Understanding Zone 2, Surround Back, and A+B speakers???

[Dagwood]

Some of you have already been helpful and I'm very grateful. However, now I'm having trouble getting my speakers hooked up and functioning properly(originally, I felt this was going to be the easy part as everything is usually labled pretty clear). I have the Denon AVR-890 and want to be able to do the following.

1) Watch a movie with only the 5.1 speakers on...

2) Watch/Listen to music stations from the satellite on all 5 speakers AND on the porch (two outdoor speakers).

3) Listen to that music in one room without it in the other room. In other words, I'd like to be able to just have my porch speakers on, and the living room (5 polk speakers and sub) off... or vice versa.

Trouble is, on this amp, I cannot figure out exactly which speaker jacks take which speaker wires. In fact, I thought I had the "fronts" figured out until I started flipping the A, B and A+B switch and my front left went out! Zone 2 (what I think/thought controlled my porch speakers) was working at one point, but now that won't turn on those speakers now, either.

On my old one (Denon 1803) I ran those porch speakers to my "surround back" speaker jacks and simply pressed a button and they were either on or off. Is it not going to be that simple with this one? Should i be able to have my Harmony Remote take care of all of this, too? That would be nice...

 

[Transmaniacon]

Typically a receiver has its 5 channels for zone A, and 2 channels for zone B. Zone A would be Front L, Front R, Center, Surround L, Surround R. And then zone B is usually L and R.

In your case, hook up the speakers for the HT to zone A, and the porch to zone B. Then its just a matter of turning on and off the zones you want. Some receivers however can not have both zones on, and you only get a choice. I can not tell from the Denon website if this is the case, though it probably will tell you in your manual.

Its also likely that with both zones going at the same time, you may get a lower power output from the channels, but it should not be noticeable unless you really crank it.

 

[Dagwood]

I pulled up the manual and see on page 11 how they should be tied in. I'll attempt this and report back... thanks for continuing to be helpful!

 

[Transmaniacon]

Yea I looked up the manual and see how it may be confusing, typically the different zones are grouped separately for convenience, but it looks like its zone A fronts, then zone B, then zone A center...kind of odd.

It does say in the manual that you may run either A or B or both, so once you get it all hooked up, you should have the sound in the right places

 

[Dagwood]

I appreciate the help T

 

[Dagwood]

Frustrating!! I printed out the speaker hook up from page 11 of the manual, and hooked them up exactly as they are shown, with my "porch" speakers on B... which if I understand this correctly, that is also my "zone 2"..??? When the speaker selector is on A, I have all 5 speakers and the sub on, and porch off. When I go to B I have the porch on, AND the surround R and L, Center channel and sub...!!! When I go A and B I have everything. What do I have goofed up???

I tried running my phone music through the V. Aux in front and it works great in the house, but porch speakers are muffled and poppy sounding. Something aint right here.

 

[Transmaniacon]

Ah I found the problem. With this receiver, the surround back are the zone 2 speaker terminals. It has a label, "amp assign" as well, which lets a seperate amp power the second zone.

Pages 53-54 talk about this, you need to set the amp assign mode to zone 2, which is explained on page 27, according to the manual.

Then for playback, you would need to switch on zone 1 for HT, zone 2 for just porch, and zone 1+2 for both.

Hope this works you.

 

[AVRat]

The last reply is correct and is how most current receivers work, similar to your 1803. For the phone, are you using optical or stereo RCAs? The optical won't work for true zone 2 setup, but using the "B" speaker connects it should.

Did you get the mike working?

 

[Dagwood]

I'm not sure that optical is doing anything. i have it running to the tv from the opti 1 in the amp.

I was given the wrong mic and will pick up the correct one in a few minutes. I have the directions here, so I'll try to follow them. It looks like my best bet should be to let it set itself up... Part of the problem for me is, when I start paging through the menus on the amp, I don't understand the description of what is being done. Obviously "tone" is treble and bass... i get that sort of stuff, but some of the other more complicating one's cause issues for me.

I will follow your directions above. Right now, here's what's working properly (minus the actually mic set up):

1) tv through the component video cables
2) tv through the stereo speakers; on the deck as well
3) cd player and dvd players work just fine too.

Now i have to figure out why my sub only works in PL II or DTS modes... I suppose I should print that manual and start reading it!! hahahahahaha

 

[Transmaniacon]

The last reply is correct and is how most current receivers work, similar to your 1803.Did you get the mike working?

Interesting, my Yamaha has a separate set of terminals for zone 2, away from zone 1, which seems a little more logical to me, it also does not limit me to 5.1 when using zone 2.

 

[Transmaniacon]

I'm not sure that optical is doing anything. i have it running to the tv from the opti 1 in the amp.

I was given the wrong mic and will pick up the correct one in a few minutes. I have the directions here, so I'll try to follow them. It looks like my best bet should be to let it set itself up... Part of the problem for me is, when I start paging through the menus on the amp, I don't understand the description of what is being done. Obviously "tone" is treble and bass... i get that sort of stuff, but some of the other more complicating one's cause issues for me.

I will follow your directions above. Right now, here's what's working properly (minus the actually mic set up):

1) tv through the component video cables
2) tv through the stereo speakers; on the deck as well
3) cd player and dvd players work just fine too.

Now i have to figure out why my sub only works in PL II or DTS modes... I suppose I should print that manual and start reading it!! hahahahahaha

The auto-configuration should set your speakers to small, so that the sub handles the bass duty. If you are doing it manually, make sure you set each of the channels to small, front/center/surround.

 

[AVRat]

Interesting, my Yamaha has a separate set of terminals for zone 2, away from zone 1, which seems a little more logical to me, it also does not limit me to 5.1 when using zone 2.

Yeah, the Yamahas are a little different animal and their smart amp tech is a nice feature. One just needs to learn/understand the nuances of their gear.

Dagwood, you're trying this without a manual? Do you also walk tightropes without a net?

 

[Dagwood]

Well, I got the mic and did the auto set up. It kept saying I had phase errors and that I needed to find the problem. First problem was that when I switch my surrounds, I mixed up the L and R channels. Did the set up again and same thing with the errors. I set the zone to my speaker "look" that match the diagram (no surround back speakers) and same thing again. I have a copy of the manual now so I'll look thru that tonight. I skipped the fix part and went on with the set up. If I were to guess what the problem is, I would guess that my speakers are too high off the floor... But that is just a guess.

 

[Dagwood]

"Dagwood, you're trying this without a manual?? Do you also walk tightropes without a net? "

No! But I do wear shorts all winter in Wisconsin! I wonder if I would be better off with a different amp?

 

[Transmaniacon]

If you have phase errors coming up, it means you put the positive wire in the negative terminal, just trace along the wires and make sure you have red to red and black to black. Before I changed wire, I would stick a piece of tape on the red wire, so I knew where it went.

That Denon is a nice AVR, should work well for you once we get the setup straightened out.

 

[Dagwood]

So pull the avr and switch some of those + and -'s up a bit? Not all of my wiring is identical. Its all the same gauge but when I pre-wired my housean the drywallers cut off 4 of my wires and I spliced them with diff. Stuff. Some have gold and silver, some have all gold wires. I suppose that + and - stuff is pretty important, huh?

 

[Transmaniacon]

Color is irrelevant, just as long as the same strand is going from the positive terminal of the speaker to the positive terminal of the receiver, and likewise for negative, your in good shape. It might be a good idea to grab some in-wall wire from www.monoprice.com and replace the existing wire. The in-wall wire is colored black and red inside a white sleeve, so its easy to get it right.

But yea, getting the phase right is important.