Use of a Second Receiver?

kberg · January 2003

Hey folks,

As you can see from my profile below, I have an Onkyo receiver with 80wpc. I purchased this receiver as an upgrade to a Kenwood 1080VR with "120wpc" x 3 for the left/center/right speakers.

Would there be any possibility of putting the Kenwood receiver to some use in my current system below for whatever purpose(s)?

Thanks,

Kevin

scottvamp · January 2003

Use it as a secondary amp to run another set of speakers - perhaps in another room.

kberg · January 2003

OK - Thanks!

TonyPTX · January 2003

Originally posted by scottvamp
Use it as a secondary amp to run another set of speakers - perhaps in another room.

The Onk SR600 doesn't have any amp pre-outs. Might be difficult to connect the two systems together. Could you use the digital optical out on the Onk to go to a digital optical in on the Kenwood?

kberg · January 2003

Tony, that's a thought. If I did this, what would be the advantages?

kberg · January 2003

Tony, Are you saying that I could use my Kenwood to "upgrade by amplification" the power to my mains and center channel from the Kenwood, from 80wpc to 120wpc?

jrd002s · January 2003

kberg,
I would have to agree with Scottvamp. The best use for your old receiver, would be to power a system in another room. You could use it in tandem with your new receiver, but that would require splitting your audio/video signals between the two receivers, which would ultimately cause signal degredation, and loss of overall quality. Does anyone else feel differenlty?

JRD

scottvamp · January 2003

JRD - ya , I use my old Fisher reciever to power my rt15i's in the kitchen/dining room area. Like you said you do not have to have preouts - just split the signal. And that is what I am doing. To be honest it sound excellent no degredation or loss at all. But it is analog because of the old reciever so no digital but no need in my situation.

RuSsMaN · January 2003

Speaking of RT15i's. What a GREAT little speaker. Look at it as an ever so slightly laid back RT25, or an R10 on steriods.

Mom-in-law bagged me a pair closeout for Xmas, got em pulling duty in the master bedroom. Stellar speaker for the coin.

Cheers,
Rooster

kberg · January 2003

Thanks scottvamp and the rest - I suppose I could give it a try and split the signal, to see if I notice any improvement from 80wpc to 120wpc. On the other hand, I now recall hearing that to notice a difference in wattage increase, there needs to be a much greater difference than 40wpc, yes? Comments, anyone?

scottvamp · January 2003

I hope u are referring to muiltple speakers and not two amps on the same speakers. Your recievers will go up in smoke.

kberg · January 2003

The center and mains would be driven by the Kenwood 120wpc receiver (using the optical out from the Onkyo 80wpc receiver to the optical in of the Kenwood), and the surrounds and subwoofer would be driven by the Onkyo receiver - this receiver/speaker wire connection setup wouldn't fry anything, would it?

TonyPTX · January 2003

Originally posted by scottvamp
I hope u are referring to muiltple speakers and not two amps on the same speakers. Your recievers will go up in smoke.

Reminds me of a Cheach and Chong episode.

scottvamp · January 2003

No - but now are you talking about 2 recievers running a 5.1 theater. The Kenwood should be enough to handle the HT. We were referring to using the other recievers for extra speakers- like in another room or possible 6/7channel HT.

kberg · January 2003

Yes! This possible setup is for 5.1 HT use only with my existing Onkyo receiver. I just wondering if what was proposed (shooting an additional 40 wpc through the front soundstage) would make an *audible* improvement because of increased power (but I do not want signal degradation, either). Do you think it would? If not, I won't bother with reconfiguring anything and just leave it as is. Thanks again - you're help and advice is much appreciated!

MxStYlEpOlKmAn · January 2003

This dude boggles my mind....Dude - If ur kenwood has preouts, sale the w/e the el it is, but a sep 2 channel amp...120 wats(?), and hook it up to the kenwood...or other than that....u still boggle my mind....

How in the eff can u hook two receivers up, 80 wat and 120 and only exspect 40 wat difference in the first place....this has completely lost me...and how in the eff could u hook to receivers uptogether in the first place? plz enlighten me...lol

kberg · January 2003

Here's what I'm asking...

Asssume the Onkyo is set up according to my profile below. Now, instead of wiring the L/C/R speakers to the Onkyo, wire them to the Kenwood instead, and then connect a TosLink from optical out on the Onkyo to the optical in of the Kenwood - could this work? Wouldn't the Kenwood now be powering the front soundstage at 120wpc instead of the Onkyo at 120wpc at 80wpc?

scottvamp · January 2003

Losing me a little also. ...
Now we are talking about a single HT application.
One reciever has to be primary/preamp and the other used only as an amp.
If this is even possiable you can not use Tosilink - there has to be a preout going to the "amp" using rca's.
My Onkyo has a preout for every channel. I bought a seperate amp and put an extra 200watts on my front stage.
Two recievers to run "other" speakers -OK (which we talked about earlier on post)
Two recievers to boost an HT - gets a very complicated.

