I have a Denon 1804 receiver and Mordaunt Short fronts and center speakers. The receiver o/p is 90 watt/channel. I intend to buy a pair of locally made speakers for the surrounds. The specs for these are Power Handling (long term / short term) Full rage operation -40/55 watt Low cut at 80 Hz or greater -60/85 watt http://www.sonodyne.com/prodM.htm
For movies almost any speaker can be used for surround as all you're typically requiring them to do is handle ambient sounds. If you're planning on using DVD-A or SACD multi-channel audio you'll want something that functions over a fairly wide frequency range and matches your L/R/C fairly close. Don't get hung up on power ratings. They can give you a guideline for power requirements but other than that they tell you almost nothing about the speaker. Since you've included something about "full-range" it seems they would work well. You can always adjust the output level at your preamp/receiver.
Front speakers =============== Model Avant 904 Frequency response (Hz) 50-22k Sensitivity (dB) 89 Impedance (nominal) (Ohms) 4-8 Power rating (Watts RMS) 15-100 Drivers* (1) 130mm aluminium CPC mid/bass (1) 25mm aluminium dome tweeter
Surround speakers =================== Description : 2 way sealed micro monitor Drivers : 1 x 3" coated cone woofer 1 x ½" polycarbonate dome tweeter Nominal Impedance : 8 Ohm Frequency Response : (+/- 3 dB) 120 Hz -- 20 kHz Frequency Range : (-10 dB) 90 Hz -- 22 kHz Sensitivity : (2.83 V -- 1m) 87 dB Power Handling : (long term / short term) Full rage operation :40/55 watt Low cut at 80 Hz or greater : 60/85 watt Crossover Frequency 5.5 kHz
When I connected these, I can barely make out the surround sound. Will I damage these surrounds if I increase the volume level on the receiver as its O/P is more than the speaker rating ?
Remember that surrounds are mainly for effects. What are you listening to for testing? Also, you should be able to calibrate your speaker settings with your receiver - levels, distance from listening postion and surround white/pink noise test.
I played a Dolby Digital version of "Band of Brothers" About the calibration, I have set the surround to be 3 db each and the fronts to 0 db. I changed the delay to 3m for the front and 2.2m for the surround I have not tried noise test. how do I go about it ? I feared increasing the volume as it might damage the speakers. The volume ranges from -70 to +20 , I've tried till -15. it was just OK. Maybe I will try increasing the volume more since u say that power rating is not an issue.
What more can I change to make the surround perfom the best they can. I have actually borrowed them for testing purpose and need to decide if they are worth buying.
Okay, I am not familiar with the Denon's set up though there is usually a noise test for adjusting sound levels for all connected speakers. This is to set the noise levels equally. By ear or, the best method, by a SPL meter. Maybe the 1804 does't have this - hopefully another owner can help.
Haven't seen Band of Brothers - even though it's Dolby Digital does it say it's in 5.1 surround or is just 2 channel?
You're not going to hurt the speakers if you can't hear anything coming from them. If you'd like to check the level set your receiver to 5 channel stereo. You should get fairly even output from each speaker. For surround sound, if your listening area isn't in the exact middle between the front and rears, calculate the difference in distance, then use the rear delay setting at +1ms for each foot the rears are farther away than the fronts, reverse if they are closer. This concern about using a receiver that's RATED at 90 watts with speakers that are RATED at something lower is erroneous. You can use a 1000w amp with 30W peak speakers and not do any damage as long as you don't turn up the gain too far. If you can use them at normal listening levels without excessive distortion you'll be fine.