silly question about powered speakers and receivers!

[ibeatsars]

I have KRK Rockit 8" speakers, as well as the Rockit 10" sub...what happens when I use these in conjunction with a receiver? Can I even do that?? These KRK's have XLR and 1/4" inputs, whereas receivers use speaker wire...so what should I buy so that I may use these bad boys with my home entertainment set up? Sorry for the n00bness, this is my first post!

[pinkmouse]

Does your receiver have line out sockets?

[purplepeople]

If they have a 120V AC plug, then those KRK's are active studio monitors, and accept line level signals. If so...

Do not plug the KRK into the receiver speaker outputs... if that doesn't wreck the KRK inputs, it will sound as if it did.

Do not plug the KRK into any old line out or aux output on the receiver or you are in for something approaching 100dB or more.

The correct output on the receiver should be something called PRE OUT or Pre-amp output or something like that. It is an RCA output connection that is controlled by the receiver's volume control. You will also need some RCA to 1/4" cables. If you want to use the XLR jacks, you will need to make a properly balanced adaptor and these usually require some kind of external power to make them active.

Good luck and enjoy.

:)ensen.

[ibeatsars]

hey guys, thanks for the quick responses! you see I don't currently have a receiver...well I do, but I'm not about to use it, because it's old and not worth it...so I'm in the market for something new, but the only surround receiver i've seen with balanced xlr outputs is the sunfire grand theater series receiver...which will set me back about 3000 dollars. i've got the two krk rokit 8's for my fronts, and rokit 10" sub and two rokit 5s for rears coming...perhaps my purchases were a bit hasty, because I don't even know if I can use them in a surround setup, but I just loved the sound for the price. Any suggestions on what surround receiver I can get/use that doesn't output any power (seeing as how my speakers are all powered).

Thanks again!

[pinkmouse]

Ok, if you buy a receiver with pre outs, then you need to buy, or make phono, (RCA) to 1/4" jacks, then you can plug them straight into the speakers.

[AudioFreak]

There are also a number of Surround Preamps or Home Theatre Preamps on the market which are essentially a receiver without the amplifiers.

[pinkmouse]

Yes, there are, but for some reason they all tend to be aimed at the higher end of the market and are pretty expensive. Shame really, I think there is a big market gap there.

[ibeatsars]

Originally posted by pinkmouse
Yes, there are, but for some reason they all tend to be aimed at the higher end of the market and are pretty expensive. Shame really, I think there is a big market gap there.

hey thanks guys...it's quite alright, i knew i was getting in over my head! do you by chance know of any that i can check out? even if i spend 2500 dollars on a new receiver it will still be cheaper than buying a 1500 dollars receiver and all new speakers!

[ibeatsars]

i think perhaps the sunfire grand theater, here is a quote from this review:

"Six single-ended and six balanced XLR outputs [L,C,R,RS,LS, LFE] are provided for interconnecting the TG II to separate amplifiers."



as you can see on the right it has 6 xlr outs

[richie00boy]

Yamaha used to do a processor where it uses an existing stereo amp for FL and FR. If they still do this kind of thing (and it has pre-outs for the rest of the channels) I would think it's the best way in the absence of a 'budget' ampless unit.