[[email protected]]

I picked up an old Boston SubSat 7 subwoofer and 2 SubSat 6 satellite
speakers real cheap on Ebay. Any opinions on using this setup as my
surround-sound speakers? Any issue with using the SubSat 6 satellite
speakers with the SubSat 7 subwoofer?

Any way I can use the SubSat 7 subwoofer to increase the bass output
of my main speakers (Polk RM40T's)?

Thanks for any help you can offer on putting this stuff to good use!

[jakdedert]

wrote:
I picked up an old Boston SubSat 7 subwoofer and 2 SubSat 6 satellite
speakers real cheap on Ebay. Any opinions on using this setup as my
surround-sound speakers? Any issue with using the SubSat 6 satellite
speakers with the SubSat 7 subwoofer?

Any way I can use the SubSat 7 subwoofer to increase the bass output
of my main speakers (Polk RM40T's)?

Thanks for any help you can offer on putting this stuff to good use!


The sub is pretty irrelevant to your surround setup. The satellites
might make acceptable surround speakers on their own. If my information
is correct, the subsat system is passive, with two 7" woofers, correct?

That means you'll have to cross it over and power it. How do you plan
to do that? Is there a passive crossover in the sub box? If so, yeah,
it will work, but there are better solutions.

As far as the Polks...these have two 4.5" woofers. So, yeah, they'd
undoubtedly benefit from some subbage, but the Bostons don't seem (from
what little description I can find) to be very robust. Suggested
hookup--assuming passive crossover in the sub--would be to try the Polks
as the satellite speakers hooked up to the Boston sub; or try them in
parallel with the subs left/right inputs. The latter would allow
whatever low end info the Polk speakers (reportedly only usable down to
60 hz) produce to combine with that of the sub.

Impedance, polarity and power handling are all possible issues with this
setup.

My advice would be to use the Boston system on its own, either as part
of a bedroom system, or to provide computer sound (with an amplifier of
some sort).

jak

[[email protected]]

On Nov 7, 10:35 am, jakdedert wrote:
wrote:
I picked up an old Boston SubSat 7 subwoofer and 2 SubSat 6 satellite
speakers real cheap on Ebay. Any opinions on using this setup as my
surround-sound speakers? Any issue with using the SubSat 6 satellite
speakers with the SubSat 7 subwoofer?

Any way I can use the SubSat 7 subwoofer to increase the bass output
of my main speakers (Polk RM40T's)?

Thanks for any help you can offer on putting this stuff to good use!

The sub is pretty irrelevant to your surround setup. The satellites
might make acceptable surround speakers on their own. If my information
is correct, the subsat system is passive, with two 7" woofers, correct?

That means you'll have to cross it over and power it. How do you plan
to do that? Is there a passive crossover in the sub box? If so, yeah,
it will work, but there are better solutions.

As far as the Polks...these have two 4.5" woofers. So, yeah, they'd
undoubtedly benefit from some subbage, but the Bostons don't seem (from
what little description I can find) to be very robust. Suggested
hookup--assuming passive crossover in the sub--would be to try the Polks
as the satellite speakers hooked up to the Boston sub; or try them in
parallel with the subs left/right inputs. The latter would allow
whatever low end info the Polk speakers (reportedly only usable down to
60 hz) produce to combine with that of the sub.

Impedance, polarity and power handling are all possible issues with this
setup.

My advice would be to use the Boston system on its own, either as part
of a bedroom system, or to provide computer sound (with an amplifier of
some sort).

jak

Thanks for the reply! A quick question for you... Since the SubSat7
subwoofer is not powered, can I connect it to be "B" speaker outputs
and just leave it by self (without the subsat 6 satellite speakers)
until I can get a better powered sub? Again, I'm just trying to think
of a way to use it temporarily until I can get a good powered sub.
Any issues that anyone can see with this setup?

Currently, I'm using bi-amping for the polks (basically using the
surround back amps to "bi-amp" the fronts, which my receiver allows).
Think I would be better off "un-doing" this bi-amp setup and instead
connecting the subsat 7 subwoofer to these surround-back amps (again,
my receiver allows me to configure the surround back amps as "bi-amp"
or "second zone"), so this would be a possible setup, I would
think... Or am I better off just leaving the Polks bi-amp'd and
forget the subsat 7 subwoofer completely?

