# Question about Audio



## Guest (Jun 9, 2008)

Hi there! I'm not very smart when it comes to speakers and recievers, but i know the basics.

Right now in my room i have simply two Bose speakers mounted on the wall and a subwoofer connected to a very powerful Harmon Kardon Receiver. So i get L and R sound from the 2 speakers.

My question is this: is it possible to attach more speakers around the room and get sound from MORE THAN 2 speakers? I dont know much about channel 2.1 5.1 etc. but i do know that audio is simply L and R. So its a simple question.. Will i be able to have surround sound just from stereo? note i do not have a DVD player hooked up, its just a harmon kardon stereo receiver. If i could listen to music with more than 2 speakers, would it be a good idea to buy another 2 speakers and mount them on the other 2 corners of my room? Right now the sound is great, could it be even better with more speakers for a true surround sound? THANKS so much for your help!!!


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

There's little or no advantage to adding more speakers with a plain stereo receiver. If you add speakers, you will only duplicate what is already in the L/R channels and you run the risk of F/R imbalance and overloading the amplifiers in the receiver. Why not just replace the Bose's with real speakers?

Kal


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2008)

OOOH man why you burning my bose speakers? i payed 500 for those babies they're great


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

First of all ... Welcome to the forum :wave: :wave: :wave:



homegrownpeas said:


> Right now in my room i have simply two Bose speakers mounted on the wall and a subwoofer connected to a very powerful Harmon Kardon Receiver. So i get L and R sound from the 2 speakers.
> 
> My question is this: is it possible to attach more speakers around the room and get sound from MORE THAN 2 speakers? I dont know much about channel 2.1 5.1 etc. but i do know that audio is simply L and R. So its a simple question.. Will i be able to have surround sound just from stereo? note i do not have a DVD player hooked up, its just a *harmon kardon stereo receiver*. If i could listen to music with more than 2 speakers, would it be a good idea to buy another 2 speakers and mount them on the other 2 corners of my room? Right now the sound is great, could it be even better with more speakers for a true surround sound? THANKS so much for your help!!!


What is your receiver model??? ... 

You can add more speakers to your receiver, but It wont be a surround sound just stereo with 2 or more set of speakers to fill the room (I have 7 pair of speakers connected to the family room stereo) ... but it doesn't mean is surround sound :bigsmile:

How to add speakers will depend on your receiver ... Do you have a speakers selector??? (usually it say speaker A, B and A+B); or you can get one of this and connect up to four pair of speakers for the whole house :yes::yes:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...selector&s=A-StorePrice-RSK&parentPage=search


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

homegrownpeas said:


> OOOH man why you burning my bose speakers? i payed 500 for those babies they're great


Then I offer you my condolences.:whistling:

Kal


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Welcome to the Shack HGP!

Although Kal comes across harsh on your speaker choice he is correct that replacing your main speakers would give you the best and most noticeable difference. Adding more to your two channel system will not improve your sound at all. For the $500 you spent you can get far better sounding speakers that will have proper full range drivers and far more dynamics.

Enjoy your stay here.


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Well, if you're dead set on surround, you shouldn't just buy new speakers, you should spend $300 on a surround receiver (shoponkyo.com), and $200 on another set of fronts (I like JBL refurbs off ebay), moving the Bose to the back. The AVR will have multiple "pseudo" surround modes for stereo sources, and your CD may even have Dolby Pro-Logic (some of them, at least).


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## Guest (Jun 11, 2008)

tonyvdb said:


> Welcome to the Shack HGP!
> 
> Although Kal comes across harsh on your speaker choice he is correct that replacing your main speakers would give you the best and most noticeable difference. Adding more to your two channel system will not improve your sound at all. For the $500 you spent you can get far better sounding speakers that will have proper full range drivers and far more dynamics.
> 
> Enjoy your stay here.


Thankyou all so much! I really appreciate everything you've all told me.

So if you're right that adding more speakers won't improve the sound, and that i should simply get better ones, then what do you suggest i get?

for the $500 bose ones, i think they're great.. but are you saying bose isn't good? I thought they were amazing? What are some better ones in your opinion?


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Consider my reco about getting a surround receiver. If you do decide to go with $500 in stereo speakers, your options are pretty numerous. Just stay away from anything n the Big Box Stores. Of course, that's not to say there aren't good brands, or even good models in your local Best Buy, they're just not common.

With the question you ask, everyone is going to pimp their personal favorite speaker, likely the ones they own. I'll tell you that I love JBLs and thattheir Studio L series is the best bang for the buck if you want new, but I'd scour ebay for used original studios. Sonnie's going to chime in with SVS, but only because you can't get Martin Logan's for $500. Someone else will pipe up with AV123.com, then Paradigm, then Axiom. Ascend Acoustics may make an appearance, with the caveat that they are a little out of your price range. 

After all this, one brave soul will pipe up that if the Bose sound good to you, stick with them. Debate will ensue.

What it comes down to is this...what are you looking to accomplish? Do you just want to burn $500? If so, I recommend you get a 21-year old Balvenie, a pair of original Nike Air-force Ones, a tattoo of all four members of Kiss, and call it a day.

If you want more enveloping sound, buy a surround sound system. If you want better quality 2-channel audio, look into new speakers, but only after you consider your room acoustics (there's a whole forum on that here).

Reality is there's no short answer (but Bose will tell you there is  )


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Marshall really hits the nail on the head. Its ultimately up to you as to how much you can or want to spend. For $500 your possibilities are reduced to either used or new bookshelves.
The Used route is a great idea and will give you far better bang for buck. Speakers generally dont wear out unless they are really old and the foam or rubber surrounds on the drivers are disintegrating.
I have mostly Mission speakers and bought most of them accept 2 pair used and really love their sound but as Marshall said above there are many other great brands out there.

Bose really market there speakers well but you really pay for the name and nothing more they simply dont sound as good as other brands in the same price range.


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