Having more than one pair of mains?

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BRAD-TX
BRAD-TX Posts: 25
edited June 2003 in Speakers
I have seen several people that have more than one set of main speakers in the front of their HT. I was just wondering how this is accomplished. Are they just hooking two speakers up to one terminal on their reciever/amp? If so wouldn't that hurt the quality of the signal?

I was just wondering, if it works it seems like it would be nice for movies. Also, how would you seperate them when you just wanted to listen to music?

I knowthese are n00b question, but I was just wondering.

Thanks
Post edited by BRAD-TX on
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  • BRAD-TX
    BRAD-TX Posts: 25
    edited June 2003
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    Thanks for the reply. I was just thinking it would be kind of cool, but had no real idea how to do it w/o sacrificing quality.
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  • Frank Z
    Frank Z Posts: 5,860
    edited June 2003
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    Most of the dual main setups you see are for separate use. One set of mains are for 2 channel listening, the other is used for movies and or multichannel music. One set can be wired to the "Speaker A" terminals, the other to the "Speaker B" terminals on the receiver.
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  • gidrah
    gidrah Posts: 3,049
    edited June 2003
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    I had my Polks on the bottom and Acoustiflex 3-ways (upside down) on top. I tried the top speaker right side up at first and had alot of smear at the higher frequencies. Imaging and soundstage fell apart and the highs were shot to hell. I flipped the tops over and BAM everything was back and then some. I've seen some arrangements that are side-by-side. To me this seems like an opportunit for mor of the smear that I had unless the drivers are on the same level and the outside pair are equidistant ( pulled forward along the radius) to the sweet-spot.

    I have a 5.1 rcvr that allows for a 2nd zone for speaker B. It uses the surround amps (or external amp via pre-ins) for the 2nd zone. Switch both zones to CD and wallah! It wouldn't let me listen to both sets of front during 5.1 or DPL playback (without an extra amp), but that was fine with me. If your amp can handle the load, you can connect them directly and not worry about this mess.

    I've since changed my fronts and can't put anything on top, but it was good while it lasted.
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  • Janusch
    Janusch Posts: 132
    edited June 2003
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    For a long time I had two sets of RT55I as my mains. I connected both sets to the same output. I loved this setup. I stacked them like the Bose cubes. Two pointing in and two pointing to the sides. This gave me a open sound stage, but still retained center imaging.
    I have the Denon 5800 so power was not a factor. The reciever never got hot. A friend a mine had said when I did this that I change the pull of the speakers from 8 ohms to 4 ohms. He also said that if I switched to the LSI line that I could not do this because I would then be doing 2 ohms. I had the crazy idea I would stack the LSI9s the same way.

    Dave
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  • HBombToo
    HBombToo Posts: 5,256
    edited June 2003
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    I run my mains in parallel. The only thing you have to keep in mind is if your amp can take a 4 Ohm load that is if they are 8 Ohm speakers. 2 (8 Ohm) in parallel results in a 4 Ohm load and 2 (8 Ohm) in series is a 16 Ohm load.

    You typically don't want to run is series unless of course you have 4 Ohm speakers.

    hope this helps
    HBomb
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