I do plan on trying this setup to see what it sounds like, but also
wanted some opinions! To be honest, I really didn't notice any
difference when changing the polks to bi-amp, so I'm not real
concerned with "undo-ing" it!

Thanks for all of your help!

[jakdedert]

wrote:
On Nov 7, 10:35 am, jakdedert wrote:
wrote:
I picked up an old Boston SubSat 7 subwoofer and 2 SubSat 6 satellite
speakers real cheap on Ebay. Any opinions on using this setup as my
surround-sound speakers? Any issue with using the SubSat 6 satellite
speakers with the SubSat 7 subwoofer?
Any way I can use the SubSat 7 subwoofer to increase the bass output
of my main speakers (Polk RM40T's)?
Thanks for any help you can offer on putting this stuff to good use!
The sub is pretty irrelevant to your surround setup. The satellites
might make acceptable surround speakers on their own. If my information
is correct, the subsat system is passive, with two 7" woofers, correct?

That means you'll have to cross it over and power it. How do you plan
to do that? Is there a passive crossover in the sub box? If so, yeah,
it will work, but there are better solutions.

As far as the Polks...these have two 4.5" woofers. So, yeah, they'd
undoubtedly benefit from some subbage, but the Bostons don't seem (from
what little description I can find) to be very robust. Suggested
hookup--assuming passive crossover in the sub--would be to try the Polks
as the satellite speakers hooked up to the Boston sub; or try them in
parallel with the subs left/right inputs. The latter would allow
whatever low end info the Polk speakers (reportedly only usable down to
60 hz) produce to combine with that of the sub.

Impedance, polarity and power handling are all possible issues with this
setup.

My advice would be to use the Boston system on its own, either as part
of a bedroom system, or to provide computer sound (with an amplifier of
some sort).

jak

Thanks for the reply! A quick question for you... Since the SubSat7
subwoofer is not powered, can I connect it to be "B" speaker outputs
and just leave it by self (without the subsat 6 satellite speakers)
until I can get a better powered sub? Again, I'm just trying to think
of a way to use it temporarily until I can get a good powered sub.
Any issues that anyone can see with this setup?

Currently, I'm using bi-amping for the polks (basically using the
surround back amps to "bi-amp" the fronts, which my receiver allows).
Think I would be better off "un-doing" this bi-amp setup and instead
connecting the subsat 7 subwoofer to these surround-back amps (again,
my receiver allows me to configure the surround back amps as "bi-amp"
or "second zone"), so this would be a possible setup, I would
think... Or am I better off just leaving the Polks bi-amp'd and
forget the subsat 7 subwoofer completely?

I do plan on trying this setup to see what it sounds like, but also
wanted some opinions! To be honest, I really didn't notice any
difference when changing the polks to bi-amp, so I'm not real
concerned with "undo-ing" it!

Thanks for all of your help!


What you're describing is not really 'biamping' in the strictest sense.
That describes the practice of using separate amps for low and high
frequencies, which would require your Polks to have separate inputs for
the woofers. In addition, you would need a frequency dividing device
(active crossover) in front of the second amp to filter the high
frequencies out. Perhaps your receiver has such. You don't say what it is.

Using the 'B' outs for the subwoofer is essentially electrically
identical to how I described running the sub in parallel with your main
speakers (above). The possible problems would be too low an impedance
load for the amps in the system, or the possibility of the sub being out
of phase with the main speakers. The latter would result in possibly
having even *less* bass than with your Polks alone...although that could
be remedied by merely reversing the polarity of the leads to one or the
other. The former (overloading) would be evidenced by either excessive
distortion or the amplifier going into 'protect' mode...assuming it has
sufficient protection. Otherwise, it might simply blow a fuse, or blow
up completely.

Be careful when experimenting. There are numerous resources on the web
to guide your experimentation. If you enjoy doing this sort of thing,
it would do well to get yourself better informed. Asking questions is a
good start, but some basic knowledge is even more valuable. Start by
googling 'home theater setup' and 'biamping'.

Good luck.

jak

[[email protected]]

On Nov 7, 1:40 pm, jakdedert wrote:
wrote:
On Nov 7, 10:35 am, jakdedert wrote:
wrote:
I picked up an old Boston SubSat 7 subwoofer and 2 SubSat 6 satellite
speakers real cheap on Ebay. Any opinions on using this setup as my
surround-sound speakers? Any issue with using the SubSat 6 satellite
speakers with the SubSat 7 subwoofer?
Any way I can use the SubSat 7 subwoofer to increase the bass output
of my main speakers (Polk RM40T's)?
Thanks for any help you can offer on putting this stuff to good use!
The sub is pretty irrelevant to your surround setup. The satellites
might make acceptable surround speakers on their own. If my information
is correct, the subsat system is passive, with two 7" woofers, correct?

