Testing Focal CC, minor problem

[TankTop5]

Bought a center channel speaker to match my fronts and I want to test it but I have a minor problem, it’s bi ampable but it’s missing the connectors and I currently only have a stereo receiver. I’m guessing I can set the receiver to mono and hook the right channel to set of terminals and the left to the other?

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[William Lemmerhirt]

If you have extra cable you can make some jumpers. Put some nice spade connectors on em and cable jackets and they’ll be just like downtown.

 

[lovinthehd]

If you have a stereo receiver you don't have a center channel. Don't do it. But like William says easy to make a jumper with a bit o speaker wire especially as bi-wiring and passive bi-amping is fairly useless in the first place.

 

[-Jim-]

Just in case you don't know where the jumpers should go, I marked up your photo.

(I used green for the negative terminals as black would not be easily visible.)

The arrows indicate the wires heading back to the center channel output of your receiver. Make certain (as with all of your speaker connections) the Red goes to Red on your receiver, and Black to Black. That maintains the phase relationship, and keeps your bass output as intended by the Speaker OEM (Focal in your case.)

 

[TankTop5]

Thanks for the advice. Think I’ll get some aftermarket jumpers and plug the CC into the left channel. Should I unplug the right channel and just run the CC or is it ok to run two different speakers on R/L?

I feel like such a noob


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[everettT]

Thanks for the advice. Think I’ll get some aftermarket jumpers and plug the CC into the left channel. Should I unplug the right channel and just run the CC or is it ok to run two different speakers on R/L?

I feel like such a noob


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Speaker wire is aftermarket jumpers

 

[-Jim-]

Thanks for the advice. Think I’ll get some aftermarket jumpers and plug the CC into the left channel. Should I unplug the right channel and just run the CC or is it ok to run two different speakers on R/L?

I feel like such a noob


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Hey, don't feel bad. We were all rookies once upon a time.

Like everettT said - use speaker wire - don't waste your time and $ looking for aftermarket jumpers.

What I'd do is strip off the insulation off of your speaker cable back far enough (~2 inches?) and then twist the strands tight to allow the cable to pass through the LF terminal and end just after passing through the HF terminal. (That's why I did the drawing the way I did it.) Of course do both the Red & Black feeds the same. As there are no conductive surfaces you can leave the "jumper" portion bare (as most jumpers supplied by the manufacturers are just bare copper strips).

For testing purposes, just connect it to the Left Channel and you can leave the right channel connected. Always start with minimum volume. Turn down you volume to the minimum, and then power down the receiver before you connect the CC. Connect as above and power up, let the receiver protection circuits kick in; select a sound source and then slowly start to raise the volume to a comfortable level.

If your L&R Focals truly are a match then the volume from the CC should be quite close. You didn't advise the model for the L&R so I can't be certain, but this "family" of Focals has a sensitivity from 89 to 91 dB (2.83V / 1m).

By the way, if you are headed to Home Theater, you will really benefit from a good Sub. Personally, even for music , you should consider one as this family of speakers needs help on the bottom end. The Gang here will give you lots of advise on Subs, and a new receiver when you want to move in that direction.

All in all, Enjoy! It's a great hobby.