Audio Systems: New AV / TV / DVD, yamaha htr 5740, rear channel speakers

Question
Hello Sir,

I recently purchased a Yamaha HTR-5740 Receiver to replace my technics one that fried on me. As a package deal, I also bought the JBL Surround Cinema 7 piece Speakers model: SCS160SI. As well as the Yamaha DVD Player: DV-S5650. I already have 2 existing Technics Tower speakers (SB-A27). I would like to connect the technics speakers as well as the 7 JBL speakers to my receiver, but am not sure how to go about it. Would I be putting too much load on the receiver ? The TV I bought is the Sony 27FS120. Are these products I purchased good ? As I am a novice when it comes to electronics, I would truly appreciate your input. I thank you in advance.

Answer
Dear Nish,

The time to ask about product reliability and performance is *before* you buy. That said, Yamaha electronics are very good, and you could do a lot worse than JBL speakers.

Yes, you can connect all nine speakers to the receiver. It's configured to do that because it has an "A+B" option for the front channel speakers, meaning that you can have four speakers for the front channel. The receiver puts out 85 watts RMS per channel, which should be plenty to power them so long as you don't play music or movies at ear splitting levels--that's how you fry speakers. And since the receiver gives you the "A+B" option, I'd assume that it can handle the speaker load.

However, why would you want four front channel speakers in addition to two surrounds, two rear channel speakers, and a center channel speaker? All you really need are two front channel speakers. I suggest that if you enjoy the sound of the Technics towers, you use those as your front channel speakers and save the JBL front channel speakers for a rainy day.

Then again, you could put the Technics towers into the mix, listen, and then put the JBL front channel speakers in and see which sound you like better. Another option would be to put the JBL front channel speakers in the "A" position, so you use JBLs exclusively when you watch movies, and put the Technics towers in the "B" position, and use those exclusively for listening to music. Bottom line: you have a lot of choices. Since the capabilities of the receiver are probably not an issue, go with the configuration that gives you the best, most pleasing sound.

Good luck. And thanks for choosing allexperts.com!

Kindest regards,

Kevin