That means you'll have to cross it over and power it. How do you plan
to do that? Is there a passive crossover in the sub box? If so, yeah,
it will work, but there are better solutions.

As far as the Polks...these have two 4.5" woofers. So, yeah, they'd
undoubtedly benefit from some subbage, but the Bostons don't seem (from
what little description I can find) to be very robust. Suggested
hookup--assuming passive crossover in the sub--would be to try the Polks
as the satellite speakers hooked up to the Boston sub; or try them in
parallel with the subs left/right inputs. The latter would allow
whatever low end info the Polk speakers (reportedly only usable down to
60 hz) produce to combine with that of the sub.

Impedance, polarity and power handling are all possible issues with this
setup.

My advice would be to use the Boston system on its own, either as part
of a bedroom system, or to provide computer sound (with an amplifier of
some sort).

jak

Thanks for the reply! A quick question for you... Since the SubSat7
subwoofer is not powered, can I connect it to be "B" speaker outputs
and just leave it by self (without the subsat 6 satellite speakers)
until I can get a better powered sub? Again, I'm just trying to think
of a way to use it temporarily until I can get a good powered sub.
Any issues that anyone can see with this setup?

Currently, I'm using bi-amping for the polks (basically using the
surround back amps to "bi-amp" the fronts, which my receiver allows).
Think I would be better off "un-doing" this bi-amp setup and instead
connecting the subsat 7 subwoofer to these surround-back amps (again,
my receiver allows me to configure the surround back amps as "bi-amp"
or "second zone"), so this would be a possible setup, I would
think... Or am I better off just leaving the Polks bi-amp'd and
forget the subsat 7 subwoofer completely?

I do plan on trying this setup to see what it sounds like, but also
wanted some opinions! To be honest, I really didn't notice any
difference when changing the polks to bi-amp, so I'm not real
concerned with "undo-ing" it!

Thanks for all of your help!

What you're describing is not really 'biamping' in the strictest sense.
That describes the practice of using separate amps for low and high
frequencies, which would require your Polks to have separate inputs for
the woofers. In addition, you would need a frequency dividing device
(active crossover) in front of the second amp to filter the high
frequencies out. Perhaps your receiver has such. You don't say what it is.

Using the 'B' outs for the subwoofer is essentially electrically
identical to how I described running the sub in parallel with your main
speakers (above). The possible problems would be too low an impedance
load for the amps in the system, or the possibility of the sub being out
of phase with the main speakers. The latter would result in possibly
having even *less* bass than with your Polks alone...although that could
be remedied by merely reversing the polarity of the leads to one or the
other. The former (overloading) would be evidenced by either excessive
distortion or the amplifier going into 'protect' mode...assuming it has
sufficient protection. Otherwise, it might simply blow a fuse, or blow
up completely.

Be careful when experimenting. There are numerous resources on the web
to guide your experimentation. If you enjoy doing this sort of thing,
it would do well to get yourself better informed. Asking questions is a
good start, but some basic knowledge is even more valuable. Start by
googling 'home theater setup' and 'biamping'.

Good luck.

jak- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hmm, now you've intrigued me! In regards to the "bi-amping", here is
what I'm doing... My polks have two sets of speaker binding posts,
one for high freqs and one for low freqs. Since my receiver (a cheap-
o pioneer, model 516k, I believe) allows me to set the "rear sourrund"
channels to "bi-amp" mode. So, I removed the metal "jumpers" between
the binding posts on the speakers and connected the front channels
from my receiver to one set of binding posts and the surround-back
channels to the other set of binding posts and set the rear surround
channels to "bi-amp" mode. I guess the only difference that I see
from your description of "strict bi-amping" is that both sets of
binding posts on the speakers are receiving the exact same signal and
the speaker is doing the low/high freq crossover work. Is this still
true bi-amping?

