What did I do wrong on my first Hi-Fi?

[Covenanter]

Thanks for all comments.

The quality improved a bit today. The louder the volume the better the speakers work.

I know that my room is not suitable for those speakers, I plan to move them to a bigger room later.

Anywya, here you can see how I connected both speakers. Is that correct?

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=21l69zd&s=8#.U2os_a2SzCI

Thanks,

Are there "jumpers" across the LF/HF terminals?

Chris

 

[Al ears]

I believe the gold looking triagular plates you can see in the photo are the jumpers.

The wiring will need to be checked as no obvious LF/HF (+/-) is visible on the cable in the photo.

 

[The_Lhc]

Anywya, here you can see how I connected both speakers. Is that correct?

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=21l69zd&s=8#.U2os_a2SzCI

We really need to see both speakers and, ideally, the amp connections as well.

 

[Marsbardark]

The cable is in the right connectors on the speakers, but as said they need to corresponde with the red and black connectors on the amp.

 

[Covenanter]

I believe the gold looking triagular plates you can see in the photo are the jumpers.

The wiring will need to be checked as no obvious LF/HF (+/-) is visible on the cable in the photo.

Ok if the gold things are jumpers then that is ok. Agree the cabling nees to be checked.

Chris

 

[Al ears]

Having had a second look at the speakers I believe cabling is at fault.

If that is a + and a - in the plastic above the cables then it is wired incorrectly.

THe banana plug with the red ring around it needs to go to the + HF terminal and the other cable to the - HF terminal. Then check the corresponding end of the cable with red ring on banana plug goes to the + terminal on the amp. Do the same for both left and right speakers.

 

[Marsbardark]

checked the manual online minus on the left plus on the right, its wired correctly on the picture the OP supplied.

 

[zilli]

Hi,

Here are more photos:

Thanks,

 

[The_Lhc]

Hi,

Here are more photos:

Thanks,

 

[ellisdj]

Surely you should be plugged into both either the low freq or high freq inputs then there should be links from one to the other. Not cross wired?

You wiring positive into the HF and then Ngative into the LF?? thats a diamond wiring configuration? The crossovers in those speakers might not like it?

Those speakers are weird in how they have set them up

I also think you should do away with those crap bits of metal - no speaker sounds any good with those in - that might the problem.

I remember my uncle had them metal links on his speakers for years - the treble always sounded terrible until I looked. Evil cheap nasty things they are - Bin Job!!

Replace them with proper links made form the same speaker wire

 

[Covenanter]

Surely you should be plugged into both either the low freq or high freq inputs then there should be links from one to the other. Not cross wired?

You wiring positive into the HF and then Ngative into the LF?? thats a diamond wiring configuration? The crossovers in those speakers might not like it?

Those speakers are weird in how they have set them up

I also think you should do away with those crap bits of metal - no speaker sounds any good with those in - that might the problem.

I remember my uncle had them metal links on his speakers for years - the treble always sounded terrible until I looked. Evil cheap nasty things they are - Bin Job!!

Replace them with proper links made form the same speaker wire

ROFL

Chris

 

[TrevC]

Hi,

Here are more photos:

Thanks,

That looks fine. Ignore the nonsense about the speaker links, it won't make any difference.

 

[Al ears]

Having seen the recent pics I agree.

There is nothing wrong with the way speakers are connected.

 

[ellisdj]

Why would you connect HF + and LF - That makes no sense??? and yes the metal links do make a difference.

OMG people listening to their system set up like that, thinking I am wrong. They must be used to shocking sounding music playback.

They are there to look neat - not sound good!

 

[TrevC]

Why would you connect HF + and LF - That makes no sense??? and yes the metal links do make a difference.

OMG people listening to their system set up like that, thinking I am wrong. They must be used to shocking sounding music playback.

They are there to look neat - not sound good!

Look at the pictures again. They are wired HF- to LF-, and HF+ to LF+, perfectly correct, and the connector linking plates will be very low resistance and work just as well as small pieces of wire despite what you may have read on the internet :wall: .

 

[lindsayt]

I find threads like this a little bit sad. When someone has spent a lot of money (about £2000 in this case) on something they're not happy with, after following the advice of other people. There's also a high chance he may not be able to return it all for a full refund. And if he were to sell it via an online auction site he'd probably have to swallow a considerable financial loss.

Looking at it in a positive way, zilli and everyone else reading this can treat it as a learning experience. I am confident that he can acheive the sort of sound quality he is after without spending a single penny more. Either by making adjustments to how it has all been set-up, or identifying something that's not fully working and would therefore get replaced under guarantee or by selling some or all of it and replacing it with less expensive but significantly better sounding items.

A nice first step for zilli would be to get his system and a reference system together in the same room to identify what exactly is causing the disappointing sound he's been getting. I'd be happy to pop round to his place myself if he lives near West Yorkshire.

 

[MajorFubar]

Why would you connect HF + and LF - That makes no sense??? and yes the metal links do make a difference.

OMG people listening to their system set up like that, thinking I am wrong. They must be used to shocking sounding music playback.

They are there to look neat - not sound good!

The sound is going to be exactly the same whether he plugs both wires into the HF sockets, both wires into LF sockets, or indeed a mixture of the two, because the HF and LF binding-posts are linked by the jumpers.

 

[MajorFubar]

And if he lives anywhere near the Fylde Coast i'm more than happy to do the same.

 

[TrevC]

He does say he's moving it to a larger room, in which case I would expect it to sound very good. Large speakers never seem to sound much cop in a small room.

 

[ellisdj]

All speaker sound terrible with the metal links into them - every pair I have ever heard - nothing to do with reading anything.

I wouldnt take that advice - hence why there are products sold for this solution !!

Also in terms of wiring

I Think it does matter - clearly things are not sounding right so all options must be looked at. The internal crossover of the speakers might not like that wiring up

Wire into either the LF + and -

Or the HF + and -

Not a mixture of the 2 and try that

 

[Crocodile]

Some interesting posts here... :rofl:

OP, check the actual polarity of the speaker cable just in case whoever made them up made an error. One core of the cable will be printed with it's name. Trace this back on both ends & make sure that the printed core is connected to the same colour banana plug at each end. Do this for both left & right cable.

Make sure that the Rega is connected to the phono/MM input on the amp & that it is indeed fitted with a MM cartridge & not a MC.

 

[MajorFubar]

The internal crossover of the speakers might not like that wiring up

The crossovers will be totally oblivious to how he's wired the speakers because the inputs are linked at the binding posts. Stop confusing the poor guy with nonsense. It's not helping.

 

[TrevC]

The internal crossover of the speakers might not like that wiring up

The crossovers will be totally oblivious to how he's wired the speakers because the inputs are linked at the binding posts. Stop confusing the poor guy with nonsense. It's not helping.

:clap:

 

[The_Lhc]

Wire into either the LF + and -

Or the HF + and -

Not a mixture of the 2

A number of speaker manufacturers recommend one cable to the LF and one to the HF when using bi-wirable speakers with the links in place.

 

[Al ears]

The internal crossover of the speakers might not like that wiring up

You really did miss all your high-school physics lessons didn't you? The crossovers will be totally oblivious to how he's wired the speakers because the inputs are linked at the binding posts. Stop confusing the poor guy with nonsense. It's not helping.

Quite right Major, he is talking ball-cocks and has purely replaced the plates with a jumper, which will make absolutely no difference to crossover connection.