Please help; new speakers; what else do I need?

cindy100

Hi! I am obviously new to this site and badly need some help. Please bear with me; I don't know much about electronics. To be honest, I know very little! I also don't have the high end equipment that a lot of you here seem to have. Several years ago, we had some speakers installed outside on the deck. When the guy was here, he also installed an Adcom 3 speaker selector box. It only has two sets of speakers hooked up to it. I bought a new set of Polk speakers this evening and want to know if they can be directly plugged into the speaker selector box in order for them to work. Also, since I already have one set of speakers hooked up in the living room, do I need an amp in order to get good sound out of the new speakers? The reason I ask is because of the post below I read on here earlier this evening. I am only going to part of it on here.

"It seems that since I've put my system together the volume has totally decreased in output. Is there something wrong with my speakers? Or is it just with the added speakers to push, the overall volume has decreased? Is it that time already to consider separate amp for the mains?" "What you are noticing is that your Denon as good as it is, is working overtime to run all of your speakers. The more speakers you add, the harder it is to get the same volume as you started out with. The only way to get it is to turn it up louder. Before I got my Parasound & Outlaw amps my normal listening level was -20 to -30. Once I added the amps, it was way too loud & now my normal listening level is -40 to -30! You figure it out from there!"

Any help and/or suggestions you can give will be greatly appreciated. As for speaker wire, any help on what to get? I plan on calling around on Thursday but want to hopefully have an idea of what I need before I call so as not to get talked into something I don't need. I live in the Atlanta, Georgia area so I'm hoping there are some specialty stores in my area.

Thanks so much for your help and for putting up with all my questions. I do hope I've worded this to where it makes some sense. Thanks!

Cindy

Schris22

I wouldn't think you would have to buy anything else, except speaker wire.

The extra amplification would kick in if you tried running all zones at once i'm sure.

The speaker selector is just allowing you to connect more speakers to the receiver at one time, just because you add speakers to it doesn't mean you would need more amplification, but maybe you have a party on the deck and some kids watching a movie...then that receiver will strain to run dual zones under load....


Thats all I could think of on that part....


speaker wire...

I use some ugly audioquest which is 25 cents a foot....quad 4 i believe? maybe. Just depends on if you believe there is a difference and whether or not you want to spend a lot of money. Some sure factors would be gauge and distance. how long are these speaker wires?


Hope this helps,

Chris a newbie just like you.

cfrizz

Hi Cindy & welcome!

What Polk speakers are you running & what receiver are you running them with? Do you have all the speakers turned on and running at all times?

A good speaker wire & IC place is Blue Jeans Cable. www.bluejeanscable.com

Cathy

heiney9

Hi and Welcome to Club Polk. You should be able to use the 3rd set of terminals on the Adcom switcher for your new speakers. The only time you might encounter a problem is if you have all 3 sets running at the same time. Even then it maynot be too much of an issue. The Adcom speaker switcher is one of the nicer ones out there and works very well.

Good luck

H9

heiney9

Speaker cable is rated with a number that refers to the guage (size) of the wire. The lower the # the thicker the wire. I'd recommend going with something in the 14 or 16 guage range. You can go to your local home supply store (Menard's, Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) or you can go to a stereo dealer. Try to avoid Monster Cable if you can. They are more expensive and not worth the hype surrounding all their "super wording" about what they can offer.

Another little tip is to try to keep the runs of speaker wire the same length even if both speakers aren't the same distance from the switcher. Make sure to decide before hand where you are placing the speakers so as to get long enough runs of cable. Splicing (twisting ends of two seperate pieces together) cables together if you come up short should be avoided.

H9

cindy100

Hi! Thank you all for your input; it has certainly helped! As for the receiver, it is a Yahama RX-V690. I put a link to the specifications for it below. I hope it is okay to put links on here. If it's not, let me know and I will go get the info and copy it into here. Of course, I do not understand what the majority of it all means. Hopefully one of you will know what you're looking for and will be able to point me in the right direction as to whether I will need an amp after all. The speakers hooked up now are Polk Model S 10. I've had them for quite some time and have never had any problems. The new set I got last night are the Monitor 50's. I will want both Polk sets to be playing at the same time. The ones out on the deck are Bose; don't know the model, size, etc. So I guess the answer to Cathy's question is that I will either be playing the Bose outside by themselves or the two sets of Polk.

