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#1
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volume to speakers low
So I wired up my new house so I could have patio speakers. I've got
speaker wire (in-wall, 14gauage) running from the reciever ("B" speakers) to a impedance-matching volume control, and then on from there out to the patio. When I got it all hooked up, the speakes (which are fine, I checked...) play sound, but much lower than they should (maybe 10-20% of the speaker volume inside on the "A" speakers). Any suggestions? Thanks |
#2
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volume to speakers low
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#3
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volume to speakers low
adil.hoxha wrote ...
So I wired up my new house so I could have patio speakers. I've got speaker wire (in-wall, 14gauage) running from the reciever ("B" speakers) to a impedance-matching volume control, and then on from there out to the patio. When I got it all hooked up, the speakes (which are fine, I checked...) play sound, but much lower than they should (maybe 10-20% of the speaker volume inside on the "A" speakers). Any suggestions? Your "impedance-matching volume control"s only *reduce* the level from whatever the receiver is putting out. Are you saying that you are getting "10-20%" with the volume all the way up? What do the patio speakers sound like connected directly to the "B output"? How long is your wiring run? |
#4
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volume to speakers low
Richard Crowley wrote: adil.hoxha wrote ... So I wired up my new house so I could have patio speakers. I've got speaker wire (in-wall, 14gauage) running from the reciever ("B" speakers) to a impedance-matching volume control, and then on from there out to the patio. When I got it all hooked up, the speakes (which are fine, I checked...) play sound, but much lower than they should (maybe 10-20% of the speaker volume inside on the "A" speakers). Any suggestions? Your "impedance-matching volume control"s only *reduce* the level from whatever the receiver is putting out. Are you saying that you are getting "10-20%" with the volume all the way up? What do the patio speakers sound like connected directly to the "B output"? How long is your wiring run? Sorry about the 10-20% comment, guess I shouldn't have put a number on it, I just meant that I do have to crank up the volume on the receiver to hear the "B" speakers (I had the volume on the receiver one third up - in the house on the "A"'s that lots of loud, on the patio with the "B"'s and the volume control up all the way, I could just make out the sound). I'll pull down the speakers and check them on B (I listened to them when I first got them on the A channel - but I didn't think that would make a difference.) The run is only about 20-25', goes up the wall and across the ceiling, down to the volume control, then back up the ceiling and out - probably closer to 30-40' or actual wire. Shouldn't the A and B speakers sound similar at the same volume (and assuming the volume control is up all the way)? |
#5
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volume to speakers low
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#6
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volume to speakers low
Laurence Payne wrote: On 8 Aug 2006 15:21:16 -0700, wrote: Shouldn't the A and B speakers sound similar at the same volume (and assuming the volume control is up all the way)? Perhaps the patio speakers are a completely different design to the house speakers. Some speakers are much louder than others for the same input. Okay...so while I've got the patio speakers down, I'll try them on "A" (again) and I'll bring out a house speaker and try it on "B" and update later. Thanks for help so far |
#7
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volume to speakers low
wrote in message ups.com... So I wired up my new house so I could have patio speakers. I've got speaker wire (in-wall, 14gauage) running from the reciever ("B" speakers) to a impedance-matching volume control, and then on from there out to the patio. When I got it all hooked up, the speakes (which are fine, I checked...) play sound, but much lower than they should (maybe 10-20% of the speaker volume inside on the "A" speakers). Any suggestions? You might want to consider putting the volume control on the A speakers in the house. Due to the long wire run to the patio (more resistance), and highly likely differences in room acoustics (especially if the patio is open to the outside in any way), you might just need more power going to them compared to the A speakers. Jeff -- "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" - B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919) |
#8
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volume to speakers low
On Wed, 9 Aug 2006 10:01:07 -0400, "Jeff Findley"
wrote: You might want to consider putting the volume control on the A speakers in the house. Due to the long wire run to the patio (more resistance), and highly likely differences in room acoustics (especially if the patio is open to the outside in any way), you might just need more power going to them compared to the A speakers. Or do your neighbours a favour and throw the bloody things away! |
#9
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volume to speakers low
wrote in message ps.com... Laurence Payne wrote: On 8 Aug 2006 15:21:16 -0700, wrote: Shouldn't the A and B speakers sound similar at the same volume (and assuming the volume control is up all the way)? Perhaps the patio speakers are a completely different design to the house speakers. Some speakers are much louder than others for the same input. Okay...so while I've got the patio speakers down, I'll try them on "A" (again) and I'll bring out a house speaker and try it on "B" and update later. Thanks for help so far What brand/model are the "A" speakers and what are the "B" speakers? Likely reason the volume levels are different is because one set is more efficient than the other set.................. e.g. A pair of Lowther horns on the "A" set and a pair of Quad ESL's on the other set |
#10
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volume to speakers low
