Whole house audio issues

[danoli]

Ok so Im kinda new to all this but I have a head on my shoulders so Im not sure where my research failed me. lol

My set up is taking the 2nd room line level audio output from my receiver into an Audio Source Amp200. Used the Stereo binding posts to feed the signal into a Niles SSVC-6 And then out to 5 speakers spread throughout the main floor of my home. The 6th speaker is running to another floor and I was hoping to use an in wall speaker volume control like the (onqlegrand 364769-02-v1)

Heres my issue My klipsch KHO-7 outdoor speakers work great but the weather resistant in ceiling speaker I put in my bathroom sounds bad. If I adjust the balance trim all left or all right it sounds ok but as soon as I mix it evenly it sounds like its playing underwater. I took it down to check the connections and noticed that it is only rated for 4ohms. Could this be why it sounds bad? is there a way to fix this? do I need a new speaker? could it be something else?

Also do you think there would be any issues using the separate volume control with the 6th zone of the speaker selector?

thanks in advance I hope some one knows enough to help out a newbie here.

 

[highfigh]

Under water, as in weak and lifeless with no bass? Remove it from the ceiling and disconnect one speaker wire. If it suddenly sound better, reverse the wires for that side. If you used 4 conductor speaker wire with Red/Black/White/Green, use Red/Black and White/Green for the Right +/- and Left +/-, respectively. The speaker should be marked with only Red/Black on both sets of terminals. If it has all four colors, put the positive wires on the terminals that are wired to the capacitors that filter the low frequencies from the tweeters.

Also, double check the wires to/from the volume control- the positives are on the outer positions and the negatives are in the center. It sounds very basic but did you connect the amp feed to the side that shows 'Speakers'? It happens.

 

[danoli]

Under water, as in weak and lifeless with no bass? Remove it from the ceiling and disconnect one speaker wire. If it suddenly sound better, reverse the wires for that side. If you used 4 conductor speaker wire with Red/Black/White/Green, use Red/Black and White/Green for the Right +/- and Left +/-, respectively. The speaker should be marked with only Red/Black on both sets of terminals. If it has all four colors, put the positive wires on the terminals that are wired to the capacitors that filter the low frequencies from the tweeters.

Also, double check the wires to/from the volume control- the positives are on the outer positions and the negatives are in the center. It sounds very basic but did you connect the amp feed to the side that shows 'Speakers'? It happens.

yeah I ran 4-14 wire and they are connected the same way on both ends. positive to positive negative to negative. here's the thing that's so odd, when I turn the balance all left or all right it sounds better. It has base its not garbled and weak. when I turn it back to mix the left and right channel equally it goes back to sounding like its submerged or its almost sounds like its one of those weird vocal effect synthesizers rappers like t-pain use. lol

any other ideas?

 

[Phil Taylor]

Do you have another volume control you can try in that location? Maybe swap it with one you know is good. Perhaps you got a bad one...?

 

[highfigh]

yeah I ran 4-14 wire and they are connected the same way on both ends. positive to positive negative to negative. here's the thing that's so odd, when I turn the balance all left or all right it sounds better. It has base its not garbled and weak. when I turn it back to mix the left and right channel equally it goes back to sounding like its submerged or its almost sounds like its one of those weird vocal effect synthesizers rappers like t-pain use. lol

any other ideas?

You're gonna have to use a reference I can deal with. Did you reverse the wires for one speaker at the volume control? Make sure the output configuration is the same as the way it goes into the control. If it's really echoing, it sounds like you have the speaker connected to both positives and the negatives are connected to each other, but not to the amp's output negatives. Post some photos for:

Amplifier's speaker terminals, showing the speaker wire colors

Volume control terminals, showing the terminations and colors

Speaker terminals, showing wire colors and if you can, the lead going to the crossover.


If you want to test the speaker to make sure the voice coils and terminals are wired correctly, disconnect the speaker wires and cut two pieces or wire from scrap, so you'll have a way to connect a AA battery. You don't want to hold the wires on the battery for long, you just want to see which way the cone moves. With the Battery + on the + wire, the cone should move outward for both voice coils. Don't worry about the tweeters- they don't matter for this test. If you see one move inward, either replace it or wire it so it sounds correct.

The first logical step should be to try another speaker.