The use of "B" speaker outputs. Why do you do it?

[drjohnnyfeva]

I have two pair of 4ohm on the A and the sub on the B. I thought I was unique in that. Good to know that I'm not. My uncle taught me that. The receiver is small, only about 25 or 30 watts, but in a small room, so it's never loud or over driven. I'll crank it sometimes, but the reality is that the room is too small for that, so there's never a real demand for power. I prefer it the way I have it over headphones.

 

[Tronk]

Second amp for additional speakers gets my vote.

 

[classic carl]

The power amp in my main system only has one pair of speaker outputs. My preamp has 2 sets of switched outputs. One set to the power amp and the other to my subs.

 

[ToyDoctor]

On my downstairs unit, I use B for out at the pool, for my music room I use 4 speakers to fill the room.

 

[illf8ed]

What about speaker “C”. I have three sets of speakers connected. Sometimes I listen to two pair at the same time.

 

[Bosphrous]

I understand why there is a "B" channel. What I don't understand is why tuner's don't come with a fader.

 

[Raven50]

Excuse me! And what about C? My Kenwood KR-9600 is asking.

A = Pioneer HPM 100. I use these for medium volume.

B = Cerwin Vega CLSC 215's. These are for blowing the roof off the house.

A+B = This is for low volume background while visiting over a beer. The 100's handle the mids and highs while the 215's are acting as 4 subs to add a bit more bass.

C = Realistic Mach Ones that will be used for the pool. Or possibly for a set of klipsch cornwalls. Haven't decided yet. Might even use A+B for the 4 corners of the pool area and C for a pair inside. Just moved here so need to experiment.

But ya, I do indeed appreciate B, as well as C. The ability to supply 160 wpc to 3 locations around our home with just one amp is...well, pretty awesome.

 

[painttoad]

i voted :
I'd rather have an excuse for a 2nd amp than use B outputs

although i don't really need an excuse for another amp.

i haven't hooked up multiple pairs of speakers into a stereo amp since the mid 90s.

 

[Raven50]

I understand your reasoning behind that, but look at it this way. If the amps can accommodate 4 to 6 speakers, doesn't that mean you get to own more speakers?

 

[N8Nagel]

I have been playing with my nearfield desk system and it's gone full plaid now. I realized, after giving away a receiver and hooking up some Adcom components in its place to test, that not only did I own the matching Adcom CD player but also a GFS-6 speaker selector. Right now I have my desktop Minimus 7s on pair 1, and the subwoofer under the desk on pair 6, but I'm thinking of adding a pair of speakers at the foot of my bed and using the speaker selector so I can have good imaging both when I'm working and when I'm lounging in bed. I mean, what's the point of having all this stuff if I don't hook it up and use it?

Not related to the topic of this thread, but I think this may end up being the final configuration of this system because while it is quite silly in its overkill (do I really need a 200WPC nearfield system?), the fact that it's all separates (preamp, amp, tuner, turntable, DAC, etc.) and it also happens to be set up on a shelf unit that's on casters means I can very easily swap in components to test as I acquire them, and being that it's my desk system means I can test and do work at the same time. e.g. I have another Adcom amp that I've never really used, it probably wouldn't hurt to give it some use, my theory is that gear is like cars, gotta use them every now and then or they degrade from disuse.