Home Theater Mega Thread

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I bought a Marantz receiver last year. Can't remember the model name, but it was $1600 so it's pretty decent. The only thing is, I want it to go even louder and I'm pretty sure my speakers could take it.

A $1600 Marantz should be plenty loud already. To do better you need a power amp and use your Marantz as pre amp. Check out the emotiva amps, they make good inexpensive power amps.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Sliver

If I do that, would I just plug the speaker wires out from my receiver into the amplifier, then speaker wires would come out of that and go into the speakers?

Depending on the model it might have the XLR connections, in which case you could use it as a pre/pro instead of a receiver. The 7007 had that feature IIRC.

+1 to Darklord's suggestion of the Emotiva though. I'd also check out Outlaw. Came awfully close to buying one last year.

[Sliver]

Oh man, I don't even know what XLR connections are. I'm a bit out of my depth on this. I'll take a look at my receiver and report back.

Darklord - yeah it's loud, but I want to be able to rattle pictures off the wall and thought that's what I was buying so I'm a little disappointed.

[Sliver]

Okay it is the 7007, but I don't see anything that says XLR back there.

So if I get a power amp, do I just hook the speaker wire up from my receiver to the amp, then from the amp to the speakers?

[cupofjoe]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Okay it is the 7007, but I don't see anything that says XLR back there.

So if I get a power amp, do I just hook the speaker wire up from my receiver to the amp, then from the amp to the speakers?

Hey Sliver, the 7007 is great amp. What you would do is hook rca cables from the 7007 preouts to the new amps rca in. Then hook the speakers via speaker wire to the new amps speaker binding post. Depending on your setup and desires you could 2 / 5 / 7 channels this way. Just make sure the left speaker preout is going to the input of the channel of the new amp which is hook to the left speaker etc.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by cupofjoe

Hey Sliver, the 7007 is great amp. What you would do is hook rca cables from the 7007 preouts to the new amps rca in. Then hook the speakers via speaker wire to the new amps speaker binding post. Depending on your setup and desires you could 2 / 5 / 7 channels this way. Just make sure the left speaker preout is going to the input of the channel of the new amp which is hook to the left speaker etc.

Okay, great. That sounds simple enough. It's just the two R/L stereo speakers I'm looking to boost for when I listen to music. Everything else is good as is running off the Marantz.

Now to price out amps. Thanks!

[darklord700]

XLR connectors have a locking mechanism for more secure connection, that's all. Most amp just use coaxial cables for outs. What speakers you have Sliver that the 7007 couldn't drive?

[Sliver]

Polk Audio RTi8.

http://www.amazon.ca/Polk-Audio-Outp.../dp/B0000SYA8A

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Polk Audio RTi8.

The Polk aren't difficult speakers to drive. Are you sure it's your amp that doesn't have enough power and not that you have already maxed out on your speakers' output?

[Sliver]

I guess I'm not sure, but the speakers sound absolutely perfectly clear at maximum volume, so to me that suggests they could take more. Maybe that's not how this works, though.

[Vulcan]

Have you set all your speakers to small? This should help your speakers and receiver to better do their job.

[accord1999]

What's the volume setting on the AVR? Have you tried any blurays with a very loud soundtrack?

Generally, good speakers with 90 dB sensitivity and a receiver like the 7007 is going to be able reach painful sound levels in most listening environments that most people wouldn't be able stand for more than a few minutes.

[Sliver]

I haven't set my speakers to small. I guess I can try that this weekend but I don't understand how that would help.

Maybe I'll experiment a bit more with audio inputs. I'll play some CDs and see if that makes a difference. Right now I listen to my music through the AppleTV or my Chromecast. But even if a CD sounds better it won't do me much good because I prefer to stream music.

[Sliver]

Maybe it's a speaker wire thing, too. I'm using some pretty thick speaker wire I got in the mid 90s. What gauge should I be using?

[accord1999]

Usually, most systems don't need anything thicker than 14 gauge.

[DownhillGoat]

Do your speakers allow for bi-amping? I did that with my Totems (used channel A and B at the same time to drive a single speaker that allowed for bi-amping. The 7007 is a beefy receiver, and Polks aren't known as a hard to drive speaker. It'd be different if you were trying to drive a pair of electrostats or something.

A few minor tweaks, apologies if some of them sound condescending:
- When you have it on music, is it set to 'stereo'? If it's trying to play it in 5.1/7.1 or something it's going to be much quieter. There should be a 'stereo direct' option too which will basically get rid of any processing and just use the amp.
- Can you increase the db on the front speakers (IIRC Denons can go +5 or 10 from base level). That would allow for more volume outside of just the volume control.

I just find it tough to believe you can't get more out of that amp. I have a Pioneer in the same range as the 7007, and a Denon below it, and both of those can drive my speakers (should be similarly as easy to drive as the Polks) to ear-bleedy volumes.

[Sliver]

Okay guys, thanks for your patience with this. I'll try to give you all the information so you don't have to pull it out of me one question at a time hah.

I don't know if my speakers allow bi-amping. Should I be utilizing both these speaker wire inputs at the back? Would I like connect the red wire to the top and the black wire to the bottom, or would I run speaker wire from two front inputs from my receiver and the two separate inputs on the speakers? Here's the back of my speakers:

Spoiler!

And here's the back of my receiver:

Spoiler!

To be honest, I don't even know how I ended up with the speakers plugged into FRONT A. Maybe they should be plugged into FRONT HEIGHT or maybe FRONT WIDE. I must have read the instructions when I set this up, but I could have very easily effed it up, too.

Also, I'm concerned those plugs into which I have the speaker wire inserted before they're plugged into the receiver are degrading the sound. Per accord1999's suggestion, I have ordered 14-gauge speaker wire from Amazon and I'm just going to plug that directly into the receiver once it arrives.

Kunkstyle - when I listen to my music, I do put it on Stereo. But you know what? It is sometimes louder on surround, which is completely messed up and definitely should have clued me in earlier that I have an issue.

I've played around with increasing the DB on the front speakers in the past, but I will double check it.

[Madman]

You have two plugs because those RTi8s allow you to power the sub separately. That gold bar bridges your signal when you are powering the entire speaker from one signal.

Good news on the new wire, that stuff you are using right now looks sketchy at best. (it's twisted multi wire??)

You can still use the banana plugs on the new wires, I highly doubt that is the cause of your problem.

And yes, you are plugged into the correct output on the back of your receiver, the other to are for surround channels.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I don't know if my speakers allow bi-amping.

Yup they do. So in your case the Marantz allows the "surround back" input to be assignable. Meaning you'd lose 7.1 capability, but you could set the surround back to act as Zone 2 front speakers, turn on both Zone 1 and 2 fronts, and it'd basically be a 5.1 setup with the fronts bi-amped. If that makes any sense.

So you'd take the metal strip out of your speakers (that's now connecting both negatives and positives together), plug one set of -/+ into "Front A" like they are now, plug in the other set of +/- into "Surround Back", then assign surround back as "Front A (or 2, depending on what Marantz calls it).

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Madman

You have two plugs because those RTi8s allow you to power the sub separately. That gold bar bridges your signal when you are powering the entire speaker from one signal.

Good news on the new wire, that stuff you are using right now looks sketchy at best. (it's twisted multi wire??)

You can still use the banana plugs on the new wires, I highly doubt that is the cause of your problem.

And yes, you are plugged into the correct output on the back of your receiver, the other to are for surround channels.

lol, yeah. I got that stuff from A&B Sound in 1995 when I bought a NAD receiver. He told me it was like $15 a foot or something crazy. Don't worry, he threw it in because 'I seemed like a good guy.' Anyway, I've been carting it around for years, but I think it's time to get rid of it.