4 Side Surrounds?

soiset · February 2006

I am using S4's (direct radiating) as my side surrounds in my 7.1 system, and am thinking of adding another pair, instead of going dipole. The S4's present an 8 ohm load. I was thinking I'd wire the side surrounds in parallel to get a 4 ohm load, and have my Yamaha RX-V2500 adjust the sound level again. The receiver is switchable for 6/8 ohm loads, and the specifications rate dynamic power against 8/6/4/2 ohm loads. RMS power is rated only at 8 ohms.

Has anyone tried this arrangement? Any warnings or advice?

Thanks

ohskigod · February 2006

where are you placing them? I cant see them making that much of a difference. do you notice a weakness in the surrounds on your set up, hence what provoked this move? what lead to the decision?

soiset · February 2006

Often the ambient effects "collapse" to a single speaker, and I thought that I could get a more diffuse sound with more speakers, especially if I reversed the phase in them. My surrounds are all at about standing ear level. I was thinking that with two on each side, I could angle them in different directions instead of aiming the singles straight over the back of the couch, which is where they are now.

ohskigod · February 2006

try it, but wire them in a series, not parralel. your reciever will thank you., it cuts power, but just calibrate accordingly and I can see it being a problem. worse that can happen (with the series wiring) is it sounds horrible and you disconnect it. parralel wiring, with a dip to 4 ohms, could do damage to your reciever despite the ratings.

soiset · February 2006

What do you think about wiring them out of phase? I am thinking just to reverse the wires on the drivers in one speaker per side would do the trick. Could it be done with the speaker cables instead?

soiset · March 2006

I have decided to get a two channel amp to run my extra side surrounds. I'm hoping that an older Yamaha amp will sound enough like my RX V2500. I still don't know if I should wire the second pair out of phase, though.

Dennis Gardner · March 2006

Note to self......................don't buy used receiver from Bellaire TX.;)

If you want dipoles, buy'em and leave the engineering to the experts.

zingo · March 2006

Try it, and see what it sounds like, it won't hurt anything. And yes, wire them in series, usless your amp is 4 ohm capable at whatever the output of both your speakers are. (My guess would be no) If you wire them in series, it will present a load of 16 Ohms to your amp, and you will get a little less power than at 8 Ohms, but it will still sound fine, and you won't overload your amp.

aaharvel · March 2006

wouldn't running them in parallel via speaker cable lead to a 16ohm load?

Y-Adapters w/ rca interconnects could be different.

4 Side Surrounds?

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