A few noobie questions

irregularjoe

Hi. New to the forum and new to Home Theater.
I just bought a Polk RM 6900 package and an Onkyo TXSR603 along with an Onkyo DV-CP702 DVD changer. My first try at 5.1 sound. Always been a stereo kind of guy.
Anyway, I'm taking down my Bose Accoustimass 5's and the "sub woofer" that really insn't and installing this new system.
I'm going to use the existing #14 speaker wiring for the surrounds and add new #12 for the fronts and center, and digital audio cable for the sub.
Should I use banana plugs as connectors or just bare wire? Also, are banana plugs used on the speaker or just the amp? I haven't taken them out of the box yet as they are a gift to my S.O.
Another question: My receiver is 7.1 but my setup is going to be 5.1.
Should I set up the smaller sats as "surround" or "rear"?

Also does anyone have any experience with these speaker mounts?


They are only $12 a pair compared to the $50 mounts at BB and CC. I don't want junk however.

Thanks for reading.

Joey

Dennis Gardner

Welcome to the forum! Use whatever method of attachment you prefer. Most don't bother with bananas unless you are going to change out speakers often. If you already have them use'em. Many just go the slightly twisted bare wire method into the posts and find it to be good. Just make certain no stray wires exist.

Check your manual for 5.1 speaker hookup. I would think that the surround/side hookups in 7.1 become rears in 5.1 and the rears are left alone.

The mounts are most likely okay too, but I might try 1 pair first and make sure you get a solid mount into a stud.

irregularjoe

Thanks for the info Dennis!
No, i'm definately not going to be changing out the speakers regularly.:)
I just thought the terminals would be a better connection. But being an electrician for the last 35 years, I should have known better.
Marketing got me again.

Joey

Dennis Gardner

Lesser connections = lesser connection problems, as you know. But ohhhh aren't those 24k, cryogenic, factory broken in connectors pretty?;)

Willow

Welcome,

You won't regret the change in systems. I went from a Bose to what I know have...slowly.. But amazing. My mother inlaw ended up with the old system and when I go over, I am thankful it's no longer mine.

As for the naner plugs I use them as I like the clean look of the plugs, I use them in both speakers and AVR. I don't swap out speakers often..heck then only time is if I move the system around, major cleaning or buy new gear. But again I like the look of the plugs.

I think you would need to hook them up as rears, that is my guess, but as mentioned as much as you may not want to read the manual, it'll be in there some where.

Now go ahead, hook up that puppy, sit back and enjoy...heck take some pics and post'em up !

One last thing, stick around !

Mike682

irregularjoe wrote:

Another question: My receiver is 7.1 but my setup is going to be 5.1.
Should I set up the smaller sats as "surround" or "rear"?
er.

Thanks for reading.

Joey

Welcome to the forum Joe

I would designate the smaller speakers as the rear/surrounds.

EDIT: Just checked the manual and all five speakers have a -3db freq response of 100hz, so I guess it really wouldn't matter which ones are fronts or rears.

shack

Willow wrote:

I think you would need to hook them up as rears, that is my guess, but as mentioned as much as you may not want to read the manual, it'll be in there somewhere.

Agreed

Dennis Gardner wrote:

Lesser connections = lesser connection problems, as you know.

If you get quality bananas and or quality terminated speaker cable there should be no connection problems. In fact, I find there are more issues with bare wire because of strands crossing terminals and so forth. All my speaker cables are terminated with bananas. Bare works ok and may be the best connection, but I like the ease and simplicity of the bananas. It is much easier to connect to the back of the reciever (most AVRs have crowded back-sides). I DO move speakers from time to time and the bananas are the way to go for me.

irregularjoe

Thanks for all the advice.
Joey

cfrizz

Hi Joey & welcome! Congrats on the new gear. I fall in with Shack with liking the simplicity of banana plugs.

irregularjoe

I ordered five pairs of banana plugs for the receiver. I can't find any info on whether the polk speakers accept them, so I'll use bare or pins there. Don't want to open up the box, but I'll see them tomorrow when my S.O. opens her gifts.
I really got a crash course in Home Theater this past week.
Optical audio cords, digital sub woofer cables, speaker mounts, Zone two, AV receivers, DVD changers, yada yada yada!!!!!
As originally posted, I was always just a stero guy. A speaker on the left, a speaker on the right, plug it in, turn it on and that was it.

Can't wait to hear and see it all together.

Joey

Oh, btw, the old Bose system and the old stereo receiver is going to be relocated to the bedroom. We've been without a stereo in there for some time now due to another Bose bookshelf speaker falling off the top of the armoire and breaking.

reeltrouble1

I see a very nice stereo system in your future. That is the best thing about HT the spark it re-ignites in old audio hounds. Enjoy Joe.

Now as for your other problem the regularity thing I have something that might just do the trick, just let me know.

And most of all Welcome to CP..

for the record

bare wire is sexy cuz its nekid
banana's are sexy cuz their shape fits snugly into a ??????
spades are sexy cuz you get to pin them down

see what's going on here..................

RT1

F1nut

I see what's going on. You got laid last night.

univera

F1nut wrote:

I see what's going on. You got laid last night.

I'm guessing the "wood" shed rig was playing at the same time....

reeltrouble1

yikes

RT1