4 Side Surrounds?

soiset

I am using S4's (direct radiating) as my side surrounds in my 7.1 system, and am thinking of adding another pair, instead of going dipole. The S4's present an 8 ohm load. I was thinking I'd wire the side surrounds in parallel to get a 4 ohm load, and have my Yamaha RX-V2500 adjust the sound level again. The receiver is switchable for 6/8 ohm loads, and the specifications rate dynamic power against 8/6/4/2 ohm loads. RMS power is rated only at 8 ohms.

Has anyone tried this arrangement? Any warnings or advice?

Thanks

ohskigod

where are you placing them? I cant see them making that much of a difference. do you notice a weakness in the surrounds on your set up, hence what provoked this move? what lead to the decision?

soiset

Often the ambient effects "collapse" to a single speaker, and I thought that I could get a more diffuse sound with more speakers, especially if I reversed the phase in them. My surrounds are all at about standing ear level. I was thinking that with two on each side, I could angle them in different directions instead of aiming the singles straight over the back of the couch, which is where they are now.

ohskigod

try it, but wire them in a series, not parralel. your reciever will thank you., it cuts power, but just calibrate accordingly and I can see it being a problem. worse that can happen (with the series wiring) is it sounds horrible and you disconnect it. parralel wiring, with a dip to 4 ohms, could do damage to your reciever despite the ratings.

soiset

What do you think about wiring them out of phase? I am thinking just to reverse the wires on the drivers in one speaker per side would do the trick. Could it be done with the speaker cables instead?

soiset

I have decided to get a two channel amp to run my extra side surrounds. I'm hoping that an older Yamaha amp will sound enough like my RX V2500. I still don't know if I should wire the second pair out of phase, though.

Dennis Gardner

Note to self......................don't buy used receiver from Bellaire TX.;)




If you want dipoles, buy'em and leave the engineering to the experts.

zingo

Try it, and see what it sounds like, it won't hurt anything. And yes, wire them in series, usless your amp is 4 ohm capable at whatever the output of both your speakers are. (My guess would be no) If you wire them in series, it will present a load of 16 Ohms to your amp, and you will get a little less power than at 8 Ohms, but it will still sound fine, and you won't overload your amp.

aaharvel

wouldn't running them in parallel via speaker cable lead to a 16ohm load?

Y-Adapters w/ rca interconnects could be different.