Looking for Alternatives for Hooking Up Six Speakers in Stereo

[wad06]

I am a long time forum lurker, and the people here have been invaluable so far. I am finally ready to post (after a fair amount of research), but I am very noobish, so go easy.

I am looking to outfit a pretty big room (15' x 25') for music only. I was thinking of running six speakers and a sub or two. I would like to run the six in stereo mode. I already have the speakers and subs (onix x-ls speakers and two ulw-10 subs).

I am on a tight budget, and I have thought of 3 options to consider:

1) Buy a Pioneer 1016 and run it in 7 channel stereo (one of the advanced processing settings) with the six speakers and one sub (Could and how would I connect the second?)

or

2) Go pre-amp and amp avenue with some budget equipment. Here, I was thinking of Behringer A500's and a pre-amp to drive the six speakers. The problem here is complete lack of knowledge. Would I need an amp per pair of speakers, or could I run two pairs of one amp (and go with eight speakers - how would this hook-up work)? Also, how would I hook up the subs? Finally, what are some budget pre-amps that I should look at.

or

3) Go with the Pioneer 1016 and use the pre-amp outs to three Behringer A500's. Again, I have the sub problem - how to hook up two subs. Also, this is the most expensive option, and I only want to resort to it if I have to for adequate results.

Finally, I guess I should define adequate. This is definitely not for audiophiles. I am looking for a setup that would make an average Joe happy. I want enough volume to fill up the room and make it difficult to have a conversation when it is turned up loudly.

Any help at all would be appreciated, including any alternative options.

Thanks,

Wad

 

[AVRat]

Go with the 1016 and pick up a Y-adapter (1 male - 2 female) for the subs.

 

[icthys]

Get a stereo receiver and a speaker selector. If'n you need more power, which I think you do, get a bad two channel amp and hook it up to the line level output from the two channel reciever. Then shoot it over to the speaker selector. You could pick up a multi-channel amp with a bus input used with the same two channel receiver.

 

[Nuglets]

Get a stereo receiver and a speaker selector. If'n you need more power, which I think you do, get a bad two channel amp and hook it up to the line level output from the two channel reciever. Then shoot it over to the speaker selector. You could pick up a multi-channel amp with a bus input used with the same two channel receiver.

Huh? I don't get what you are trying to say and I don't think he will either. He wants more than one speaker connected to each channel so they will play at the same time. I don't understand what the speaker selector and a "bad" two channel amp is going to do to help him.

 

[wad06]

I was thinking about getting a speaker selector with three or four pairs and just selecting them all at one time. The problem here would be finding an amp that was big enough to split this many times and still sound decent.

My other thought was a Rotel 1048 (multichannel amp) and just use the "link" feature to have all four pairs of speakers running off of one input.

Finally, I thought I may just get Y adapters and split the source signal three times into three amps, each with a pair of speakers hooked up. Would this work alright?

What do you guys think of these alternatives as compared to the 1016 option. As for source, think Ipod.

Wad

 

[xboxweasel]

1) Get a 6.1 or 7.1 a/v receiver. Connect 6 speakers to it. Use the "all speaker stereo" mode or some DSP (digital signal processing) mode that uses all speakers with a stereo source. And use the sub preout for the sub. If 2 subs are required, split the sub preout with a Y adapter. If you get a receiver with preouts then you can always add amp(s) later if more power is required/desired.

2) Get a stereo integrated amp (or preamp) with preouts (not sure is these come with sub preouts). Connect the preouts to a seperate amp(s) (using Y adapters) and connected the speakers to those amps. IMO Stereo receivers are harder to find these days. So #1 is a better option. And you have more features.

 

[Haoleb]

You should really be looking into multi-room audio gear for this type of application as your not paying for a ton of features you dont need, Such as if you went with a reciever.

http://brandnamez.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=28838&lastcatid=80&step=4&AffNo=492452167

Something like that Xantech unit is what you need, Although Im guessing its a bit more $$ that you want to spend. You can also fine quite cheap amplifiers in stereo or monoblock configuration such as Audiosource... Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/AudioSource-Amp-100-2-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00026BQJ6/sr=8-1/qid=1160103441/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2009483-6409704?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

 

[wire]

You should really be looking into multi-room audio gear for this type of application as your not paying for a ton of features you dont need, Such as if you went with a reciever.

http://brandnamez.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=28838&lastcatid=80&step=4&AffNo=492452167

Something like that Xantech unit is what you need, Although Im guessing its a bit more $$ that you want to spend. You can also fine quite cheap amplifiers in stereo or monoblock configuration such as Audiosource... Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/AudioSource-Amp-100-2-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00026BQJ6/sr=8-1/qid=1160103441/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2009483-6409704?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Yes
I agree with this post .
Go with a Pre ( you can get a C-1 Carver pre with Sonic holigraphy for a very cheap price and its a hell of a pre with the best SH in the Carver line up ) . for your source .
Then a multi channel amp , you can find good used stuff around for a good price .