Back to the subwoofer questions - I was a little confused when I found
only two sets of binding posts on the subwoofer (one set labeled right
channel and the other labeled left channel). Coming from a Bose
system (OLD am-3), I was expecting to find 4 sets of binding posts -
one set each (left/right) from the amp and then one set each (left/
right) out to the satellite speakers. Being that there are only two
sets of binding posts, how would one connect the sub and the
satellites to a 2 channel output?? Also, does this help to answer the
questions about phase and impedance you mentioned above? Now, I'm a
little afraid to try and connect the sub in that I don't want to
damage the receiver (even as cheap as it is)!

Thank you VERY much for your replies - you are helping me to get
"caught up" in the audio world - I haven't been involved in this stuff
for years and not at this "level" either. Your time spent explaining
this stuff is VERY MUCH appreciated. I've been doing a lot of
research on my own (via the web), but sometimes the explainations you
find don't answer the specific questions one might have. Again, thank
you!

[jakdedert]

wrote:
On Nov 7, 1:40 pm, jakdedert wrote:
wrote:
On Nov 7, 10:35 am, jakdedert wrote:
wrote:
I picked up an old Boston SubSat 7 subwoofer and 2 SubSat 6 satellite
speakers real cheap on Ebay. Any opinions on using this setup as my
surround-sound speakers? Any issue with using the SubSat 6 satellite
speakers with the SubSat 7 subwoofer?
Any way I can use the SubSat 7 subwoofer to increase the bass output
of my main speakers (Polk RM40T's)?
Thanks for any help you can offer on putting this stuff to good use!
The sub is pretty irrelevant to your surround setup. The satellites
might make acceptable surround speakers on their own. If my information
is correct, the subsat system is passive, with two 7" woofers, correct?
That means you'll have to cross it over and power it. How do you plan
to do that? Is there a passive crossover in the sub box? If so, yeah,
it will work, but there are better solutions.
As far as the Polks...these have two 4.5" woofers. So, yeah, they'd
undoubtedly benefit from some subbage, but the Bostons don't seem (from
what little description I can find) to be very robust. Suggested
hookup--assuming passive crossover in the sub--would be to try the Polks
as the satellite speakers hooked up to the Boston sub; or try them in
parallel with the subs left/right inputs. The latter would allow
whatever low end info the Polk speakers (reportedly only usable down to
60 hz) produce to combine with that of the sub.
Impedance, polarity and power handling are all possible issues with this
setup.
My advice would be to use the Boston system on its own, either as part
of a bedroom system, or to provide computer sound (with an amplifier of
some sort).
jak
Thanks for the reply! A quick question for you... Since the SubSat7
subwoofer is not powered, can I connect it to be "B" speaker outputs
and just leave it by self (without the subsat 6 satellite speakers)
until I can get a better powered sub? Again, I'm just trying to think
of a way to use it temporarily until I can get a good powered sub.
Any issues that anyone can see with this setup?
Currently, I'm using bi-amping for the polks (basically using the
surround back amps to "bi-amp" the fronts, which my receiver allows).
Think I would be better off "un-doing" this bi-amp setup and instead
connecting the subsat 7 subwoofer to these surround-back amps (again,
my receiver allows me to configure the surround back amps as "bi-amp"
or "second zone"), so this would be a possible setup, I would
think... Or am I better off just leaving the Polks bi-amp'd and
forget the subsat 7 subwoofer completely?
I do plan on trying this setup to see what it sounds like, but also
wanted some opinions! To be honest, I really didn't notice any
difference when changing the polks to bi-amp, so I'm not real
concerned with "undo-ing" it!
Thanks for all of your help!
What you're describing is not really 'biamping' in the strictest sense.
That describes the practice of using separate amps for low and high
frequencies, which would require your Polks to have separate inputs for
the woofers. In addition, you would need a frequency dividing device
(active crossover) in front of the second amp to filter the high
frequencies out. Perhaps your receiver has such. You don't say what it is.

Using the 'B' outs for the subwoofer is essentially electrically
identical to how I described running the sub in parallel with your main
speakers (above). The possible problems would be too low an impedance
load for the amps in the system, or the possibility of the sub being out
of phase with the main speakers. The latter would result in possibly
having even *less* bass than with your Polks alone...although that could
be remedied by merely reversing the polarity of the leads to one or the
other. The former (overloading) would be evidenced by either excessive
distortion or the amplifier going into 'protect' mode...assuming it has
sufficient protection. Otherwise, it might simply blow a fuse, or blow
up completely.

