Speaker wiring on Yamaha RX-Z1 ?

[Maximus001]

I have 4 speakers wired to Main A and B on the Back but am unsure which speakers they go to. I believe they're wired to the front LCR but not entirely sure. In the process of installing new Audiocontrol XR8 for my upgrade. Thank you in advance for any help.!

 

[BMXTRIX]

Well, that sentence doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The Main A and Main B speakers on a Z1 would typically go to two sets of front speakers, or perhaps be setup to biamp the front speakers (for no real reason).

You can pull all the other amplified channels off your Z1 and just run the 'A' speakers, then just run the 'B' speakers by themselves to see where exactly they go. But, my expectation is that they both go to your front left and right main speakers.

If you look at your front speakers, they may have two sets of wires run into them.

But, at the end of the day, we can't tell you precisely where the wires in your home are going to and what they power. It could be a set of speakers in another room for all we know. It's just not possible for anyone but you to determine that. But, if it were me, I would disconnect all the other wiring, being VERY CAREFUL as to label every wire so I wasn't confused in the future about where it belonged. Then I would test just the A and B speakers by themselves.

 

[Maximus001]

Well, that sentence doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The Main A and Main B speakers on a Z1 would typically go to two sets of front speakers, or perhaps be setup to biamp the front speakers (for no real reason).

You can pull all the other amplified channels off your Z1 and just run the 'A' speakers, then just run the 'B' speakers by themselves to see where exactly they go. But, my expectation is that they both go to your front left and right main speakers.

If you look at your front speakers, they may have two sets of wires run into them.

But, at the end of the day, we can't tell you precisely where the wires in your home are going to and what they power. It could be a set of speakers in another room for all we know. It's just not possible for anyone but you to determine that. But, if it were me, I would disconnect all the other wiring, being VERY CAREFUL as to label every wire so I wasn't confused in the future about where it belonged. Then I would test just the A and B speakers by themselves.

First off thanks so much for your reply. The LCR speakers were all wired with just one set of wires. I was thinking of getting a tone on each set and then labeling everything precisely. This was all done about 20 years ago.

I'm confused what Yamaha had in mind for Main B speakers and am not sure what the professional team that installed all this used it for.

appreciate your thoughts on the matter!

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

I'm confused what Yamaha had in mind for Main B speakers and am not sure what the professional team that installed all this used it for.

Main Speakers A and B dates to the days of stereo receivers and before AVRs had Zone 2 output jacks. The idea was that you could wire a pair of speakers to another room and chose which set to play, or both. It was possible to do because pretty much all stereo receivers had no problem running 4-ohm loads.

However, as they started cramming more and more amplifier channels into a single chassis, at some point most AVRs could no longer handle 4-ohm loads, so they started including Zone 2 outputs to provide signal to an outboard amp for a secondary room.

I’d say the RX-Z1 was a transitional piece, with a small enough number of amplifier channels that it still had enough “beef” to include the old Speaker A and B connections for its main channels (it was a flagship model after all), yet also included the Zone 2 outputs that all the lower-tier models also had.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Maximus001]

Main Speakers A and B dates to the days of stereo receivers and before AVRs had Zone 2 output jacks. The idea was that you could wire a pair of speakers to another room and chose which set to play, or both. It was possible to do because pretty much all stereo receivers had no problem running 4-ohm loads.

However, as they started cramming more and more amplifier channels into a single chassis, at some point most AVRs could no longer handle 4-ohm loads, so they started including Zone 2 outputs to provide signal to an outboard amp for a secondary room.

I’d say the RX-Z1 was a transitional piece, with a small enough number of amplifier channels that it still had enough “beef” to include the old Speaker A and B connections for its main channels (it was a flagship model after all), yet also included the Zone 2 outputs that all the lower-tier models also had.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Excellent discussion! I do remember how we used to use that speaker B button now.

I did figure out which speakers all the wiring went to and successfully set up my new AVR. I will be calling in professionals to do all the Dirac EQ stuff. The sound stage is remarkable. My wife and I watched "Hamilton" last night and it was like being at the theater and I'm just using distance measurements for all the speakers.