Speaker setup question

[athe]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to the whole HT scene - I know enough about basic setup, but the intricacies and finer details I'm still figuring out.

Anyways, my question is, I have a 7.1 speaker package, however only a 6.1 receiver (bought extra speakers later). What kind of issues are there, if any, with connecting the two rears to the centre rear on the receiver, or is this not advisable?


Cheers,
athe

 

[brian32672]

This is not advisable unless they are 12 ohm speakers (I doubt it) Probably 6 ohm speakers.
By wiring them together it will drop the ohms and put quite a load on that 6.1 receiver. Meaning in time it will fry the internal amp for the 6th channel, maybe worse. I would say use just one. Or get a another center channel for the rear, or the obvious get a 7.1 receiver. (Depends on money options)
Thats my .02

 

[MDS]

athe,
You can achieve the 12 ohms or greater that brian32762 is talking about by wiring the two speakers in series. If the two speakers are 8ohm, wiring them in series will give you a 16 ohm impedance. The volume will drop so you will have to bump up the rear channel level a bit to compensate when you recalibrate the levels.

 

[brian32672]

Yeah what he ^ said
Here ya go read this......
http://www.termpro.com/articles/spkrz.html

 

[mulester7]

athe,
You can achieve the 12 ohms or greater that brian32762 is talking about by wiring the two speakers in series. If the two speakers are 8ohm, wiring them in series will give you a 16 ohm impedance. The volume will drop so you will have to bump up the rear channel level a bit to compensate when you recalibrate the levels.

.....beautiful, a 12 ohm circuit on channel 6, instead of paralleling the two and getting a 3 ohm circuit....the total ohmage factor of the amp sections rises a bit with the 12 ohm circuit, and things cool a bit, moreso than even using channel six with one speaker as per normal....speakers in series are outstanding accent speakers....they have become twice-efficient....yeah, twice-efficient....blast from the past....

 

[MDS]

Unfortunately they don't get twice as efficient. They draw half the current that a single speaker would and hence the power goes down. Feed the sixth channel 50 watts and you get at most 25 watts from each speaker.

The only advantage I see for wiring them in series is so you have two sources of sound behind you instead of one. If they are spaced a bit apart, the sound doesn't collapse to one side if you move off center. Still it's dual mono and not stereo rears.

 

[athe]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated And for the link too brian32762.

I have 6 ohm speakers. Will probably put them in series until I can get a 7.1 receiver. I don't mind the lower sound levels, since the speakers will only be about 2-3 feet behind the listener anyways.


Cheers,
athe