Be careful when experimenting. There are numerous resources on the web
to guide your experimentation. If you enjoy doing this sort of thing,
it would do well to get yourself better informed. Asking questions is a
good start, but some basic knowledge is even more valuable. Start by
googling 'home theater setup' and 'biamping'.

Good luck.

jak- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hmm, now you've intrigued me! In regards to the "bi-amping", here is
what I'm doing... My polks have two sets of speaker binding posts,
one for high freqs and one for low freqs.

That's interesting, and yes, they apparently are capable of biamping. I
would be very careful with sending a full range signal to the high
frequency inputs, however. If there is no blocking circuitry, you could
damage the tweeters/midranges. I didn't research you speakers carefully
enough to ascertain that.

Since my receiver (a cheap-
o pioneer, model 516k, I believe) allows me to set the "rear sourrund"
channels to "bi-amp" mode. So, I removed the metal "jumpers" between
the binding posts on the speakers and connected the front channels
from my receiver to one set of binding posts and the surround-back
channels to the other set of binding posts and set the rear surround
channels to "bi-amp" mode. I guess the only difference that I see
from your description of "strict bi-amping" is that both sets of
binding posts on the speakers are receiving the exact same signal and
the speaker is doing the low/high freq crossover work. Is this still
true bi-amping?

As above, no. Looking at that receiver on the web, it's a pretty
amazing bit of gear for the money, but there no frequency division
between the front/rear amps that I can see. So, pumping 100 watts to
the highs and the lows simultaneously is probably not a good idea.
OTOH, it does have a crossover network in the subwoofer output. I don't
see how that's useful to you, unless you were able to use one of the
amplifier channels to power it.

Back to the subwoofer questions - I was a little confused when I found
only two sets of binding posts on the subwoofer (one set labeled right
channel and the other labeled left channel). Coming from a Bose
system (OLD am-3), I was expecting to find 4 sets of binding posts -
one set each (left/right) from the amp and then one set each (left/
right) out to the satellite speakers. Being that there are only two
sets of binding posts, how would one connect the sub and the
satellites to a 2 channel output?? Also, does this help to answer the
questions about phase and impedance you mentioned above? Now, I'm a
little afraid to try and connect the sub in that I don't want to
damage the receiver (even as cheap as it is)!

Yeah, that's what I would have expected as well. Since it's not the
case, I don't know what to tell you. Most passive systems like this
have speaker inputs which connect to the receiver, with outputs for the
satellites as you describe. Most importantly, there is a crossover
network in the sub which divides off the low frequencies for the
subwoofer, and only sends mids and highs to the satellites.

I can only surmise that something is missing in your case, unless there
is filtering in each speaker component which blocks frequencies it was
not designed to reproduce. Info on the web is pretty scarce for those
speakers, except the driver sizes and original list price (around $500).

Thank you VERY much for your replies - you are helping me to get
"caught up" in the audio world - I haven't been involved in this stuff
for years and not at this "level" either. Your time spent explaining
this stuff is VERY MUCH appreciated. I've been doing a lot of
research on my own (via the web), but sometimes the explainations you
find don't answer the specific questions one might have. Again, thank
you!

Just happened to have enough time at this point and got sucked into the
mystery....

One note: with some sort of outboard amplifier, the sub could be used
via the sub preamp output on your receiver, and the satellites, as I
said, would probably make acceptable rear channel speakers.

jak

[[email protected]]

