My Dad is set on upgrading his audio for his TV area. The house he has has 4 speakers built into the walls from the previous owner, two in the ceiling and two in the walls up high pretty much in line with where their couch is. I convinced them to buy two bookshelf speakers, they went with a pair of Klipsch 51-M, and were blown away with how much better it made watching movies and TV.
So now my parents want my help with going for a full 7.1 setup. He wants to use two sets of speakers for his front left and right channels, keep the 51-M then wire them in parrallel with a set of Klipsch R-620F.
Does anyone know if this is going to cause issues? From what I’ve found online, it will increase the draw from 8 ohms to 4 ohms. But aside from that I’ve seen conflicting things if this will cause distortion or if it will change the sound at all.
thats average. make sure w/e amp you use can safely play to 2ohms as they will dip that low at times. if he isnt using them loud ever, may not be an issue. why is he set on 2 pairs of speakers? the 620f’s can play loud on their own…
edit: using 2 sets of speakers can also cause phase issues. if 2 drivers are playing the same frequencies in close proximity to each other, they can cancel each other out if they are in phase.
My Dad is set on using all of the speakers he has. With how their room is, he can’t put them any further forward as one side of the room is 90% glass looking out into their backyard; and on the other side, half of it is open to the front part of their house and the other half is bookshelves. My mom also said that she does not want any wires to be visible running to speakers of be tripping over speakers.
I’ll be sure to let them know about the 2ohm requirement for their new receiver. For ther phase issues, I believe he is putting the 51m’s on his entertainment cabinet and they will be on either side of the center channel, still no idea which center channel he is going for I just know it will be Klipsch as he likes their look. The 620f’s I belive he is thinking of having them a good 3-4 feet away from the cabinet with the other speakers. Any idea what sort of minimum distance he would need to avoid phase issues between the 51m and 620f?
more trial and error. wire one set of them backwards if you encounter phase issues. reversing the polarity of 1 set of drivers will make it 180 degrees out of phase with the other set of drivers. mostly negating phase issues.
A 7.1 system has L/C/R front speakers, L&R side speakers & L&R rear speakers plus a subwoofer. There is absolutely no reason at all to have 2 pair of L&R front mains. I would use the bookshelf speakers, wired together as a mono 4ohm center channel, or as the rear L&R stereo surround sound.
So a quick update, he’s decided to not do this anymore. His plan didn’t survive the WAF, when he finally explained the plan to my Mom she shot it down right away not wanting a small wall of speakers in her living room.
@AntiWoke I would agree in using the bookshelf speakers as the stereo surround, it’s how I am using my own pair of 51M’s in my 5.0 setup, (sadly third floor apartments, subs, and picky neighbors don’t mix well) but with how their living room is setup they can’t be placed without getting in the way of walking paths. Also, my Mom refuses to have speaker wire visible in her living room either.