wiring front speakers to stereo amd and surround amp

[admin_exported]

My dad has a kef iq surround system with a yamaha amp, but he has recently got a NAD stereo amp amp. and he wants to use this with his front speakers so when he is listening to music he gets decent hifi sound rather than the surround amp trying to play music. What is the best way to wi up the front iq9's into both the stereo and surround amp.

Wi he need a spllitter box or could he wire up the surround amp into the top bi wire terminals and the stereo into the bottom bi wire terminals, leaving them connected. Obviously he doesnt want sound quality to be effected in any way

 

[Anonymous]

does the surround amp have pre-outs? if so you could try connecting the fronts to a spare input on the "stereo" system making the nad a power amp when in movie mode

 

[Anonymous]

Not sure about the spec of your Dad's stereo amp, but if it doesn't have a fixed gain mode, you'll have to remember to set the volume to the same position each time - remember to adjust the L/R gain values on the AV receiver so that the volume from the two amps match when watching in surround sound.

P.S. This thread explains things quite well: http://community.whathifi.com/forums/t/129222.aspx

 

[Lost Angeles]

robbye91:

My dad has a kef iq surround system with a yamaha amp, but he has recently got a NAD stereo amp amp. and he wants to use this with his front speakers so when he is listening to music he gets decent hifi sound rather than the surround amp trying to play music. What is the best way to wi up the front iq9's into both the stereo and surround amp.

Wi he need a spllitter box or could he wire up the surround amp into the top bi wire terminals and the stereo into the bottom bi wire terminals, leaving them connected. Obviously he doesnt want sound quality to be effected in any way

If the AV amp has front pre-outs wire it up as follows

1) The front left and right preouts of the A/V Receiver go to an input on the stereo amp (Tape 2 for example)
2) Some stereo amps (not many) have a fixed-level input especially for this purpose so you can miss this step out: set the volume of your stereo amp to about 10 o'clock and run your speaker calibration routine on the receiver. Then always use this volume setting on the stereo amp whenever you watch AV - overall volume is handled by the receiver.
3) When watching AV, have both amps on - the stereo amp will handle the front speakers, the AV amp will handle the rest.
4) When watching stereo, the AV amp is out of the equation so won;t degrade the sound.

 

[mattjax05]

Basically as unconditional wrote if your surround amp has front channel pre-outs you connect the front speakers to the stereo amp and run an interconnect from a spare input on the stereo amp (say AUX) to the front channel pre-outs on the surround amp. Turn everything on, select the aux input on the stereo amp and set the stereo amp to a memorable level (say 12 o'clock) Then re-calibrate the surround amp to account for the fronts new sound level. That's it.

When listening to CDs the surround amp dosen't need to be on.

Hope this helps.

 

[Lost Angeles]

I set the Stereo amp to 10 o'clock not 12 o'clock because when you go back to playing a CD etc and forget to turn it down you won't deafen yourself or worse.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi seems like everyone has basically the same answer. But the issue with that is that he doesnt want to use the stereo amp to power the front speakers when in using surround sound because he needs it as simple as possible for my mum who hardly even knows what an iPod is!

Would it improve the surround sound by using the stereo amp to power the front speakers. The amps he has got are the yam dsp-ax763 and NAD c355bee

 

[Anonymous]

But if thats the only way it can do

 

[daveh75]

It's the best and safest way to do it!

Trying to connect 2 amp's to one set of speaker's is just a recipe for disaster and could result in one or both the amp's going bang or worse,unless you can find a speaker switch for the job.

 

[d4v3pum4]

In order to simply the setup for your Mum, I would recommend buying a universal remote such as the Logitech Harmony One. By pressing one button e.g. 'Watch Bluray' it will turn on all the relevant equipment and select the correct input on the amp(s) and TV. Brilliant bits of kit!

 

[daveh75]

d4v3pum4:In order to simply the setup for your Mum, I would recommend buying a universal remote such as the Logitech Harmony One. By pressing one button e.g. 'Watch Bluray' it will turn on all the relevant equipment and select the correct input on the amp(s) and TV. Brilliant bits of kit!Agreed,would simplify things a lot.

 

[Anonymous]

daveh75:d4v3pum4:In order to simply the setup for your Mum, I would recommend buying a universal remote such as the Logitech Harmony One. By pressing one button e.g. 'Watch Bluray' it will turn on all the relevant equipment and select the correct input on the amp(s) and TV. Brilliant bits of kit!Agreed,would simplify things a lot.

Yep, I've got one (Harmony 525) to keep the wife happy - keeps me happy as well to be fair!

 

[Anonymous]

ok so use the amp to run the front speakers and then get a universal remote to make it all easy. sounds good.

THe NAD amp has a main in. woul dhtat somehow work as a line level input, but there is no input switch for that so im getting a lilttle confusled

 

[Andrew Everard]

Yes, should work, provided you don't have any other sources playing through the amp at the time. Which NAD is it...?

 

[Gerrardasnails]

robbye91:
ok so use the amp to run the front speakers and then get a universal remote to make it all easy. sounds good.

THe NAD amp has a main in. woul dhtat somehow work as a line level input, but there is no input switch for that so im getting a lilttle confusled

You can use any spare input (video for instance). The amp doesn't offer a way of fixing the volume level on an input, so you will need to remember to turn the volume to a level that is easy to remember (12 o'clock) and then when you calibrate the receiver and the other speakers, everything is A ok.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Double-checked the manual and of course using the main in in this way means disconnecting the jumper bars connecting it to the preout 2 sockets.

So that's a non-starter - scrub my previous answer...

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much for the help. Will go round later in the week and set up the stereo amp to power the front speakers.

Any ideas ona good universal remote. Logitech ones are usually the ones to go for. Is there w way of programming it so when you switch to the av it sets the volume to a specific point on the stereo amp. or is that a bit too complex