help! sub to speaker connection

mrod

I have 2 older bookshelf Infinities. They are connected from sub, which is connected to receiver. The reciever is an older Onkyo TX-SV414PRO. I want to get some polk for the front and move the infinities to the back. I can only go to two speakers from my sub SW12 II. It was suggested to connect the rear Infinities directly to the receiver. However I will not be able to filter the lows to the rears on the sub via lowpass knob. The receiver has no configuration menu. Is there any fix to this? Also, the lowpass does filter the lows to the speakers right? What should the lowpass be set to? I notice the lower the number is the more bass goes to my speakers. It would seem to set it so that the front speakers sound as full as they can get right? Thanks

Tritonman

Im sure this may not be what you want to you hear..but you are better off just purchasing a new receiver. For a small amount of money you can purchase a new receiver that will suit your needs and then some based on what you currently own.

And iirc your receiver does not support Dolby Digital or DTS..only Pro-Logic. So you are missing out on newly encoded movies etc. If you were to upgrade to a newer model you would have much more flexibility and more options as well as your whole system just sounding better.


A budget receiver can be had for a very small amount that would be a huge leap compared to what you are currently using. You could probably get a nice cheap entry level receiver for about $200.


In the meantime..attach your rears to the rear channel of the receiver and you new speakers to the fronts as you would normally. If you have the option in the receiver to set them to small..then do so. Cross your sub over at about 80hz with the built in crossover on the sub. If there is any type of internal bass management within your receiver setting them to small if thats an option should cross them over at about 80hz by default.

If there is no option in the receiver to do any bass management them just attach everythign as normal and be carfeful playing your music/movies at high volumes to avoid distortion and possibly blowing a speaker untl you can purchase a newer receiver.

mrod

thanks Tritonman,

I think I will purchase an HK since they are recommended in the various forums. I not sure which model will be enough.

The Onkyo can only supply 15 watts to the rears. I do not think I can get to much distortion or blow a speaker with that amount of power right?

okiepolkie

This may seem counterintuative, but lower power runs a risk of damaging speakers more than higher power. The reason is that the smaller amplifier cannot reproduce clean sound at high volumes. When it asked to do so, the amplifer begins to clip and produce distortion. You can play higher power louder without distortion, leaving the speaker undamaged. There does get a point where too much power can damage speakers, but I'd worry about the lower power in your case. Depending on your budget at this point, I'd get the receiver first, then get the Polk's when you are ready financially. If you don't mind refurbished items, check harman kardon for discounted refurbs of last year's receivers. They can be bought off of ebay(from HK) or directly from HK. Both carry the same warranty as far as I know.

Tritonman

mrod wrote:

thanks Tritonman,

I think I will purchase an HK since they are recommended in the various forums. I not sure which model will be enough.

The Onkyo can only supply 15 watts to the rears. I do not think I can get to much distortion or blow a speaker with that amount of power right?

okiepolkie answered your distortion question.

You will be much happier with a new receiver. You will find yourself watching your movies all over again. Would be a good idea to keep the Onkyo to power a set of speakers for a sunroom or den or something like that.

mrod

what do you think of refurb HK?

Tritonman

As long as you get the factory warranty and not some 90day thing..then you should be ok. I would personally be very careful in the refurb market.

I no longer buy anything used if it can be avoided unless i know the person. Sometimes you are just better off going new.

What model are you looking at?

mrod

AVR235 to push 4 monitor 30's. 2 for front 2 for rear to start. I have not purchase any yet.

Ron Temple

I think 3 of us here recently won HK235s from Harman Direct on ebay. I replaced an Onkyo 520 receiver from a 770 HTIB. It was identical to an Onkyo 502 6.1 receiver, fairly well reviewed as a budget offering, 75wpc X 6. The HK235 rated at 50wpc X 7 absolutely eats it for lunch, SQ and output. I was always skeptical regarding the claims that HK receivers delivered more power than other brands claiming much higher numbers. I'm not any longer. Plus it has pre-outs.

Long story short, yes it will drive monitors. You might want to add separates for the larger RTis.

labrat

In response to mrod's original question: The first version of prologic sent a bandpass signal to the surrounds. So if he moves the infinity bookshelves to the rear, hooks up the sub with a speaker level input (assuming it has a highpass filter), and sets the center to small it will be somewhat like setting all the speakers to small on a current AVR. You still miss out on all the discrete channels including the LFE so that alone is probably worth something with DD/DTS processing.

Labrat