How to connect an extra pair of speakers to a stereo?

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RealityClash

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Master Geek

#70445 23-Oct-2010 20:08

Hey all,
Today my neighbour came over saying he wanted to get rid of a pair of speakers, so we decided to see if we could hook it up to our stereo. Our stereo is a Sony STR-NX1. Currently we have the 2 original speakers which are plugged into the 'front speaker' outputs.

On the back of our stereo there are outputs for a Left Front, Right Front, Left Rear, Right Rear. All four of these outputs are for the black and red naked cables. There is also an RCA output for a sub.

I am wanting to plug the 2 speakers from my neighbour into the 'rear speaker' output plugs, but when I do this I still only get sound in the front/ original speakers. The only way I can get them all to work at the same time is by having 2 speakers plugged into each of the 'front speaker' outputs as they are just naked cables and do not have any sort of plug on the end of any of the speaker wires.

Are there any negative effects from doing it this way?
Does anyone have any ideas why the rear outputs would not be working?

Thanks

richms

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#395098 23-Oct-2010 20:42

yes, you will be overloading the amplifier as on a small system like that it will be made to do just the impedance of the speakers they supply with it.

Turning it up like that will cook the amplifier in the system - they don't over-engineer the small systems like they do proper home theater receivers since they only make them to run with the supplied speakers.

Even at low volumes you are putting heaps more heat into the amplifier chip driving half the impedance it was made for, manual lists 6 ohm speakers, so if the ones you have added are 4 ohm then it will be even less than half impedance (cant do the maths at the moment)

To use them off the rear output, you will need to have one of the surround modes enabled, and they will just give you a delayed/reverbed and not suitable for anything but making it sound like you are listening to CDs in a cave/arena/whatever they name the surround effects on it.

If you want them as a second room playing the same music, you are also stuffed as you dont have pre amp outs on the NX1 to run to another amplifier.

Richard rich.ms

RealityClash

192 posts

Master Geek

#395125 23-Oct-2010 23:32

ok thanks for the information, its greatly appreciated. Even being able to use them in a surround mode would be good. I have tried plugging one of the new speakers into the rear output then pressing the surround button several times. the sound changed slightly in the front speakers each time but the rear speaker still made no sound at all. Any ideas of what I am doing wrong? sorry I cant give you more info

richms

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#395129 23-Oct-2010 23:47

May need them both connected, mums old sony had them in series off some passive thing connecting them to the main amplifier somehow, effect was at best annoying when turned on.

If you want second room sound, get a cheap-a$$ amplifier with a volume control and hook that up to the record out jack, that will give you full stereo not psudo surround nonsense that is all you will get out of the rear speakers on the sony system. The manual calls for 16 ohm rear speakers, which is basically something you will never see on a real speaker.

Also, without a level control for the rear, you cant really match random speakers to the front.

I have a couple of these http://search.ebay.com/320600754153 which drive my stupidly junk outdoor speakers to quite acceptable volumes, but there is a slightly more expensive one on ebay (280545607869) with a button to defeat the tone controls which I would go for if buying again since the tone controls are very... ummm.. aggressive in what they change, and took ages to get set where it didnt make it sound bad. Also there are auctions with a rather lousy power supply included for about $25US inc shipping.

I can send you one of mine to have a play with if you want, since I have just put a better receiver in for garage stereo off the computer in there so its spare at the moment till I get some more outdoor speakers for around the pool

Richard rich.ms

richms

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#395130 23-Oct-2010 23:49

In saying all that, if the speakers you have need equalisation to get acceptable sound (many mini systems do that rather than putting a full crossover in each speaker, since they are sold as a bundle) they will sound crap off any other amplifier, normally really really bright

Richard rich.ms

RealityClash

192 posts

Master Geek

#395377 25-Oct-2010 00:21

I managed to get the new speakers working this morning and all it needed was having them both plugged into the rear outputs at the same time like you said. Haha I spent around an hour and a half this afternoon just sitting on the couch listening to a live Dream Theater album and they actually sound really great just in surround mode, so I dont think I'm going to need to worry about any extra amplifiers etc thankfully.
Thanks for all the info, youve been a massive help :)