2 front speakers?

[Pirate]

Hey all,

this is kind of a dumb question, but...

My amp has an input for right and left front speakers labled "B". I've got two fronts in the "A" slots and I figured (since I have 2 extra speakers) that i'd hook up the "B" fronts. It's louder, but I'm not sure if it's better. Any thoughts on this? Does anyone out there run 2 fronts? I tried stacking them on top of each other and then side by side. I don't know if I should leave them on stands or put them directly on the floor. I can't tell if it's better or not. ????

Please give me your thoughts and advice.

thanks as always
-PH

[tomdkat]

I believe the second set of speaker outputs is for having speakers in another room. You can turn off the "A" speakers and turn on the "B" speakers if you only wanted sound in another room (provided you have speakers wired in another room).

The manual for your receiver should discuss "remote speakers".

What kind of A/V receiver do you have? Please post make/model.

Peace...

[Pirate]

I'm not near it, but its a sony 5.1 rec. About 3 years old i think.

-PH

[snipsnapsappy]

Another thing you can do with the extra speakers is, if you want to hear stereo music like in your car, you can move the speakers to the back with your surrounds and create a 4 channel stereo mode that would envelop the room in sound. You would need to turn off the B speakers when listening to movies though.

[Pirate]

I guess we're in agreement that the "B" speakers are not really for your initial HT. I know that TOM had said he thought that the "B" speakers were for another room. I cant find my book, so I dont know.

-PH

[snipsnapsappy]

No, it would not help your theatervery much, it would probably hurt it more than help it. Although some Yamaha recievers have a front effects channel made to go in the front top corners above the front speakers. I have never heard the use of this and know almost nothing about its use, but some people use it in their theater.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by piratehunter

I know that TOM had said he thought that the "B" speakers were for another room. I cant find my book, so I dont know.

Yeah, that's what I thought not knowing anything about your receiver. If you post the model #, we can maybe find a manual online.

This morning I took a peek at the manual for my Pioneer Elite VSX-24TX A/V receiver which also has an "A/B" speaker configuration and I found this info:

The VSX-27TX/26TX/24TX has two speaker systems, A & B. A is the main system supporting the full
complement of surround sound speakers. If you switch on both A & B speaker systems, only front speakers
and the sub-woofer will be audible. No sound will come from the center or surround speakers but multi
channel sources will be down-mixed to the active speakers so no sound will be lost. Similarly, if you choose
just the B system you‘ll only hear the front speakers connected to the B system and multi channel sources will
be down-mixed to these two speakers.

This applies to the Pioneer Elite A/V receivers mentioned only. Other receivers might behave in a similar fashion, but the above info does not directly apply to them.

Peace...

[Drexl]

Another thing you could do is if you're evaluating speakers, you could hook up a pair to each set of outputs and use the A/B switch to go back and forth quickly between pairs to compare the sound.

This works better in a store of course, because it's hard to get the speakers home before buying them. Although, if you borrow some speakers from someone, or just have two different pairs and you want to compare them, it could be useful.

[metallica50]

the A/B is for a pair of speakers in another room, as stated above. or you can have, when listening to 2 channel music, another set of stereo speakers playing the exact same thing as your A set is. but on most recievers, you can only watch a movie with one set of fronts on, be it A or B (more than likely A). most recievers wont let you play both sets at the same time. plus it wouldnt sound right anyway (with movies)