 

[Nuglets]

If you don't mind me asking...why would you want to do this anyways? If you are looking for very loud sound, you will obviously need more than one amplifier or you will be faced with clipping at much lower volumes than normal. Trying to run all channels simultaneously from the same power supply such as a reciever is going to be very demanding as you reach higher volumes.

I'm also wondering if you are looking to put the speakers around the room, or all in the front (like stacked or something)? In my opinion putting them all up front would be the best option if they are all playing the same material to avoid any problems with frequency response. Honestly though, if you are on a tight budget, I would hook your speakers up in a normal surround sound setup and just get a reciever. The louder you want it go requires bigger or more amplifiers, not just more speakers. Hooking up a bunch of speakers without sufficient amps is pretty much defeating the purpose of hooking up a bunch of speakers. Anyways, it sounds very messy and I don't think you will benefit much from having all those speakers playing in stereo so if I were you I would scratch that idea. Save up some cash, get two speaker's that are capable of louder sound and get some amps(or one amp) to power them and you will be much better off in my opinion.

By the way, my room is about 30' x 25' x 18' and my two tower's can fill the room with very loud music. The only issue I have is that my frequency response rolls off pretty steeply at about 30Hz, which is not bad in my opinion considering the size of the room and the fact that the only music I listen to that even gets close to that low is rap. So that's 2 x 1" high range drivers, 2 x 6.5" midrange drivers, and 6 x 8" bass drivers in a room larger than yours, so again I don't see why you would need all those speakers playing the same material.

 

[jcPanny]

Speaker setup

Wad06,
Any reasonably powered 7.1 receiver from Yamaha, Denon, or the Pioneer you mentioned will work fine. All of them have a "7-channel stereo" sound mode. No need for external amps for your bookshelf speakers.
If you have an extra $130, get the Onix X-CS center channel so you will have a real surround sound setup for watching movies.

 

[icthys]

Huh? I don't get what you are trying to say and I don't think he will either. He wants more than one speaker connected to each channel so they will play at the same time. I don't understand what the speaker selector and a "bad" two channel amp is going to do to help him.

He wants to run 6 speakers

Thus, a cheap stereo receiver, with an optional bad (high power) amp, and a 6 channel speaker selector achieves what he was asking for.

However, a used 7.1 receiver with the stereo mode option sounds like a nice cheap way to go.

BTW, he understood what I was saying

 

[Nuglets]

He wants to run 6 speakers

Thus, a cheap stereo receiver, with an optional bad (high power) amp, and a 6 channel speaker selector achieves what he was asking for.

However, a used 7.1 receiver with the stereo mode option sounds like a nice cheap way to go.

BTW, he understood what I was saying

Ok but correct me if I'm wrong, as I have no experience with speaker selectors. If you are connecting six speakers to a selector and activating all of the channels at the same time isn't this just a more organized way of wiring them all together? The speaker's are all connected somehow even when connected to a selector, either wired in series or parallel causing a large change in impedance when more than one set of speakers are selected, correct? Like I said, if louder is what he's looking for, I don't know if this is a way to achieve it. I don't see any other reason to want six speaker's for 'stereo' sound other than to get louder or to look bigger than it is. If the goal is unspecified I agree that a multichannel reciever with a five or seven channel stereo mode would be the best option.

And how does bad=high power? I guess I didn't make that correlation when I read your first post.

 

[xboxweasel]

To me a selector switch is used to select something. IE: which speakers do I want to select today?

 

[Nuglets]

To me a selector switch is used to select something. IE: which speakers do I want to select today?

I agree...I think a selector is meant for you to select one at a time, not all at the same time. If you use the A and B at the same time on a reciever the impedance changes so I don't see any reason why a speaker selector would be different. The only difference I see is more sets of speakers that can be connected to it to select from meaning an even greater change in impedance.

EDIT: I did find a speaker selector that allows you to play all channels simultaneously while remaining at 8 Ohms for each channel. I don't know how it works but I'm assuming it's not very efficient in transerring all the power from the reciever to all of the channels at the same time. It seems to be for multi zone application's where each zone is at a low to moderate level like in a restauraunt or throughout a house where I highly doubt the speakers are being driven very loud at the same time. There has to be a signifigant loss of power to each speaker which will greatly limit the loudness the speaker's are able to achieve. Again, I don't know if the goal is to get louder, but I think it's safe to assume if he want six channels in playing in stereo.

 

[abefroeman]

Why not just run the speakers either "in series" or "in parrelel" off of a cheap stereo receiver?

The receiver would be $50 tops. Then you could run the speakers in series. the connections would look like this:

From the positive amp output (red) to the Red terminal on the first speaker
From the Black terminal on the first speaker to the Red terminal on the second speaker
From the Black terminal on the second speaker to the Red terminal on the Third speaker
From the Black terminal on the third speaker to the Black terminal on the Amp

Or for more noise, run in parrelel:

Run all the speaker cables to the amp using Screw type Banana clips, the 3 wires from the red terminals go into 1 bananaclip and the clip goes into the red output on the receiver. The same for the black side as well. This would stress the amp the most, and make the most sound.