Need experienced help ASAP

[Contradiction]

*I am going to leave out the brands of both the receiver and speakers to avoid any possible stigma related to either one to ensure there is minimal bias*

I recently bought a set of speakers (not HTIB, mind you) and I have a a/v-stereo-tape-cd receiver set up that must be at least 10 years old. I was watching TV and the rear speakers started buzzing whenever deep vocal sounds came over it. I started to remove every single possible cause including switching out the wires and testing different speakers and it turns out that it is the rear surround outputs on the receiver causing the problems. All the outputs aren't even located on the receiver with this set up, they are wired in through the subwoofer that the whole thing rests on.

So now that I figured out that it is the rear outputs on the receiver set up, I tried all of my speakers going through those rear spots and they all buzz and sound like garbage like someone playing bassy music through subs in their trunk except a little more fuzzy and "snappy" If I play on the front outputs with any of the speakers, they sound amazing. the big difference that I've noticed between the front and rear outputs (other than the rears sound like complete garbage) is that the rear outputs (outputs not speakers) have a much lower volume, not sure if thats a standard thing with receivers

Now that I've blathered on enough, my main question is: Do I just have a trash receiver, or are my speakers too sensitive to handle ANY type of rear speaker outputs (if they are all the same) and could I have damaged my speakers from the buzzing/fuzzy/snappiness/static they were being subjected to?


Thanks.
I'll try to be more clear if people don't understand what I mean.
(My bad if I butchered the term outputs, when I actually meant to say inputs, hope I wasn't confusing)

 

[Hocky]

Trash the receiver. Unless you played the speakers very loudly, you didn't damage anything. I am not sure what you mean by everything is wired through the subwoofer, though.

 

[Knucklehead90]

Bose typically wires the speakers through the sub. If it is a Bose trash it and buy something better. Even if it isn't Bose it sounds like something is going haywire in the receiver.

 

[agarwalro]

I tried all of my speakers going through those rear spots and they all buzz and sound like garbage... If I play on the front outputs with any of the speakers, they sound amazing.

You correctly deduced that the speakers themselves seem to be fine. Unfortunately...

All the outputs aren't even located on the receiver with this set up, they are wired in through the subwoofer that the whole thing rests on.

Due to the proprietary nature of this connection you will need to trash those speakers along with the malfunctioning amplifier.

Look on the brighter side, you have found the right group of people to guide you away from making any imprudent purchases

 

[MDS]

I recently bought a set of speakers (not HTIB, mind you) and I have a a/v-stereo-tape-cd receiver set up that must be at least 10 years old. I was watching TV and the rear speakers started buzzing whenever deep vocal sounds came over it. I started to remove every single possible cause including switching out the wires and testing different speakers and it turns out that it is the rear surround outputs on the receiver causing the problems. All the outputs aren't even located on the receiver with this set up, they are wired in through the subwoofer that the whole thing rests on.

Like the others, I will assume this a Bose setup. It sounds to me like you have the receivers front speaker outputs connected to the Bose 'sub module' and other speakers connected to the sub module but then probably tried to add addtional speakers connected directly to the receiver's 'surround' outputs.
I would assume there is no dedicated center channel speaker either - other than maybe one that is connected to the sub module.

Bose systems are meant to work as one unit, all handled by the sub module (poorly). To make it work with a regular receiver, you have to have the receiver in stereo mode and set up all other channels as 'off'/'no' in the receiver setup and subwoofer=no too. Stereo info is sent to the sub module and it does its magic EQ and sending the sounds to respective channels. If you have additional speakers connected to the surround outputs, the receiver is taking out-of-phase sound from the two front channels and trying to send it to the rear. There isn't much there and that is why the volume is low and it sounds terrible.

 

[Contradiction]

Haha, looks like I have to reveal what the components are as my plan to keep bias low is now leading to varied info. They aren't Bose, but they have just as low of an opinion to them, when it comes to audio especially.
The receiver set up is a Sony set up and I heard alot of popular buzz (and I'm a cheap *** SOB) so I bought a set of Fluance speakers. I paid less than $300 for the 5 speakers, which I think is a pretty damn good deal, considering they included towers and they were not the bottom line model either. They sound pretty nice, except for this issue that has been a mystery pain in my *** for the last while.

So everyone thinks its the receiver set up and not the speakers? Could think have anything to do with ohms? I just want to make sure that the speakers are still awesome speakers and that when I get a higher end receiver, it will play all channels without a hitch. If anyone could reassure me of that, please. lol
I appreciate the first 2 commenter contributions as well even though I didn't quote you, thanks.

Like the others, I will assume this a Bose setup. It sounds to me like you have the receivers front speaker outputs connected to the Bose 'sub module' and other speakers connected to the sub module but then probably tried to add addtional speakers connected directly to the receiver's 'surround' outputs.
I would assume there is no dedicated center channel speaker either - other than maybe one that is connected to the sub module.

Bose systems are meant to work as one unit, all handled by the sub module (poorly). To make it work with a regular receiver, you have to have the receiver in stereo mode and set up all other channels as 'off'/'no' in the receiver setup and subwoofer=no too. Stereo info is sent to the sub module and it does its magic EQ and sending the sounds to respective channels. If you have additional speakers connected to the surround outputs, the receiver is taking out-of-phase sound from the two front channels and trying to send it to the rear. There isn't much there and that is why the volume is low and it sounds terrible.

Yup, other than Bose, I think you got a handle on it. The whole "stack" sits atop the subwoofer. The receiver connects to the subwoofer via a flat wide cable and all the audio channels are designated out the back of the woofer.

But wouldn't rear channels need to have a lower volume connection? Since they have much smaller speakers than towers do? Like if all the channels output the exact same sound and I cranked it, I imagine that the towers would be alright but the smaller rear channels would be damaged. You don't think that this is a defense mechanism that they built into the system?
It's funny you mention about the center channel. It is along with the rest of the channel outputs, but no sound comes out of it when it is in surround mode, only when you switch to "3ch" mode for the 2 fronts and center. Dunno, lol.

You correctly deduced that the speakers themselves seem to be fine. Unfortunately...
Due to the proprietary nature of this connection you will need to trash those speakers along with the malfunctioning amplifier.

Look on the brighter side, you have found the right group of people to guide you away from making any imprudent purchases

You were starting to scare me for a second, but I think I have an idea of what you are talking about. The only thing that is dependent on the receiver out of any of the speakers is the subwoofer that is permanently attached to it. All the rest use standard speaker wire and are able to be separated. Phew*