Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Rewiring a Home Theatre in a Box?

I was wondering, is it possible to hook up the speakers that came in a home theatre in a box, to a newer more advanced receiver in order to get more inputs, and more options, etc? I tried hooking it up to an old reciever i had but the sound was horrible, possibly because the power output wasnt great on that receiver? The speakers are all powerful and a great subwoofer, but the DVD/Receiver deck that it comes with just doesnt cut it. Any help? Thanks

L,welcome. Yes, in general it's possible to hook up any receiver to the speakers in a HTIB set, as long as the speakers have the standard binding posts or clips that accept the usual speaker wire. You didn't identify the set, and it's impossible to analyse what the weak points might be, but it's very often the case that the speakers rather than the electronics are most in need of replacement.

Sorry, this is the set that i have. http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddet...799&catid=#
And yes the speakers do use the normal speaker wire and sound excellent, as well as having a great power output, but i'm just confused at to why it sounded like garbage when i hooked it up to my old reciever, i'm guessing it has something to to with the reciever since its 15 years old. Any suggestions on a great reciever for a cheap price?

hmm, I'm confused now how you have it hooked up. If the receiver is actually 15 years old, I'm thinking it probably doesn't support surround sound, maybe, I'm no expert on the timeline of when it became mainstream.

On your HTiB, the DVD and receiver are built in together. Can you describe how you have it hooked to the old receiver? You would need some kind of digital connection (fiber or coax) to get the 5.1 signal to your separate receiver. The details on Future Shop link don't describe and audio outputs for that box, digital or analogue, but I assume there must be something or you wouldn't even have gotten bad sound.

A few more details on how it's hooked up and I bet someone will have a solution for you.

On the old receiver, did you just hook up the mains, or did you hook up the sub as well? The mains may not have good frequency response down low, and might have a very high cross-over point. (i.e. - they may sound like crap without the sub)

Also, because of the speakers low cabinet volume, that receiver may be applying some compensating equalization like the Bose systems do. Consequently, they will sound like crap on ANY OTHER receiver you hook them to.

After some digging, it's confirmed. They have a really high x-over:

Front Ch 60 W per channel (4 ohm), 120 Hz–20 kHz, 1 % THD
Surround Ch 60 W per channel (4 ohm), 120 Hz–20 kHz, 1 % THD
Center Ch 250 W per channel (4 ohm), 120 Hz–20 kHz, 1 % THD
Subwoofer Ch 250 W per channel (4 ohm), 45 Hz–120 Hz, 1 % THD

Also, at the "rated" 1000 watts of power, it was taken at only one frequency (1KHz), and was 10% THD.

First point - You will have to find a receiver who's cross-over can be set as high as 120Hz.

Second point - The new receiver doesn't need to be rated anywhere near 1000 watts. JohnK will be along shortly to explain.

I'm still confused. So just his mains are hooked to the old receiver? Why would you bother?

The crossover numbers make sense though. Definitely part of the problem either way.

Be gentle, I'm still newb but at least I want to learn.

Murph, what I got from reading his original post, was that he needs more inputs. I think the HTIB only has one.

Yep, he tried just hooking the speakers up to his old receiver. (I think)

Ladel, if you could elaborate on what else you are disatisfied with regarding the existing unit, that would help. Also, you will most likely get some advise to change out the speakers. There are better sounding speakers out there, no question. But, if you are happy with the way they sound, that is all that matters.

Well its not that theres any problems with this HTIB the sound is great, just the reciever/dvd deck lacks optical inputs and only has pretty much one input, but i have at least 4 devices to plug in. I found this receiver, would this do the trick? http://www.pioneerelectronics.ca/pna/pro...DetailComponent
If not, can anyone recommend a receiever that would hit this 120Hz markor whatever it is? I dont get the concept of this really.

Okay, so your complaint is the lack of inputs. Is it too late to return it to the Future Shop? Frankly, this is something that you should have considered first; a unit that appears to have only L/R analog inputs and no digital inputs whatever is unsuitable for someone who has four sources to connect digitally.

Be that as it may, the Pioneer unit that you link has 3 optical and 2 coaxial inputs for digital sources, and if that matches up with the outputs on your source devices, it'll be suitable for your use. I'll also mention the Onkyo 504, which has 3 optical and 1 coaxial input.

The 120Hz comes about since Shawn draws the implication from the receiver being rated only down to 120Hz(which is unusual)that the crossover between the speakers and the sub may also be at 120Hz. That may or may not be the the case, but receivers such as the Pioneer and Onkyo do have 120Hz as one of the available crossover choices.