Powered towers with older receivers

J

JosephH

Audiophyte
Looking to set up the bones of a new audio system after many, many years without. Trying to use what I have available for a receiver for now if possible, but plan to upgrade in time. This is primarily for music.

I've never owned powered towers but have an opportunity to purchase these at a great price, relatively. My concern lies with how well powered speakers like these will work with the older, less than desirable receivers I have and/or if I'd need anything special with regard to connections. I'm not sure if I'm wasting my time if I don't have a high-end receiver basically. Any opinions or suggestions would be wonderful and appreciated.

Speakers
Definitive Technology BP4000

Receivers I have to use:
Technics SA-E10
Onkyo HT R560
vintage Sony STR-V6
 
ski2xblack

ski2xblack

Audioholic Field Marshall
Those aren't powered towers, but rather towers with powered woofers. They provide two options for hookup: speaker level and lfe line level. You don't need anything special for connections, just speaker wire, and an rca if also using the lfe input (that is NOT required, fyi).

I would just use the speaker level connections, making sure to set the speaker size to large/full range in whichever AVR you're using, so that it's sending the speaker a full range signal.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
If you did get actual powered speakers (i.e. with their own amps for all drivers) you'd look for a set of pre-outs on your receivers....
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
None of those receivers have real preouts. The techniques has tape loop and another set of main in/outs, but they are not going to be bass managed, so speaker level is the way to go.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
None of those receivers have real preouts. The techniques has tape loop and another set of main in/outs, but they are not going to be bass managed, so speaker level is the way to go.
I started to look at it seemed like that Technics might have have had a pre-out/main in jumper but the picture was blurry....what was it?
 
J

JosephH

Audiophyte
Yes, not powered towers, my error, powered active subwoofers. Thank you for all the responses, I greatly appreciate it.
 
J

JosephH

Audiophyte
Those aren't powered towers, but rather towers with powered woofers. They provide two options for hookup: speaker level and lfe line level. You don't need anything special for connections, just speaker wire, and an rca if also using the lfe input (that is NOT required, fyi).

I would just use the speaker level connections, making sure to set the speaker size to large/full range in whichever AVR you're using, so that it's sending the speaker a full range signal.
When you refer to setting the speaker size to large/full, is that a setting I would have on these older receivers? The speaker size settings are kind of what was confusing to me.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Looking to set up the bones of a new audio system after many, many years without. Trying to use what I have available for a receiver for now if possible, but plan to upgrade in time. This is primarily for music.

I've never owned powered towers but have an opportunity to purchase these at a great price, relatively. My concern lies with how well powered speakers like these will work with the older, less than desirable receivers I have and/or if I'd need anything special with regard to connections. I'm not sure if I'm wasting my time if I don't have a high-end receiver basically. Any opinions or suggestions would be wonderful and appreciated.

Speakers
Definitive Technology BP4000

Receivers I have to use:
Technics SA-E10
Onkyo HT R560
vintage Sony STR-V6
Since the woofers will work without using the LFE input, the Sony would be the most robust of the three receivers. If you need Bluetooth and the rest of the newer features in the Onkyo, it will work but the amplifier won't be as good as the Sony's. The Technics is only 40W/channel, so don't expect much from it as far a output.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
When you refer to setting the speaker size to large/full, is that a setting I would have on these older receivers? The speaker size settings are kind of what was confusing to me.
With stereo receivers, this typically is not an option. Certainly not with the Sony. Agree that the Sony likely has the most usable power of the three, it will just lack some of the features of the newer ones.
 
J

JosephH

Audiophyte
Since the woofers will work without using the LFE input, the Sony would be the most robust of the three receivers. If you need Bluetooth and the rest of the newer features in the Onkyo, it will work but the amplifier won't be as good as the Sony's. The Technics is only 40W/channel, so don't expect much from it as far a output.
Do you recommend using the Bluetooth adapters for older receivers? None of the three I currently have have bluetooth.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Do you recommend using the Bluetooth adapters for older receivers? None of the three I currently have have bluetooth.
You could, but if you want something that's more full-featured and can play Pandora/Spotify (not natively), AirPlay, Tidal, Deezer, Bluetooth, XMSirius, USB input, Server, etc- a Yamaha MusicCast piece like the WXC-50 is a good choice.

Sirius is one of the only streaming services that requires casting TO the Yamaha & brands other than Sonos because Sonos had the agreement in place before the others came along, but personally, I like the Yamaha more than the Sonos and I use the WXC-50 in my system.It also has an optical an analog input, if you want to play TV audio or use it as the hub for additional MusicCast pieces around the house- you can use the phone/tablet app to group the zones and control them from anywhere that the WiFi reaches.

If you just want to use Bluetooth, the Miccus is the one I have used, but not in more than one zone- it has optical and analog inputs, killer range and can be used as a transmitter or receiver, so you could send the source material (music or whatever can come from the receiver's Rec output) to a location that, according to their specs, can be up to 300' away (depending on what's between the transmitter and receiver). It uses Bluetooth 5.0, IIRC.

This is the one I have used and the first time, I needed something that could be used to receive audio in a school gym that has a full-sized basketball court and when I tested it, it never dropped out, even though I was outside of the far end wall, which is concrete block. In fact, it has to pass through two other concrete block walls to get to the gym, which amazed me because, until earlier in the morning I ordered it, I KNEW BT sucked. After reading about BT's improvements and later that evening, I found that I was wrong.

 
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