Super newbie question: polk monitor 60s

fatal1ty44

Hey guys,

Had a (very basic) question about the pair of Polk Monitor 60 speakers that I just bought. I see on the back of the speakers four holes: 2 black and 2 red. Is there a difference between the red/black at the top and the red/black at the bottom? I looked at the manual, but I don't really understand how it works. I'll be using these two speakers with my Onkyo TX-SR606 receiver. Its a 7.1 receiver, but I will only be using these two speakers. When I go to hook up the speakers, what do I do exactly? Do I run one cable to the speaker, and run another one back to the receiver? If I wanted to bi-amp, do I run two to the speaker and two back? Does it matter if the front outputs from the receiver go on the top or the bottom of the speaker holes? So since I have two speakers, is that a total of 8 wires I need? I think I also read somewhere that the Onkyo has a bi-amp setting, so does that mean I don't need 4 speaker wires per speaker, just two?

LASTLY! i saw in the polk manual that the speaker wires look bare: I thread them through the hole and tighten the screw. Are banana plugs something I can use instead of doing this (and what exactly are banana plugs?). Where's a good place to buy all this stuff (I buy hdmi wires etc from monoprice... are they good for speaker wires too?).

If anyone has the onkyo tx-sr606 (new), do you know if it comes with the wires already?

Thanks guys, I know these questions are really newbish and basic, but I honestly have no idea what I'm doing. I bought these speakers, along with the receiver, during the black friday sales, and would love to figure how to make it all work properly.

wutadumsn23

Hey, wow lots of questions I hope I get them all, lol. First off welcome to Club Polk, and congrats on the onkyo, I have the 806 and love Onkyo receivers. First off no, it doesn't matter if you wire the speakers on the top posts or the bottom posts as long as you have the jumper plate still installed. It is a piece of metal that connects the two sets of posts so it doesn't matter which ones you use. If you were to remove the metal jumper you would then have two seperate sets of posts and you would then run the wires from the Front L/R on the back of your receiver to the tweeter terminals and then run a set of wires from the Sorround Back L/R (may be labeled Bi-Amp also) to the woofer terminals on the back of your speakers. (see pg 17 of your manual on how to bi-amp the mains) Also like you said you need to select Bi-amp from the menu, and that is on pg. 42 of your manual. The posts in the back of your receiver are all coded to where they go, Front Speakers L/R, Center,Surround Speakers, and Surround back, just run speaker wire from the back of the receiver to the corrosponding speaker + or - (red and black) If you set them up normal you will only need two runs of speaker wire since they come in a positive/negative (red and black) set. If you Bi-amp you will need 4 runs of speaker wire, again + and - are in each run. Banana plugs can be used to make it easier to remove and install the wiring and can be picked up at any electronic store, BB, CC, Walmart for $15-$20 for a set of 4. They are basically a connector that the speaker wire goes into one end and you tighten it down, then clip the banana plug into the back of the terminal (receiver and speaker). The 606 will NOT come with speaker wire, but again you can get some at BB, CC etc. Hope this helps and I got all of your questions, if not just let me know. Good luck and congrats again.

fatal1ty44

HUGE THANKS! I think you answered all the questions I had in my post (sorry it was so disorganized ).

Regarding the speaker wire then, what would you recommend for a newbie? Not looking for specific brands, rather I'm curious as to what thickness/material etc I should be looking for to get good sound coming through. I'd rather not shell out for overpriced monster cables, so I'll probably be ordering brandless speaker wires on monoprice.com.

F1nut

Monoprice aren't brandless, they are made from Belden cable, the same company that Signal Cable makes theirs from, to mention but a few.

