Dual R-50's as fronts??

skipsterut

I currently have R50's as L-R mains, R30's as surrounds and (unconventionally) a pair of R15's (wired in series) as center. The 2 R15's wired in series seems (to me) to work very well as a center. I must say that as a relative newbie to the modern A-V world, I'm extremely happy with the sound quality of this setup -- especially the R50 mains.

My unconventional (yet -- to me -- successful) approach to the center channel -- combined with the VERY attractive price of R-50's currently available from Fry's Outpost has me wondering about getting another pair of R-50's to add to the current R-50's at the L-R main position.

I have a Pio Elite VSX-72TXV AVR that has no trouble diriving the current setup to hearing impairment sound levels at -10dB to -3dB ("on the dial"). For serious HT or CD/SACD listening I normally use a non-WAF level about -20dB to -10dB -- depending on the source. So I think I have a bit of unused headroom left in the AVR.

What I would like to get some opinions about -- I'm thinking of the further unconventional step of adding another pair of R-50's to the L-R mains -- wiring them either in series (probably) or in parallel (possibly) with the current pair of R-50's. I'm thinking that that a total of 8 6-1/2" drivers in the front would present a very full and rich sound stage -- and given that it would only cost an additional $170 delivered it seems worth a try. Even if I'm wrong and it turned out to be a complete cluster f***, worst case is I could just use the 2 new R50's in place of the R30's as surrounds, and use the R30's as SB's.

What do you think of the idea of using 2 sets of speakers wired together at each of the L-R main positions?

scottvamp

I have done it all with good results before, dual mains and centers. I did make my front sound stage much more spacious/fulller. I have ran dual centers from the first time i tried it. The difference now is they each get 250 of high curent power and are no longer an experiment but a intraget part of my system.
Just know that it will change the OHMS needed for the amp. High current SS amps will yeild better results.
In the end it is what sounds best to you and what sound your looking for.

Phasearray

I'm using 6 Polk R50s and a csi25 for my 7.1. Heck, when they cost $78/each shipped from outpost, why the heck not! My HT will be complete once I get a panasonic SR55.

I watched War of the World yesterday like this and the audio was better than any movie theater I've stepped into.

Refefer

I'm trying to figure out how that might work. If you wire it in series, it'll increase the impedance to around 16 ohms, which your receiver can easily and obviously drive.

I'm just not sure why you would want your fronts wired that way: 16 ohms means that each speaker is getting much less power, my guess is somewhere around 65 watts between both of them(assuming the 130 wpc is accurate). Since you can push the R50's to 150 watts RMS, it seems a lot of wasted energy. A better move would be to move the R50's where the R30's are and get extra bang from behind and enjoy the extra headroom.

However, if you really would like to, I'd avoid wiring the R50's in parallel due to the lower impedance, but should work fine in series.

Oh, and welcome to the forums! I started my music love with the R30's and I completely agree with you that you have a fantastic system (especially for the price). Just be careful not to contract the highly contagious Upgraditis which has been known to cause marital difficulties and financial ruin

scottvamp

Your right and 16ohms also sounds like crap. Produces a very weak sound. You have to wire in parallel and that is were the high current amp comes into play.

Refefer

scottvamp wrote:

Your right and 16ohms also sounds like crap. Produces a very weak sound. You have to wire in parallel and that is were the high current amp comes into play.

Yeah, I don't think his AVR would drive 4 ohms all that well, especially since I can't find anything that claims it 4 ohm stable. I didn't want skipster to melt his receiver.

Phasearray

Two speakers in series divides the signal evenly into 2. [(.5V)^2/R]*2. You are left with 1/2 of your original power. That means to volume has to be twice as high to achieve the same level of sound.