"Jeff Findley" wrote in message ... wrote in message ups.com... So I wired up my new house so I could have patio speakers. I've got speaker wire (in-wall, 14gauage) running from the reciever ("B" speakers) to a impedance-matching volume control, and then on from there out to the patio. When I got it all hooked up, the speakes (which are fine, I checked...) play sound, but much lower than they should (maybe 10-20% of the speaker volume inside on the "A" speakers). Any suggestions? You might want to consider putting the volume control on the A speakers in the house. Due to the long wire run to the patio (more resistance), and highly likely differences in room acoustics (especially if the patio is open to the outside in any way), you might just need more power going to them compared to the A speakers. Jeff Hmm, for a noticable loss of power, you would need the wire to have a resistance comparable to the impedance of the speakers. A rough calculation shows that for 14 guage wire to have a resistance of 4 ohms, it would need to be about 675 feet long. Considerably less than the 40 feet the OP is claiming, which would in fact have a resistance of 0.237 ohms. Gareth. |
#11
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volume to speakers low
"Gareth Magennis" wrote in
: "Jeff Findley" wrote in message ... wrote in message ups.com... So I wired up my new house so I could have patio speakers. I've got speaker wire (in-wall, 14gauage) running from the reciever ("B" speakers) to a impedance-matching volume control, and then on from there out to the patio. When I got it all hooked up, the speakes (which are fine, I checked...) play sound, but much lower than they should (maybe 10-20% of the speaker volume inside on the "A" speakers). Any suggestions? You might want to consider putting the volume control on the A speakers in the house. Due to the long wire run to the patio (more resistance), and highly likely differences in room acoustics (especially if the patio is open to the outside in any way), you might just need more power going to them compared to the A speakers. Jeff Hmm, for a noticable loss of power, you would need the wire to have a resistance comparable to the impedance of the speakers. A rough calculation shows that for 14 guage wire to have a resistance of 4 ohms, it would need to be about 675 feet long. Considerably less than the 40 feet the OP is claiming, which would in fact have a resistance of 0.237 ohms. Gareth. Or a staple that's causing a partial short (say 1 or 2 ohms) -- Bob Quintal PA is y I've altered my email address. -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
#12
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volume to speakers low
So I did a speaker test:
I took the inside floor speakers outside to the patio and they were more quiet as well. (Not as quiet - they are better speakers, but still significantly more quiet...). Could it be the way I've got something wired? I think I've got all the +/- in the right spots, but if I didn't, would that make a difference? Is there a standard for where in-wall volume controls "match" what is coming through the line? (Is "10", full volume = regular volume coming through the line?) I didn't solder the connections yet - would that make a diffence? Can you tell from my questions I am both new to this and at a loss for what to do? I'm sure I'll figure something out - could always have the inside volume up higher - just remember to turn it down before I put the inside speakers back on... |
#13
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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volume to speakers low
wrote in message ups.com... So I did a speaker test: I took the inside floor speakers outside to the patio and they were more quiet as well. (Not as quiet - they are better speakers, but still significantly more quiet...). Could it be the way I've got something wired? I think I've got all the +/- in the right spots, but if I didn't, would that make a difference? Is there a standard for where in-wall volume controls "match" what is coming through the line? (Is "10", full volume = regular volume coming through the line?) I didn't solder the connections yet - would that make a diffence? Can you tell from my questions I am both new to this and at a loss for what to do? I'm sure I'll figure something out - could always have the inside volume up higher - just remember to turn it down before I put the inside speakers back on... Put the speakers right next to each other (touching) and try reversing the connections of one of them. You should hear a big difference. The wiring that gives you most bass is the correct one. When they are out of phase, the bass cancels and the rest just sounds plain weird. Gareth. |
#14
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volume to speakers low
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#15
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volume to speakers low
wrote in message ups.com... So I did a speaker test: I took the inside floor speakers outside to the patio and they were more quiet as well. (Not as quiet - they are better speakers, but still significantly more quiet...). Could it be the way I've got something wired? I think I've got all the +/- in the right spots, but if I didn't, would that make a difference? Is there a standard for where in-wall volume controls "match" what is coming through the line? (Is "10", full volume = regular volume coming through the line?) I didn't solder the connections yet - would that make a diffence? Can you tell from my questions I am both new to this and at a loss for what to do? I'm sure I'll figure something out - could always have the inside volume up higher - just remember to turn it down before I put the inside speakers back on... This should not be that complicated. If the speakers sound about right when connected directly to the amplifier, then they should sound about the same in the remote location with the same amplifier settings and the L-Pad turned all the way up. Anything else means something is very wrong, and if I were you I would turn off the amp and disconnect the wires going to the remote speakers before you burn something up. A few things spring to mind: -- you might have the L-Pads mis-wired. If you hook them up backwards you could burn out the L-Pad or the amplifier if you turn them to *either* extreme (depending on the number of terminals, and how they are mis-wired). -- your ground return to the amplifier might be open (not connected) somewhere. Then you would only hear L-R, which would be much lower in volume and hollow-sounding, or near absolute silence if the program is mono. -- make sure you turn off the main speakers when listening to the remote speakers. Some amplifiers connect the speakers in series when both are turned on. That can cause all sorts of poor performance. -- it is unlikely that the speakers being out of phase would cause extremely low volume, but they should be in phase with each other for proper stereo imaging and decent bass response. Plus on the amplifier should track all the way to plus on the speaker for each channel; ditto for ground. |
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