Hi everyone. I'm a newbie to all this so please, forgive my very basic question. I have a Denon DC-30 minisystem that I bought in 1995. It came with two 50watt bookshelf speakers that still sound very good. Along with the stereo, I hooked the speakers up to the television in my entertainment center to give a bit of "Home Theatre" sound to my TV. I would like to hook up two more speakers (Polk R20's) to the system. My question is, when I look at the back of the minisystem, I see four clips (2 red, 2 black) with a corresponding red and black wire going into each clip for the original two speakers. How would I hook up the two new speakers with that type of setup. Would I just put two speaker wires in each clip? Would doing this distort the sound in all four speakers? I hope this makes sense and any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Addy Landzaat
Posted on
I would strongly advice not to try things like this!! A poweramp is a electric powerhouse and since you don't know what your connecting (I don't expect that your minisystem has complete electrical drawings with it) it WILL blow!!!
If you want a "hometheater" sound, buy a real HT receiver, much safer!
What you just described doing is the wrong way to get a "theater" experience. Don't do it!!
Your best bet is to buy a home theater system. Check out the Consumer Reports on basic systems.
If, however you are determined to try to work your magic with a small bookshelf system, be warned, you may kill the system you have.
To start with you are trying to hook two speakers into each output for a single speaker! The phasing that a home theater system does (which is what makes it work) for the rear speakers won't work. All four of your speakers are going to sound the same. And if they are different distances from your head (as they most likely are) you are going to feel like you are in a warehouse. You probably won't really notice the second pair unless you have individual balance and fader control for each pair, which you don't. Again, this is what a home theater system does.
Another reason that this is a bad idea as you will be doubling the ammount of impedience for each output from 8ohms to 16 ohms. This increased impedience is going to effect the sound quality, and is going to make your amplifier work harder. And contrary to how it sounds, it is far easier to hurt a speaker by underpowering it, not overpowering it. Try to imagine a Geo Metro hauling a boat, it may try but it won't like doing it, and die quickly.