Hi I received my receiver today, and I hooked everything up using existing 16 AWG speaker wires that were in the wall, hopefully that's good enough quality just for testing until I buy some, and a Monster RCA wire I had laying around, from the purple out on the 876 to the red input on the sub.
I have a few questions to ask you.
1: I have no idea what anything means on the back of my Klipsch Synergy Sub-12 and was wondering if you could tell me where everything should be set to 1: Gain Level 2: Low Pass Level 3: Switch with a option of 180 or Phase 4: Switch with Auto or On, here is the pic of the back.
http://www.your-home-theater-design.com/images/klipsch_subwoofer_back.jpg
2: I need 1 12ft HDMI Cable & 3 6ft HDMI Cables and there is a choice between 24, 26 or 28 AWG & with or without Ferrite Cores, which ones to go with? Link to Monoprice
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240 Or at the Blue Jean Company
3: My speakers are on the original post if you need to know which ones, and I hooked up the rear Bookshelf Mirage speakers as Rear Surround and I was wondering if I could use my old Pioneer CS-590 Tower Speakers, that say 3 Way Speaker System, Frequency Range 32-20000hz, Impedance 8 ohms, Max Power 150 Watt or my old Pioneer S-CR4000-K Surround Sound Bookshelf Speakers, Max Power 50 Watt, Impedance 16 ohms as the surround back for a 7.1 setup or are they too old and under powered and if so do I need another set of towers or bookshelf Mirages for the back surround?
Also when I buy the speaker wire should I do Banana plugs or just thread it regular threw the speakers & receiver?
Hi theaterguy,
Sorry for being late, I just came back from my doctor appointment. He said that I still have few years left on me, so all is good now.
All right, down to business now.
* That's right, eventually, try to get at the very minimum speaker cables of 14AWG for all your surrounds, and if possible 12AWG for the three front ones.
* Monster cable RCA interconnect cable between your receiver and your sub, well, because you already have it, I won't say anything... it will do.
And you're right; it goes from the sub pre out (purple) from your receiver's back, to the Low Level RCA In on the rear of your sub.
* Here, I recommend that you use a 'Y' connector, and use it to connect to the Right (red) and Left (white) Inputs of your subwoofer. You just gain a bit of total Gain by doing so, and it helps to keep some possible noise interference from the other exposed RCA terminal input.
*** Your questions & answers:
1. Sub's Gain Level: Set the knob at 1/3 of it's rotation's position.
2. Low Pass Level (or Filter): Set it to it's maximum position (clockwise).
[If there is a Bypass switch, use it, to it's ON position.]
3. Phase switch: Set it to it's 180 degree position.
4. Auto/On/Off: Set that switch to ON.
________________________________
5. HDMI cables: Get the 24AWG ones. Ferrite Cores is unecessary.
________________________________
6. Speakers & Connections: Your best pair of speakers (and possibly the biggest ones too), the Pioneer CS-590 Towers goes to the two front Main posts.
The center, well...
The Side Surrounds should be your Pioneer S-CR4000-K.
The Rear Surrounds should be your Mirage Bookshelf speakers.
* This is because in 5.1-channel listening, I believe that you'll get a better seamless surround sound experience from these Pioneer speakers, made from the same manufacturer. But you can try to switch them with the Mirage, and see if what you hear, sounds better to your own ears. It's all about experimenting my friend.
7. You don't need big speakers for the Side and Rear Surrounds, because you are going to cross them at 80hz or so anyway.
8. (From your 2nd quote): Banana plugs for sure, they are the most easy to install, and they are also trouble-free. No risk of shutting down your receiver or damage your speakers here, because of exposed threads of wires.
9. *** MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE ***
--> Read attentively the two links that I already gave you on Audyssey Setup Guide & Audyssey FAQ, from my previous post (post #6).
Happy listening time,
Bob