As for speaker wire, I certainly would have gone with the Monster cable. So glad to hear I have other options. H9, you said exactly what the sales guys tried pushing off on me as far as the wire goes.

Just one more question to make sure I understand. About hooking up the new set, are you telling me I just need to connect the wires to the Adcom speaker switch box and they should work? The reason I ask is because the receiver itself is inside an extremely heavy 3 piece wood wall unit and will be so hard to get to. Hopefully I am understanding you about this box.

Again, thank you all so much for your help and putting up with all my questions. You've been great and I do appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Cindy

http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/Specs/?gAVR00010RX-V690

heiney9

cindy100 wrote:

As for speaker wire, I certainly would have gone with the Monster cable. So glad to hear I have other options. H9, you said exactly what the sales guys tried pushing off on me as far as the wire goes.

Just one more question to make sure I understand. About hooking up the new set, are you telling me I just need to connect the wires to the Adcom speaker switch box and they should work? The reason I ask is because the receiver itself is inside an extremely heavy 3 piece wood wall unit and will be so hard to get to. Hopefully I am understanding you about this box.

Again, thank you all so much for your help and putting up with all my questions. You've been great and I do appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Cindy

http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/Specs/?gAVR00010RX-V690

One set of wires (Left & Right) runs from the back of your Yamaha into the Adcom switcher. Those wires carry the audio signal which is then distributed to 1, 2 or 3 output terminals exiting from the Adcom switcher, each switch controlling a set of speakers. So, YES you can just connect the wire to the unused terminal on the Adcom switcher and run it to your new Polks.

Again for your use 14 or 16 guage wire is sufficient and the stuff you get at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. will be just fine. Look for 100% Oxygen free copper stranded wire. If you have trouble tell a clerk it's for hooking up speakers. If you want to visit a stereo shop instead that's fine too, but it may cost more and they may try to push other items that aren't really necessary.

Glad we could be of help, stick around and participate if you feel like it. Cfrizz and Wingnut and Laura Palmer are all female contributors here so it's not all testosterone here.

H9

adam2434

One other thing to note is that your Adcom speaker box may have an impedance protection button that you may need to engage if your receiver shuts off or gets really hot while running multiple speaker pair.

With 2 pair running at low to moderate volume, I think you'll be OK without the protection engaged, but you may need to engage it if you run all three pair.

heiney9

^^That is correct. There is a 4th button on the Adcom GFS-3 labeled protection. Engage this when listening to more than one pair of speakers at a time.

H9

McLoki

Hi Cindy and welcome to club polk.

I just want to make sure that we are making some accurate assumtions here....

You have 3 sets of speakers (1 set of bose outside and 2 sets of polks inside)

When running the polks inside, you just want "fill" music. (i.e. you want music (or movie) sound to play in the room.) What I am trying to get to here, is you are not trying to set up a home theater with surround sound. (front and rear speakers to play a movie soundtrack)

If the above assumtions are correct, follow the advice already given. If they are not, please let us know what you are trying to accomplish with the new and old speakers inside.

such as:

Are they playing in the same room or different rooms?

Are they for background music (like you would play during dinner)?

Are they for 2 channel listening (sit down on the couch or in a chair and just listen for awhile)?

Are you trying to play movies or video games with the system and if so do you want the sound to come out of 2 of the speakers (2 channel) or all 4 of the speakers (surround sound)?

Just want to make sure that you will be able to accomplish the goals you are trying to...

Michael

cindy100

Thanks again for the help! I was wondering what that 4th button on the Adcom was for and now I know. I do have my manuals but right now couldn't tell you where they were. I also remembered that there is already speaker wire ran for rear speakers. At one time, we had it set up for surround sound. Although my husband used it a few times then lost interest, I never liked to listen to TV loud so I disconnected the rear and center speakers. I guess what I'm trying to ask is shouldn't I be able to just use the wires from the original speakers for the new set? I've been sitting here all this time wondering how in the world I was going to be able to get the new speakers hooked up and what company to use and hopefully it's been for nothing! A friend's husband just told me I could use the existing wire and I shouldn't need an amp. He says the receiver I have should be fine. You all seem to know what you're talking about so what's your opinion?

Thanks again!

Cindy

McLoki

Your reciver should work, at this point - do not worry about getting an amplifer. (Separate amplifiers are recommended with some speakers, but not the ones that you own)

Just so I understand - you want to remove the wire used for your rear surrounds (which are no longer in use) and use that speaker wire to run your new speakers somewhere else? If the speaker wire is run inside the wall, getting it out will be a pain in the ****. Definately not worth the effort when just running new speaker wire is relatively inexpensive. (you should easily be able to get 100 feet or so for $25-$50.