On Nov 7, 4:04 pm, jakdedert wrote:
wrote:
On Nov 7, 1:40 pm, jakdedert wrote:
wrote:
On Nov 7, 10:35 am, jakdedert wrote:
wrote:
I picked up an old Boston SubSat 7 subwoofer and 2 SubSat 6 satellite
speakers real cheap on Ebay. Any opinions on using this setup as my
surround-sound speakers? Any issue with using the SubSat 6 satellite
speakers with the SubSat 7 subwoofer?
Any way I can use the SubSat 7 subwoofer to increase the bass output
of my main speakers (Polk RM40T's)?
Thanks for any help you can offer on putting this stuff to good use!
The sub is pretty irrelevant to your surround setup. The satellites
might make acceptable surround speakers on their own. If my information
is correct, the subsat system is passive, with two 7" woofers, correct?
That means you'll have to cross it over and power it. How do you plan
to do that? Is there a passive crossover in the sub box? If so, yeah,
it will work, but there are better solutions.
As far as the Polks...these have two 4.5" woofers. So, yeah, they'd
undoubtedly benefit from some subbage, but the Bostons don't seem (from
what little description I can find) to be very robust. Suggested
hookup--assuming passive crossover in the sub--would be to try the Polks
as the satellite speakers hooked up to the Boston sub; or try them in
parallel with the subs left/right inputs. The latter would allow
whatever low end info the Polk speakers (reportedly only usable down to
60 hz) produce to combine with that of the sub.
Impedance, polarity and power handling are all possible issues with this
setup.
My advice would be to use the Boston system on its own, either as part
of a bedroom system, or to provide computer sound (with an amplifier of
some sort).
jak
Thanks for the reply! A quick question for you... Since the SubSat7
subwoofer is not powered, can I connect it to be "B" speaker outputs
and just leave it by self (without the subsat 6 satellite speakers)
until I can get a better powered sub? Again, I'm just trying to think
of a way to use it temporarily until I can get a good powered sub.
Any issues that anyone can see with this setup?
Currently, I'm using bi-amping for the polks (basically using the
surround back amps to "bi-amp" the fronts, which my receiver allows).
Think I would be better off "un-doing" this bi-amp setup and instead
connecting the subsat 7 subwoofer to these surround-back amps (again,
my receiver allows me to configure the surround back amps as "bi-amp"
or "second zone"), so this would be a possible setup, I would
think... Or am I better off just leaving the Polks bi-amp'd and
forget the subsat 7 subwoofer completely?
I do plan on trying this setup to see what it sounds like, but also
wanted some opinions! To be honest, I really didn't notice any
difference when changing the polks to bi-amp, so I'm not real
concerned with "undo-ing" it!
Thanks for all of your help!
What you're describing is not really 'biamping' in the strictest sense.
That describes the practice of using separate amps for low and high
frequencies, which would require your Polks to have separate inputs for
the woofers. In addition, you would need a frequency dividing device
(active crossover) in front of the second amp to filter the high
frequencies out. Perhaps your receiver has such. You don't say what it is.

Using the 'B' outs for the subwoofer is essentially electrically
identical to how I described running the sub in parallel with your main
speakers (above). The possible problems would be too low an impedance
load for the amps in the system, or the possibility of the sub being out
of phase with the main speakers. The latter would result in possibly
having even *less* bass than with your Polks alone...although that could
be remedied by merely reversing the polarity of the leads to one or the
other. The former (overloading) would be evidenced by either excessive
distortion or the amplifier going into 'protect' mode...assuming it has
sufficient protection. Otherwise, it might simply blow a fuse, or blow
up completely.

Be careful when experimenting. There are numerous resources on the web
to guide your experimentation. If you enjoy doing this sort of thing,
it would do well to get yourself better informed. Asking questions is a
good start, but some basic knowledge is even more valuable. Start by
googling 'home theater setup' and 'biamping'.

Good luck.

jak- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hmm, now you've intrigued me! In regards to the "bi-amping", here is
what I'm doing... My polks have two sets of speaker binding posts,
one for high freqs and one for low freqs.

That's interesting, and yes, they apparently are capable of biamping. I
would be very careful with sending a full range signal to the high
frequency inputs, however. If there is no blocking circuitry, you could
damage the tweeters/midranges. I didn't research you speakers carefully
enough to ascertain that.

Since my receiver (a cheap-
o pioneer, model 516k, I believe) allows me to set the "rear sourrund"
channels to "bi-amp" mode. So, I removed the metal "jumpers" between
the binding posts on the speakers and connected the front channels
from my receiver to one set of binding posts and the surround-back
channels to the other set of binding posts and set the rear surround
channels to "bi-amp" mode. I guess the only difference that I see
from your description of "strict bi-amping" is that both sets of
binding posts on the speakers are receiving the exact same signal and
the speaker is doing the low/high freq crossover work. Is this still
true bi-amping?

As above, no. Looking at that receiver on the web, it's a pretty
amazing bit of gear for the money, but there no frequency division
between the front/rear amps that I can see. So, pumping 100 watts to
the highs and the lows simultaneously is probably not a good idea.
OTOH, it does have a crossover network in the subwoofer output. I don't
see how that's useful to you, unless you were able to use one of the
amplifier channels to power it.

