Help with system setup

Steven99 · 21st December 2005, 01:48 PM

I am currently trying to reconfigure my current hometheater system to get the most out of the equipment I have. And I need your help! First off I'll list the equipment I have.

Kenwood VR-309 5.1 DD/DTS Receiver
Realistic 80 watt stereo Receiver
SoundShaper 12-band Equalizer
Cerwin Vega D9's (15" woofers, I don't need a sub)
Pioneer Center and Surrounds (Cheapies)

When I'm watching movies the kenwood receiver is great, but it's stereo performance for music is lackluster. I'd like to incorporate my Realistic in there somewhere for the added power, it powers the vegas much better than the kenwood.

My kenwood does not have pre-outs for the fronts but it does have a sub pre-out. I have thought about modding my kenwood receiver to make my own pre-outs so I can connect my realistic to the kenood for the fronts. Is this a good idea?

Another idea I had was to disconnect the cross overs in my cerwin vegas and run the woofers off the realistic which is conneted to the kenwood through the sub pre-out. The mids and highs will be connected to the kenwood. How about this idea? The only problem I see here is that in stereo mode for music, my sub channel would not be activated anyway would it?

Help here is needed before I start butchering my equipment.

Steven99 · 21st December 2005, 03:59 PM

I'd like the Realistic to take over the duties of powering the vegas at all times if I could, the kenwood really doesn't have the power that the realistic does. So in DD or DTX mode i'd like the realistic to power the vegas and the kenwood to power the center and surrounds.

How can this be done without a pre-out on my kenwood receiver?

bob123 · 21st December 2005, 10:57 PM

The only way i can see that you can succesfully achive what you want is to use a potential divider into an opamp buffer from the actual front speaker out of the 5.1 amp to the sterio amp. This is quite a mission as all the voltages would have to be matched identicaly.

running decent woofers as subs will destroy the sound quality and there is no point of that. Also hacking away at a reciver is a waste of time and money as it will enevitaly break.

rob

Steven99 · 22nd December 2005, 03:04 PM

I have an idea!

What if I use the headphone out jack from my kenwood receiver connected to my realistic? In 5.1 mode and stereo mode the headphone jack always works on my kenwood without muting any other channels.

So if I power my vegas with my realistic which is connected to the headphone jack of my kenwood I will still have volume control through my kenwood for the vegas and everything else.

The only problem I see is that a headphone jack is not line level, could I potentially hurt the input side of my realistic by feeding a headphone signal into its input?

bob123 · 22nd December 2005, 03:06 PM

you can use headphone jacks as line input, it should not dammage the system, after all IPODs can be pluged into a amp from the headphone port.

21st December 2005, 01:48 PM	#1
Steven99 diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: nfld	Help with system setup I am currently trying to reconfigure my current hometheater system to get the most out of the equipment I have. And I need your help! First off I'll list the equipment I have. Kenwood VR-309 5.1 DD/DTS Receiver Realistic 80 watt stereo Receiver SoundShaper 12-band Equalizer Cerwin Vega D9's (15" woofers, I don't need a sub) Pioneer Center and Surrounds (Cheapies) When I'm watching movies the kenwood receiver is great, but it's stereo performance for music is lackluster. I'd like to incorporate my Realistic in there somewhere for the added power, it powers the vegas much better than the kenwood. My kenwood does not have pre-outs for the fronts but it does have a sub pre-out. I have thought about modding my kenwood receiver to make my own pre-outs so I can connect my realistic to the kenood for the fronts. Is this a good idea? Another idea I had was to disconnect the cross overs in my cerwin vegas and run the woofers off the realistic which is conneted to the kenwood through the sub pre-out. The mids and highs will be connected to the kenwood. How about this idea? The only problem I see here is that in stereo mode for music, my sub channel would not be activated anyway would it? Help here is needed before I start butchering my equipment.

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21st December 2005, 03:59 PM	#2
Steven99 diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: nfld	I'd like the Realistic to take over the duties of powering the vegas at all times if I could, the kenwood really doesn't have the power that the realistic does. So in DD or DTX mode i'd like the realistic to power the vegas and the kenwood to power the center and surrounds. How can this be done without a pre-out on my kenwood receiver?

21st December 2005, 10:57 PM	#3
bob123 diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Southampton UK	The only way i can see that you can succesfully achive what you want is to use a potential divider into an opamp buffer from the actual front speaker out of the 5.1 amp to the sterio amp. This is quite a mission as all the voltages would have to be matched identicaly. running decent woofers as subs will destroy the sound quality and there is no point of that. Also hacking away at a reciver is a waste of time and money as it will enevitaly break. rob

22nd December 2005, 03:04 PM	#4
Steven99 diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: nfld	I have an idea! What if I use the headphone out jack from my kenwood receiver connected to my realistic? In 5.1 mode and stereo mode the headphone jack always works on my kenwood without muting any other channels. So if I power my vegas with my realistic which is connected to the headphone jack of my kenwood I will still have volume control through my kenwood for the vegas and everything else. The only problem I see is that a headphone jack is not line level, could I potentially hurt the input side of my realistic by feeding a headphone signal into its input?

22nd December 2005, 03:06 PM	#5
bob123 diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Southampton UK	you can use headphone jacks as line input, it should not dammage the system, after all IPODs can be pluged into a amp from the headphone port.

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