Question about hooking up Spec-4 and Spec-1

[PeterI]

I am new to this forum but not new to audio or Pioneer. My newly-acquired Spec 4 amp and Spec 1 preamp are beautiful but I do not have the manuals.

What's with the speaker wire connections from amp to preamp? Are they connected in addition to the usual connections (RCA)? This is different than any amp/ preamp connection I have seen.

And do you hook up speakers to the usual place on the amp - or on the preamp? Not used to seeing speaker connections on a preamp.

Are the manuals for these available free anywhere online? I don't mind buying but I want to get these things hooked up now.

Thanks for any advice you can give me. Please, anyone who has these great components, share your wisdom about them. They are the best gear I've ever owned.

Pete

 

[technut]

Take your pick, there is no need to hook up the Spec-4 to the Spec-1's speaker terminals if you don't want to use the speaker selector on the Spec-1. The spec-1 allows you to hook up the amp and then select between two (A,B) sets of speakers or if you put the switch in the A+B position you can use both at the same time.

I hook my speakers up to the spec-4 directly since I don't like the extra connections, but I may change this when I get my other pair of L-96's finished.

 

[Lefty]

I am new to this forum but not new to audio or Pioneer. My newly-acquired Spec 4 amp and Spec 1 preamp are beautiful but I do not have the manuals.

What's with the speaker wire connections from amp to preamp? Are they connected in addition to the usual connections (RCA)? This is different than any amp/ preamp connection I have seen.

And do you hook up speakers to the usual place on the amp - or on the preamp? Not used to seeing speaker connections on a preamp.

Are the manuals for these available free anywhere online? I don't mind buying but I want to get these things hooked up now.

Thanks for any advice you can give me. Please, anyone who has these great components, share your wisdom about them. They are the best gear I've ever owned.

Pete

Make sure you get this from someone that actually knows the spec, but it sounds just like some of the early Marantz Solid State preamp to amp connections. They wire the outputs from the main amp to back to the preamp so that the speaker selection knob can be on the preamp along with all the other controls. Makes sense from a operational sense but if you've never seen it before it can seem strange at first.

Lefty

 

[siamac]

As technut said, you need it, when you want to use 4 speakers (A+B).
But you cannot use headphones, too. Headphones just work, when you connect the speaker outputs from Spec-4 to Spec-1 !! :sigh:
But then you cannot use big wires and bananas :thumbsdn:
The japanese Version of Spec-4 (M-75) was much better:

 

[PeterI]

Thanks very much. I am nuts about this gear.

I thought it was a simple method. All is working.
I now have the TX-9800 tuner hooked up as well.

Again, any thoughts/ suggestions from the Spec crowd about these great components are appreciated.

Thanks,
Pete

Colorado

 

[madpioneer]

originally posted by PeterI Again, any thoughts/ suggestions from the Spec crowd about these great components are appreciated.

I can tell you this once you have some listening time in and the components are working as they should & within spec, its a setup you can live with and a big ole smile will be on your face everytime you fire them up . Some of the best stuff PIONEER ever put out. :thmbsp: :guitar: