Double wiring 2 speakers to 5.1 AV receiver

[14lol14]

Hi everybody!

I bought a AV receiver (Pioneer VSX 323-K) and two old second hand speakers (JBL LX33, 8 ohm). The pioneer amp has a 5.1 output, of which I used the two front channels to connect the speakers to. I have some extra wires lying around and was wondering if I could use these to ALSO connect the surround (L+R) output to the SAME speakers at the same time. Would this gave an increase in sound quality when listening to music? I imagine since the signal is twice as large, the amp would have to be at half the power(volume) and therefore give less noise, since noise seems to increase with amplification.

Maybe most important, would this risk damaging the the amp or speakers?

Kind Regards.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Hi everybody!

I bought a AV receiver (Pioneer VSX 323-K) and two old second hand speakers (JBL LX33, 8 ohm). The pioneer amp has a 5.1 output, of which I used the two front channels to connect the speakers to. I have some extra wires lying around and was wondering if I could use these to ALSO connect the surround (L+R) output to the SAME speakers at the same time. Would this gave an increase in sound quality when listening to music? I imagine since the signal is twice as large, the amp would have to be at half the power(volume) and therefore give less noise, since noise seems to increase with amplification.

Maybe most important, would this risk damaging the the amp or speakers?

Kind Regards.

Do NOT do this.

Not only will it sound rubbish, but you risk blowing your speakers and / or your amp.

Better to shop around on Fleabay for some modest second hand "bookshelf" speakers and use these as your surround sound rears. Right now I can see a pair of Bush bookshelf speakers on ebay.co.uk with a "Buy it Now" price of fifteen quid. Not great music speakers, I grant you, but good enough for surround sound.

Not trying to insult you, but if money's short and you can't afford speaker stands or don't have a bookshelf to put them on, you can probably hang those off a sturdy picture hook!

A fifth, centre speaker will anchor voices to your TV, and any old hifi speaker will work just as well as a "proper" centre speaker.

 

[14lol14]

Hi Benedict_Arnold,

Thanks for the advice! I am not looking to get a surroundsound. All my audio sources are connect via RCA anyway, so I never have a 5.1 input signal. I was just wondering if the output in that case was the same on all the output ports of the amp and subsequently if my plan made any sense.

Kind regards.

 

[The_Lhc]

The output from the surround channels will either be completely different from the fronts, or, with stereo, will be completely silent, so either way it won't do what you want and will give a very real risk of blowing the amp up. It's a BAD idea.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

+1 to The_Lhc.

Best you can hope for without surround sound SOURCES is that you can program your receiver to give what on the Onkyo receivers is called "all channel stereo". Basically this echos the front left and right to the back left and right. If you do that then of course you'll get a net increase in total output, but if one pair is more powerful / sensitive than the other the "louder pair" may drown out the "quieter" ones. Not sure if your receiver does this or not, but like we've both said DON'T try wiring your speakers to two sets of receiver outputs unless your receiver bi-amps (like some Onkyos do) AND your speakers are bi-wire capable (four terminals on the back of each speaker instead of two).

 

[14lol14]

Allright I won't do it. Thanks to both of you for the advice

No biwiring capability unfortunately. I'm happy with my system for now, will probably upgrade to a full surround system when I move to a bigger accomodation.

Cheers!