MxStYlEpOlKmAn · January 2003

Originally posted by kberg
Here's what I'm asking...

Asssume the Onkyo is set up according to my profile below. Now, instead of wiring the L/C/R speakers to the Onkyo, wire them to the Kenwood instead, and then connect a TosLink from optical out on the Onkyo to the optical in of the Kenwood - could this work? Wouldn't the Kenwood now be powering the front soundstage at 120wpc instead of the Onkyo at 120wpc at 80wpc?

Im no expert, nor 1000% sure...but I can garuntee one thing, if it does work...u will have one he11 of a time trying to set it up...

kberg · January 2003

Originally posted by scottvamp

If this is even possiable you can not use Tosilink - there has to be a preout going to the "amp" using rca's.

This answers my question - thanks!

TonyPTX · January 2003

Originally posted by MxStYlEpOlKmAn
This dude boggles my mind....Dude - If ur kenwood has preouts, sale the w/e the el it is, but a sep 2 channel amp...120 wats(?), and hook it up to the kenwood...or other than that....u still boggle my mind....

How in the eff can u hook two receivers up, 80 wat and 120 and only exspect 40 wat difference in the first place....this has completely lost me...and how in the eff could u hook to receivers uptogether in the first place? plz enlighten me...lol

SiD, if you don't stop being so sloppy with your typing, i'm going to have to go to RatShack and pick up a universal translator......

MxStYlEpOlKmAn · January 2003

Originally posted by TonyPTX

SiD, if you don't stop being so sloppy with your typing, i'm going to have to go to RatShack and pick up a universal translator......

I call it MX-Wiggerish-13 year old babble-Redneck slang-NC typos. Sorry its just the way i type....lazy....

gidrah · January 2003

Wow! I love it! In a word, YES! I don't know if it'll work or not, but I applaud your thought process. From what I can tell of what you're asking, I'd try this:

Onkyo: Main digital in, rears and video out connected. Digital out to Kenwood. This receiver will just drive the rears which aren't utilized as much and should drive the rears just fine.

Kenwood: Front L/C/R connected along with the digital in from the Onkyo. This rcvr will have more power and the corresponding greater dynamic range.

Instead of using the digital ins/outs, you can buy a cheap optical splitter.

You could use any leftover speaker terminals for extra speakers. Whether in the same room or not, but you wouldn't want to listen to the sporadic rear material in the kitchen. In 5ch stereo all relative volume would be the same.

What you're really looking at:
You'd have to have an extra remote and adjust the rears to compensate for the fronts. 2 rcvrs to power on/off. Signifcant other hassle. Onkyo is usually rated accordingly and it should have enough power for most modestly sized rooms. Polks seem to LOVE power. Any appreciable difference observed by your front soundstage would depend on the 2 rcvrs, personal tastes, etc.

Good luck! Welcome to the Forum!

TonyPTX · January 2003

Sometimes it pays to be a newbie....you don't have all of those "years" of experience telling you (or convincing yourself) "It ain't gonna work!!!".

I'd say that using the TOSlink (if it does work) is the safest route to hook up the two receivers as you eliminate the chance of doing some sort of improper hookup that may cause your two receivers to go up in smoke. (Electrons can't travel over optical cable so the concern about mis-matched wiring goes out the window) At worst, you may be "blind in one eye" so to say. Good luck trying to get the levels to come out right. You will probbably need an SPL meter to build a chart of where to set the levels on both receivers so that they balance out. Wonder how you're going to deal with the Bass Management issue? Set the speakers to "Off" if they don't exist?

kberg · January 2003

Thanks for your reply, gidrah. I'm in a burb of Detroit as well!

HBombToo · January 2003

Originally posted by gidrah
Instead of using the digital ins/outs, you can buy a cheap optical splitter.

Interesting little science fair project her...

The splitter would reduce the delay considerably but now your talking 3 TosLinks and a splitter verse 2 TOSLinks and no splitter.

Just a little engineering here... even though the TOSLink is optical there is an decrease in the phase velocity which could effect delay in the rears. 1 would probably notice this if in a 5 channel stereo mode.

just my 2c :rolleyes:

HBomb

kberg · January 2003

Thanks TonyPTX,

Yes, if it does work, I can appreciate how setting/changing volume levels and working with bass management could be a hassle. I just wanted to throw this 2-receiver idea out to everyone to see what anyone had to say about it, or if anyone had tried this before in order to make use of an older receiver with more "dedicated" power to the front channels than their upgraded receiver (assuming the power of the older receiver is truly 120wpc for L/C/R as opposed to the Onkyo at a clean dedicated 80wpc for these channels).

gidrah · January 2003

Originally posted by kberg
I'm in a burb of Detroit as well!

Which one? Lincoln Park for me.

kberg · January 2003

Walled Lake for me.