Onkyo HiFi and QUAD Speakers, Advice on installing

abarth_1200 · 1 Apr 2013 at 12:13

Hi guys, so I finally got my dads old Hifi system its on old Onkyo AV receiver with a separate CD deck and a pair of QUAD 100W speakers. There is no HDMI input or optical in, its all AUX inputs.

I currently have a 300W Sony 5.1 Surround system which I use with my Sky box and tv, I have all four corner speakers up on the walls around my living room, the centre one in front of the TV and the sub is beside the far off sofa out of sight.

The QUAD speakers sound amazing compared to my sony system so I would really like to use these somehow. I was wondering if I should chuck the Surrounds out and just go stereo. Or is there a way to swap the 2 front surrounds out for the QUAD speakers so in essence I still have 5.1 but better front speakers.

Help me work out how to make use of this system, or advise on some other use for it, I also have a wall mounted Sony 40 inch in the bedroom I could use the speakers for but I hardly use it. Next step is hooking it all up to my computer for some really big explosions in BF3

lucid · 1 Apr 2013 at 12:45

It very much depend on the Sony system. We could really do with a model number, so please have a look at the back then check your findings on Google so you know you're posting the right info. While you're at it check and post the model of the Quad speakers.

In the meantime, if your Sony is an all-in-one with integrated Blu-ray or DVD drive then a swap may be possible. But we will need to know exactly the model to make sure that the Quad speakers will work without damage to either the amp or speakers.

If it's a Sony AV receiver then things should be much simpler. The Quad speakers are likely to be around 6~8 Ohms and that'll be fine with most AV amps/receivers.

abarth_1200 · 1 Apr 2013 at 13:13

QUAD 77-11L
and Sony DAV-DZ830W, seems to be a little more than 300 watts, sorry for the confusion, was second hand when I got it so never looked up the specs.

lucid · 1 Apr 2013 at 17:26

The Sony wattage is irrelevant. It's a complete figment anyway. The way the power is measured is rigged to produce an impressive spec sheet number. If the power supply in your PC was measured the same way it would be rated at 2000W rather than 400.

You can use the Quad speaker with the Sony but there are a couple of catches:

The Sony surround speakers are rated at 3 Ohms. The Quads are 8 Ohm. The Ohms* is an indication of how much of a load the speakers present to the amp. Higher Ohms requires more amplifier Watts to drive them.

[* the Ohms figure is really nominal impedance, which is an average of the resistance in relation to frequency]

I've already mentioned that the Sony's power rating is a work of fiction. It draws a maximum 180 Watts at the mains socket. By the time that power makes it through the electronics to the speakers to become sound Watts you'll be looking at roughly 100W~120W max in total for the surrounds & sub combined. That will also be delivered with some pretty high distortion too. Your front & surrounds will be running off about 10W each and the sub. Don't panic. That's okay. 1 Watt in to some efficient speakers can produce a fair amount of perceived loudness. It just doesn't look an impressive figure on a spec sheet, that's all.

So right now you're a bit baffled and wondering what's the bottom line with all this watts and loudness and efficiency guff

The Quads will require a bit more power than the Sony is designed to deliver. This means it'll tip over in to distortion much earlier and that's where you start to risk doing damage to the front speakers.

Also, the Sony is designed to work with it's own speakers + sub. So it divides the signal accordingly. In other words, the crossover point is fixed so that most of the bass goes to the sub and not the front speakers. So you know that rich punchy sound you get with the speakers running full range off the Onkyo; that'll go. The Sony will send most of that midrange and bass to the sub instead.

So, the conclusion is yes they can be used but only with some fairly significant compromises: There's a risk of distortion. The front/rear/centre balance may be out of whack. The tone of the Quads won't be the same on the Sony compared to the Onkyo.

The thing with sound is that good stereo gear beats weak 5.1 surround gear for sound quality. But it can't replicate the immersive effect.

All-in-one kits are really an island on their own. They aren't designed to accommodate swapping speakers or head units. If surround is important to you and you like what the Quads do then you could always pick up a secondhand AV receiver (there a Yam in the classifieds here I think) and then start looking for a centre + rear surrounds and sub to match. Oh, and before you ask... No. The Sony speakers won't be a good match or even a safe stop-gap with an AV amp until you can find something better.

abarth_1200 · 1 Apr 2013 at 21:49

OK, so best outcome is start going proper AV reciever/amp and choose some decent speakers. My QUAD ones, are they a good starting point to stick with a stereo or 2.1 set up, not really all that into surround, I hardly ever have my rears turned on anyway.

So what would I look for in an amp to run my speakers off, I take it, from all the googling these units are called receivers, which receive inputs from DVD. Sky etc and then send them to the speakers/TV

Thanks for you help

lucid · 2 Apr 2013 at 04:33

You only need an AV receiver if you want to go for surround sound. It decodes the digital signals in to the various channels. If that isn't a priority then you could go for a simple stereo amp. It will sound miles better for music and you'll never miss the centre channel, I guarantee it.

Whether you need a sub or not depends on what you think about the bass response of the Quads. They are good speakers. To do them justice you'd need to spend (new) around £350-£500 on a sub that would compliment and add authority rather than simply adding boom. Second-hand would reduce the spend by 50% or allow you to increase quality.

If you stay with 2-channel, then you need to check that all your sources have a stereo output (red & white phonos, or a 3.5mm jack for a PC soundcard/ laptop headphone socket/ USB soundcard.

You mention your dads old AV receiver, and that it has only aux (stereo phono) inputs. Is it an AV receiver, or is it simply a receiver?

The latter is a stereo amp with a radio tuner built-in. It will have outputs for stereo speakers but not a centre or rears or sub. The former is something designed driving multichannel speakers and does some form of surround decoding. I mention it because if it's simply a receiver, and you like the sound from it then as long as you're just thinking about stereo then there's really very little reason to change.

aardvark · 2 Apr 2013 at 09:02

abarth_1200 said:
OK, so best outcome is start going proper AV reciever/amp and choose some decent speakers. My QUAD ones, are they a good starting point to stick with a stereo or 2.1 set up, not really all that into surround, I hardly ever have my rears turned on anyway.

the quads are definitely decent speakers.