Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Stereo to Mono

If I wanted to put a single speaker like my VP150 in another room by itself, is there a device that would change two stereo outputs to a mono output?

Good question Doug, one that I'm sure someone will answer.

Hey by the way, if you get a chance, it would be cool if you could post your Emotiva visit thoughts to our board as well. I've spent a lot of time on the phone visiting with Lonnie lately, even today. I have no doubt that they are a great company providing top of the line products, and their experience/knowledge, well that is obvious.

ps: to bad you didn't have your 80's with you so they could shut them down.

You don't need a device.

Connect the left channel (+) to the VP150 (+).

Connect the right channel (-) to the VP150 (-).

What you should hear is the sum of the left and right channels (unless there's something unique about your amp).

Hi Mojo and Bugbitten,

Do NOT connect the output of your amplifier's or AV receiver's left and right channel speaker outputs in that fashion. You could damage or blow out one or the other (or both) amplifier channels.

If you both amp outputs to the VP150, the left channel amplifier would be driving not only the VP150, but also routing its output power back into the output section of the right channel amplifier and vice-versa. Not a good idea!

The way to do this is to use the pre-outs (low-level) for the left and right channels. Get an adaptor with left and right RCA female input jacks and a single female (or male) output jack, then connect the combined (mono) low-level signal into one of the unused amplifier pre-amp inputs. The amplified output of that channel would then be mono. In some respects, the pre-outs should be buffered so there is no interaction of the left channel preamp with the right.

But at least you won't damage the power amplifiers this way.

Regards,

Does that still work with modern amps ? My recollection was that the -ve terminal (black) on most amps was "ground" these days, so the -ve of right would be the same as -ve of left and so you would only get the left channel.

After reading Alan's post, we should go back to the drawing board.

I used the configuration that I suggested successfully when I was a teen with my Kenwood stereo amp and cheap, Realistic speakers. It was, I thought, a good way to get the centre image that my left and right speakers couldn't muster. Maybe I was just lucky but it appeared to work.

So I just tried this on my wife's Sony book-shelf system. I used my old no-name brand center channel speaker. I cranked the volume and it appears to work. I'll let it play for a while and see what happens. It's been playing ten minutes already.

Alan, can you comment on what equivalent impedance each channel would see when driving this configuration?

However Alan's pre-amp suggestion is shrewd and will work if you have a channel to spare and are willing to play in multi-channel mode.

Ohhh how I miss my old Optimus speakers. Actually I still have the bookshelf versions, just miss the mains with the monster woofers.

My wife's Sony is still alive...unfortunately:D.

And it looks like bridgman's right. My suggestion for the center channel yields only the left channel.

I did discover however that if I connect the left and right channel positives to the center channel I get the algebraic difference of the two channels.

oh my I just went back in time to my childhood. They did have 15" woofers and were Mach something. I was thinking Mach 1's, but now that I see that picture, they might have been 111's.