Anyway, to answer your question. Buy what fits your budget. When it comes to AVR's, etc. I'm not so sure that it will make a difference.

wutadumsn23

As for speaker wire that is a whole other can of worms, don't get Ben started, lol. I run 16 gauge Rocketfish speaker wire. That is supposedly BB's higher end speaker wire, I noticed a huge difference when I upgraded from the wiring that came in my Onkyo HTIB (Home Theater In a Box) that I upgraded from about 2 months ago with my 806 and Polk speakers. Ideally the bigger the gauge, the more juice going to the speakers, the more the power and the better the sound. I personally don't see the advantage to Monstercable, although some people swear by it. The only way to find out is to experiment, buy what is in your budget at Monoprice or BlueJeans or wherever, and see if you like it. Then when/if you can afford it, upgrade to something else if you are not happy. One word of advice though, like F1 said don't expect huge gains with the Bi-Amp, after all it is just as much what you are pushing as what you are pushing them with. External amp may be a better option for Bi-Amping, but you will notice a difference with the speaker wire upgrade, it is IMO one of the cheapest/easiest ways to get better sound out of any system.

WilliamM2

F1nut wrote: »

Monoprice aren't brandless, they are made from Belden cable, the same company that Signal Cable makes theirs from, to mention but a few.

Where did you hear this? They don't look like Belden cable to me.

F1nut

I believe it's pretty much plastered all over the forum.

WilliamM2

F1nut wrote: »

I believe it's pretty much plastered all over the forum.

I have seen it mentioned here once or twice before, but never anywhere else.

RETXAB

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

As for speaker wire that is a whole other can of worms, don't get Ben started, lol. I run 16 gauge Rocketfish speaker wire. That is supposedly BB's higher end speaker wire, I noticed a huge difference when I upgraded from the wiring that came in my Onkyo HTIB (Home Theater In a Box) that I upgraded from about 2 months ago with my 806 and Polk speakers. Ideally the bigger the gauge, the more juice going to the speakers, the more the power and the better the sound. I personally don't see the advantage to Monstercable, although some people swear by it. The only way to find out is to experiment, buy what is in your budget at Monoprice or BlueJeans or wherever, and see if you like it. Then when/if you can afford it, upgrade to something else if you are not happy. One word of advice though, like F1 said don't expect huge gains with the Bi-Amp, after all it is just as much what you are pushing as what you are pushing them with. External amp may be a better option for Bi-Amping, but you will notice a difference with the speaker wire upgrade, it is IMO one of the cheapest/easiest ways to get better sound out of any system.

Speaker wire only depends on the current flowing through the wire. On most of the websites you can check there are guidlines that state a gauge needed for certain lengths of run. These guidlines are calculated for 5% line loss, most Receivers are 0.05 THD. If you plan to run the wires in your wall made sure the wire is UL listed class CL3.

seeclear

RETXAB wrote: »

Speaker wire only depends on the current flowing through the wire.

Rextab, welcome to CP!

BUT, you better duck!:eek::eek::eek:

Lots of folks on here don't share that opinion, and will probably chime in here soon enough. Personally, for speaker wire I use a bulk wire from monoprice which is 12 gauge, in-wall rated. I think it looks cool running to my speaks, even tho the jacket is white. Yeah, not MIT big honking wire on little supports cool, but cool enough for me. And for speaks powered off the receiver, I think it would work fine.:rolleyes:

Eric W

Here's the answer to why there are two sets of speaker terminals in the back of the speaker

http://www.polkaudio.com/education/showanswer.php?question_num=53

RETXAB

seeclear wrote: »

Rextab, welcome to CP!

BUT, you better duck!:eek::eek::eek:

Lots of folks on here don't share that opinion, and will probably chime in here soon enough. Personally, for speaker wire I use a bulk wire from monoprice which is 12 gauge, in-wall rated. I think it looks cool running to my speaks, even tho the jacket is white. Yeah, not MIT big honking wire on little supports cool, but cool enough for me. And for speaks powered off the receiver, I think it would work fine.:rolleyes:

I understand, 12 Ga wire will give you 4.32% line loss at 130 watts and 4 amps. Now the total harmonic distortion from most audio video receivers is 5%, and most audiophiles cannot even pick that up...;)