Hi, I'm just wiring up a home theater/sound system.. I have a Yamaha reciever, and I've wired up the 5.1, as well as two speakers to the alternate front speaker connections. My questions: a) Is it possible for me to hook 4 speakers into the alternate connection safely(as opposed to two) (to bring music to the theater room and the main room)
b) Why is it important to check polarity? I didn't, and the sound sounds.. pretty good. Will the wrong polarity damage the speakers?
c) I'm using old 18guage wire for the wiring.. is this ok?
d) For the alternate connection, I currently have two Athena ASF1's, the sound isn't that good on them.. has anyone else noticed this?
and finally: e) Speaker breakin periods ussualy last how long, and what will be the differencein sound after the break in?
I know its a lot of questions, but I'd really be greatful if you guys could help out. Thanks
(a) If you mean stacking the banana plugs on your room B connections then I'd think you'd get half the power going those channels, so I'd go with smaller bookshelf speakers that don't need much juice.
(b) Damage the speakers I'm not sure about but it certainly sounds like crap if your polarity is wrong.
(c) 12-16 gauge wiring (generic Home Depot stuff is fine) should be better.
(d) That's not surprising, a lot of people note that the room B channels are usually pretty low quality. Big towers like the F1s will only make it worse.
(e) Depends on the speaker, usually a week or two of regular listening. Usually people report smoother, warmer sound.
Hey Edster, Thanks for the help. Just a follow up question on one of the points:
For the room B Channels.. Since I still have my old reciever, I was wondering if its possible to connect the two recievers (ie, signal out from the new into the input on the old) so that I can run the secondary speakers using the source selected on the first reciever. This way instead of using the B connections, I can have a dedicated set on the other receiver.
Hopefully that made sense... essentially I want to know if I can connect the two recievers together.
The two recievers are : New: Yamaha HTR-5560 Old: Pioneer VSX-4400
About using 2 receivers, if you have the right connections I don't see why not, just give it a try. You'll have to buy a very long RCA cable (or extension cables) but that's easily done for cheap on eBay.
