybe something with a UPC for soft shut downs.
APC H10BLK AV 1kVA H Type Power Conditioner https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBLOAY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_AMVBCbCE9TBXP
Sorry. Can’t offer much about power supplies.
 
S

Steelers252006

Audioholic
So a basic surge protector is safe to use with all that power? I don’t really understand the response on this one.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Sorry. I was just trying to avoid the whole get the best possible power conditioner conversation. To me, you’ll want more robust construction than a plain old power strip from ace hardware, but you don’t need to worry about filtering dirty electricity and stuff. Iirc, furman makes good ones too.

Hopefully one of the boys can guide you better on that one.
 
S

snakeeyes

Audioholic Ninja
I would add subs before amps just in terms of immediate difference in sound.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
How do banana plugs work? What’s biwiting and biamping and bridging exactly? And I need two. RCA cables if I buy the Crown?
Banana plugs are just a convenient way of connecting your speaker cable to the binding posts. You just slide it in, and you’re good to go. Installing them is a little meditative... you need wire strippers and a small flathead screwdriver. You need two pairs per speaker. You can always just do naked wire, too. ;)
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Sorry, my phone is acting crazy. You like the Ctown 1502 better than 1002?
If / when you get there... 1502 is the better choice between the two. Better Signal to Noise Ratio. Though many have commented that the difference is most likely not audible.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
What’s biwiting and biamping and bridging exactly?
None of this is advised or recommended, as for bi-wiring and bi-amping, it is generally accepted that there is no audible benefit. It sounds cool, costs money to do, generally won't harm anything... but yields next to nothing.
If your speakers have two sets of binding posts, and many do, these days, they connect to the crossover (XO) inside the speaker, and there is a jumper between the two positive and between the two negative posts.
After removing those jumpers, one could:
Bi-wire is connecting two sets of speaker cables to the amplifer binding posts, and then connecting one set to the LF, and one set to the HF binding posts of the speaker. Most notably, all this really does is decrease the resistance that the amplifier sees (IIRC).
Passive Bi-amp is more complicated, and I will only briefly describe it. You would need TWO amplifiers, and two sets of cables. One amplifer would be connected to the LF binding posts (with jumpers removed) and the other amplifer would be connected to the HF binding posts. You would split the signal from the AVR pre out, one two each amplifier. There are various ways to achieve this, but in the end, the result is still largely inaudible. There is another method that is much more advanced and expensive called Active Bi-Amping.
Lastly, you asked about Bridging. Stereo amplifier sometimes come wit ha feature called bridged mode, which turns the 2-channel amplifier into a Mono amplifier. It will usually double the wattage being sent out, and IIRC, halve the impedance. This also is a more advanced technique, because if you don't do it properly, you can fry your speakers and your amp.

Again, You really have no reason to consider doing any of this. Connect your system up simply and correctly. The Denon has enough power to handle your Ultra towers in two channel mode. When you get to 5.x.2 or .4 atmos, then having an amp for your front three is much more useful.

So a basic surge protector is safe to use with all that power? I don’t really understand the response on this one.
Some APC units are good, Trip Lite makes good ones, Monster is OK... look for one that is rated for 20Amps, and has a high rating for the joules it can protect your gear from. A lot of them come with 'insurance' saying that they will replace up $50,000 of gear if their product fails. Shouldn't cost much more than $50-$100 depending on the brand.
I would add subs before amps just in terms of immediate difference in sound.
For our friend here... starting off simple is best. Though I would agree that your center channel and subs should take priority over amplifiers. That's just my way of looking at it though. ;)
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
So a basic surge protector is safe to use with all that power? I don’t really understand the response on this one.
Hey what's up my brother! Sorry it took me a minute to get back to you all the banana plugs wire HDMI that Ryanosaur and William are recommending is what I get.

Learn how to use banana plugs! They make your life so much easier!

Don't worry about biwire triwire or biamping or any of that stuff!

I've never heard a difference that was noticeable that's just me tho. Can only speak for me but it's just complicating stuff for really I can't tell if I get any returns!

Just hook em up.

If your gonna buy one amp to power those ultra's I'd go with the 2502. Specs are better and that will give those ultra's all the clean juice they need!

They'd sound great off the reciever in 2 channel mode but I know your wanting to do this all the way so buy the amp but buy the 2502 it's worth the extra coin

Congratulations on those ultra's I'm frickin jealous I really was going to snatch those up but you beat me to it! I'm happy for you tho bro I need three of them anyway :D
 

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