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In Reply to: RE: Speaker positioning - trying to use 4 speakers posted by MannyE on December 02, 2016 at 06:33:30
MannyE - Wow! Thanks for the great response!
Luckily, I have a great room in which to set up my system and give it breathing room. Similar to your advice, I've read a number of things indicating that these speakers need room to breathe!
When you talk about a setup disc or digitized disc to emanate from the Source, I'm not sure what you mean. Can you explain? Perhaps your talking about the sound/music file source. Although I'm guilty of sometimes using Spotify on my phone, which I understand has crappy audio quality, I do have the ability and have wondered if it would be worth downloading high-quality audio files.
What I don't have, yet, is a really great power source. My two options at this point are an old Pioneer receiver. It runs 125 watts per channel and must have been Pioneers top-of-the-line when it was new because it does seem to do a nice job and the spec sheet is impressive for a consumer-grade unit. I also have a much newer Yamaha. But, it's rated at 105 per channel and is not impressive. It's a 7.1 surround receiver that tries to do everything.
I've been scouring Craiglist and other places for a good and powerful amp. Turns out, it's difficult (and expensive) to find a good, clean amp that delivers the kind of power you've referenced. But, I'm looking.
I'm a novice at this. So, if you've got any suggestions of what I could look for in an amp or other system components (preferably something that I can find used), I'm all-ears. I'm eager to get rid of the receivers I have and go to something that is more dedicated and better quality. I don't have an unlimited budget, but am willing to spend some money to make these new speakers live up to their potential.
Thanks again for your post!
Follow Ups:
The Yamaha might work, you didn't mention if the Pioneer was a surround receiver, from the comments I assumed not. With the Def Tech's powered you may not need that much power from the Yamaha, if it has preamp outputs the better, then you can easily add an external power amp. Hook all 4 speakers to the Yamaha, like front left/right for one set and rear left/right for the other. Then you can use the Yamaha's internal speaker set up to balance them, maybe even use the auto speaker set up for the additional room equalization. Then when having the party run the receiver in "all channel stereo" mode so all the speakers are driven with same level. Set all speakers to "large" inside the Yamaha so they get the full signal. Yamaha usually offers a good selection of DSP modes you might find useful, "hall", "disco" etc. Maybe see if one has better bass reinforcement.
You didn't mention a budget for amps. I'd watch for used Adcom, you can usually find a 200x2 either gfa 555 or 5500 around $500.00 give or take. Great value at the used prices. For new and on a budget you might consider the Emotiva, or, maybe some of the Class D offerings out there. If you really want them to sing and still be able to stream in one package, look at the Parasound Halo integrated amp.
For better quality streaming Tidal has a high res service that's about $20.00 a month. If you can only do Spotify, many HT receivers have some type of digital enhancement to expend response of mp3, it may work on streaming, not sure. I've found streaming from Pandora and Amazon Prime to be not so good by comparison to CD, not used Spotify.
To answer your first question about source. I mean whatever you are using for music playback. It doesn't matter what it is (and you won't get any judgments from me as to how you play your music...it's your party and you can Spotify if you want to).
What I mean is that both your Pioneer and Yamaha probably generate test tones to help make sure that you are getting the correct levels at the listening position. Those are great to use as a baseline. In fact, when I am setting up a system, I will start with those tones. But those tones are NOT coming from your iphone, or CD player or music server and until you calibrate using tones from the music source (again..whatever it may be) you're not getting your money's worth. I also try to go manual (using the sound level meter and setting the levels manually) rather than using the microphone some newer receivers come with. If your Pioneer is older, it probably wont have auto-calibrate anyway.
As far as amplification goes, I think you are OK with those levels. Keep in mind that the sub-woofers in the Deftechs are powered (assuming both those models are powered towers) and don't need an amp.
So if the Pioneer has 5 channels of amplification, I would go with that one. I had one of those big Pioneers back in the day and always found them a little too bright. Of course, that's a nitpick..they were great receivers, especially the Elite line. I wouldn't bother with bi-amping because you're looking at a lot of cable already and bi-amping will increase the amount of interconnects and speaker cables to staggering levels.
I would also, if your speakers allow, remove the jumpers to the low end (my BP-2002 have 3 sets of binding posts; high, mid and low) and use the Pioneer's LFE and/or sub output. That way the receiver is handling bass management and you have more control. If you only have the mid and high speaker connections, then you also probably have the LFE and/or sub input on the plate amp on the BP towers. Since you're not using the system for movies, and IF you have a choice, use the sub input rather than the LFE input, which is supposed to be for movies.
Always make sure the Pioneer is set to "large" in the speaker setup. Let the internal crossovers of the Def-Techs decide what frequencies go where. I would also call DefTech and ask where to set the bass management. They have some of the best customer service I have ever experienced.
The only other thing that made me worry when I started was what to do with 2 (in your case 4) subs and only one LFE output. Just get three splitters and make 4 outputs then run the RCA cables to each sub. Easy Peasy. I never did 4, but I didn't seem to have any problems with 2 and I doubt you will "degrade" the signal much if at all. You're not sitting by yourself in front of two speakers doing critical listening anyway, you're dancing and having fun. So relax and have fun. :)
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