Back to the subwoofer questions - I was a little confused when I found
only two sets of binding posts on the subwoofer (one set labeled right
channel and the other labeled left channel). Coming from a Bose
system (OLD am-3), I was expecting to find 4 sets of binding posts -
one set each (left/right) from the amp and then one set each (left/
right) out to the satellite speakers. Being that there are only two
sets of binding posts, how would one connect the sub and the
satellites to a 2 channel output?? Also, does this help to answer the
questions about phase and impedance you mentioned above? Now, I'm a
little afraid to try and connect the sub in that I don't want to
damage the receiver (even as cheap as it is)!

Yeah, that's what I would have expected as well. Since it's not the
case, I don't know what to tell you. Most passive systems like this
have speaker inputs which connect to the receiver, with outputs for the
satellites as you describe. Most importantly, there is a crossover
network in the sub which divides off the low frequencies for the
subwoofer, and only sends mids and highs to the satellites.

I can only surmise that something is missing in your case, unless there
is filtering in each speaker component which blocks frequencies it was
not designed to reproduce. Info on the web is pretty scarce for those
speakers, except the driver sizes and original list price (around $500).

Thank you VERY much for your replies - you are helping me to get
"caught up" in the audio world - I haven't been involved in this stuff
for years and not at this "level" either. Your time spent explaining
this stuff is VERY MUCH appreciated. I've been doing a lot of
research on my own (via the web), but sometimes the explainations you
find don't answer the specific questions one might have. Again, thank
you!

Just happened to have enough time at this point and got sucked into the
mystery....

One note: with some sort of outboard amplifier, the sub could be used
via the sub preamp output on your receiver, and the satellites, as I
said, would probably make acceptable rear channel speakers.

jak- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

FYI - I just found that with the BA subsat systems, you just wire the
satellite speakers in parallel with the sub. Apparently, the sub
doesn't have a crossver in it, but the satellite speakers do:


Taken from a post on another newsgroup:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The SS6 subwoofer is a bandpass design which rolls off quite
effectively
on it's own. The SS6 sattelite has a highpass crossover network
inside
which rolls off the speaker so that it mates with the subwoofer. You
can
choose to run two sets of cables from your amp -- one to the sats and
the
other to the sub -- or you can run one pair of cables from the amp to
the
sub and then cables from the sub to the sats.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Knowing this, do you see any issue with connecting it to my "B"
speaker outputs?

Again, I don't want to cause any problem for the amplifier!

I think I've come to the conclusion that my "passive bi-amping"
doesn't really benefit me in any way since there is no "active"
crossover (and becuase I didn't notice any sound difference after
connecting them that way!), so I'd like to try to connect this sub
(without the satellites), as long as I don't "blow up" my receiver in
the process!!

Thank you very much!

[jakdedert]

wrote:
snip
- Show quoted text -

FYI - I just found that with the BA subsat systems, you just wire the
satellite speakers in parallel with the sub. Apparently, the sub
doesn't have a crossver in it, but the satellite speakers do:


Taken from a post on another newsgroup:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The SS6 subwoofer is a bandpass design which rolls off quite
effectively
on it's own. The SS6 sattelite has a highpass crossover network
inside
which rolls off the speaker so that it mates with the subwoofer. You
can
choose to run two sets of cables from your amp -- one to the sats and
the
other to the sub -- or you can run one pair of cables from the amp to
the
sub and then cables from the sub to the sats.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Knowing this, do you see any issue with connecting it to my "B"
speaker outputs?

Again, I don't want to cause any problem for the amplifier!

I think I've come to the conclusion that my "passive bi-amping"
doesn't really benefit me in any way since there is no "active"
crossover (and becuase I didn't notice any sound difference after
connecting them that way!), so I'd like to try to connect this sub
(without the satellites), as long as I don't "blow up" my receiver in
the process!!

Thank you very much!

Assuming that the rear channel amps are active in the so-called 'biamp'
mode, but receive the same signal as the front l-r outputs, that would
be where to hook up the sub...unless you desire surround capabilities.
You could still hook up the Boston satellites to the rear, but low
frequencies will be reduced because of the built-in networks.

As to whether you can use the 'B' terminals, it depends on the impedance
of the woofer, and the load capability of the receiver. Most likely it
will be fine, and if not, the amplifier will go into 'protect' mode if
pushed. Perusal of the specs (both receiver and sub) could tell you.
The polarity issue is less problematic. If the bass seems weaker when
the sub is switched in, reverse the speaker leads (not left/right, but
plus/minus) and try again.

jak