If your goal is to put the new (or old) speakers in the same position that your surround speakers were, that would work provided your switch box is located near your reciver. (I am assuming that the speaker wire going to your surround speakers runs to your reciever)

Just to try and narrow down my rambling - are you planning to use both sets of Polk speakers in the same room at the same time? When you run them, what source to you plan to use? (DVD player, VCR, Radio, CD Player, etc.)

Michael

adam2434

Is the plan to have all 3 pair hooked up, but in different areas?

Or are you replacing the older Polks with newer ones, which would be 2 pair in different areas?

(As a sidebar - if you've only had 2 pair connected, you never really technically needed the Adcom speaker selector. Your receiver as A/B speaker outputs for running 2 pair)

In either case, you don't need a new amp. To be safe, just engage the protection button when running more than one pair.

Also, since you're not using the receiver for surround sound, make sure it is running in stereo mode with all surround processing modes turned off.

cindy100

Michael, I hope to use the wire that is already here for the new set of speakers I just bought which will give me a total of 4 speakers in the same room. I just want it for music. When you ask what source I plan to use, I will be hooking up my iPod or listening to one of the music channels on the satellite. I hope this is what you're asking. I am really not dumb, just no idea what a lot of the terms I've seen used on this site mean. As for electronics, I can program a VCR (when I used one) but that's about as far as it goes! The switch box is located near the receiver one shelf above it.

adam2434, yes, the plan is to have all 3 sets hooked up. One pair is out on the deck, the two pairs of Polk speakers will be in the same room. If I remember right, the guy who installed everything for us put the Adcom in in case I ever wanted to add additional speakers. Thanks so much! I'll check the board in a bit to see what you say.

Cindy

adam2434

OK, so you want to use the existing surround speaker wire to add the new pair of speakers to the same room as the older Polks. And, you want to run both pair in stereo (no surround sound processing).

In that case, all you need to do is disconnect the surround wires from the Yamaha (if they're not already) and connect them to the 3rd output on the Adcom box.

Not trying to be rude, but what are you trying to accomplish with this? More sound dispersed throughout the room?

cindy100

adam2434, that's not rude! Yes, I just want more sound throughout the room. Am I going about it the wrong way?

Cindy

adam2434

You will get "more" sound through the room. However, you would lose audiophile-oriented concerns such as "imaging" and "soundstage". These concerns are for folks who really sit down and listen "into" the music, and use their system for more than background music.

Personally, I would not run two stereo pair in the same room. If I wanted "more" sound in a room, I would buy the largest, good floorstanding speakers I could afford, and power that one pair with the best amp I could afford. I'm not trying to derail your plan, but rather give a different perspective.

How big is the room, by the way?

McLoki

Just wanted to make sure we weren't jumping to conclusions that you were not interested in. No offense intended.

Michael

cindy100

adam2434,

The room is not huge, roughly 18X14 and is open on two ends. I don't feel you are trying to derail my plans. I asked for help and opinions here which is what I am getting. Another reason I bought these was with the idea that I could maybe stick them in another room one day if my plan isn't going to work. Wouldn't be the first time! I haven't opened the speakers so I can still return them. Going by the receiver I have, what kind of speakers and amp would you recommend? My husband knows nothing about electronics so I'm pretty much on my own with this. I really don't like walking in an electronic store without having some idea of what I need. I'm sure it's just me but at times I have felt taken advantage of in those stores. I don't like telling someone no and have been known a few times to get something I really didn't want. I don't have much money to be spending on these right now which is why I thought it would be okay to get what I did. I may also be going about this the wrong way.

Right now my bird is screaming and as loud as she is being, I'm thinking if I could put her in a box and use that for my speakers, I'd be set! Please feel fre to ask any other questions; I don't see it as being rude or trying to change my plans which may have not been one of the best!!

Cindy

adam2434

First, I'd say to try your original plan and see if it meets your objective. You already have the speakers, so try it out.

I'm still not 100% clear on your objective, though.

Are you not able to get enough volume or bass to fill the room using the older Polks, even if you turn up the volume?

As I mentioned earlier, make sure your Yamaha is in stereo mode. Using it in a surround mode will limit the sound the sound coming out of the main left and right channels, which are the only channels you're using.