Trouble with Powering 4 Speakers on a late model Kenwood Receiver

B

bigcaddy64

Super Member
Ill be the first to admit i don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of electronics, wiring, speakers and just about anything related to a decent home stereo but i'm learning. Thanks to all here for helping me out immensely!

I've slowly built up a quality home stereo but have hit somewhat of a wall. I have (4) matching AR2-AX speakers that i'd love to have play in each corner of my front room but i can't get my receiver to play them.

It has front/rear speaker outputs but with all speakers wired, i'm only getting sound from the front two. I can push a button on the front of the receiver and swap signals so the rears will play but never all 4 at once.

Could it be the receiver isn't powerful enough to power them or is the receiver not a 4 channel? That sounds odd to me considering there are 4 output jacks for front/rear & right/left.

The receiver in question is a 1996 Kenwood KRV-7080. It was given to me, along with a nice pair of Infinity Sterling Series SS2005 speakers, by my cousins when they upgraded to an all-in-one home theater.
In fact, the Infinity's were one of the first speakers i attempted to refoam and they came out great.

Its always performed without a hiccup and has never needed service or repairs. 21 years old and works perfectly, maybe.

I'm currently awaiting on the return of a JVC 4VR-5415 that is being recapped and was hoping this would be a good match for the AR speakers but now i have my doubts. If my newer Kenwood can't do it, how will the JVC stack up against it?
 
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You appear to be interested in playing stereo with your 4 AR's and you want to do that using the rear channel amps (small amps designed for surround speakers) in your Kenwood. You are getting no sound because the Kenwood doesn't have a multi-million channel stereo option. The only sound sent to those rear amps would be from decoded Dolby surround.

Now, the work-around is to hook your AR's up to A and B front speakers. Then you simply select both A and B.

Regards,
Jerry
 
Onaplane nailed it.

Technically, it not 4 channel. It's two channels with Dolby pro logic to mimic the rear channels.

If you want to play stereo out of your four speakers, connect the second pair to the "B" speaker terminals, not the rear channels.

I believer you'll only be using the front two channel amps but it'll be sent to both the "A" (front) speaker pair and the "B" speaker pair.
 
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op said "It has front/rear speaker outputs but with all speakers wired, i'm only getting sound from the front two. I can push a button on the front of the receiver and swap signals so the rears will play but never all 4 at once."

this made me think its wired correctly for stereo .
 
petehall347 said:
op said "It has front/rear speaker outputs but with all speakers wired, i'm only getting sound from the front two. I can push a button on the front of the receiver and swap signals so the rears will play but never all 4 at once."

this made me think its wired correctly for stereo .
Click to expand...
Tis a puzzlement.

Yul Brenner.jpg

Well, you posted a link to his manual so hopefully that can help him. According to that manual you posted, "rear" speakers are not the same as "B" speakers.
 
the skipper said:
Onaplane nailed it.

Technically, it not 4 channel. It's two channels with Dolby pro logic to mimic the rear channels.

If you want to play stereo out of your four speakers, connect the second pair to the "B" speaker terminals, not the rear channels.

I believer you'll only be using the front two channel amps but it'll be sent to both the "A" (front) speaker pair and the "B" speaker pair.
Click to expand...
Edit: My comments are for the KR-V7080. The original poster later informed us that the receiver he has is a Kenwood KR-V5580, a much different unit. My comments below do not apply to the KR-V5580 which does not allow operation of both A and B speakers at the same time.

This is one way to have all four speakers play and it should work just fine if you want a "double stereo" experience.

Another option is to connect the second set of speakers to the REAR speaker terminals then select Dolby Surround or DSP as the playback mode. See page 24 of the manual: https://usermanual.wiki/Kenwood/KenwoodKrV7080OwnerSManual.1654627246/view

A third option is to connect the two front speakers as normal, connect one of the remaining speakers to the CENTER speaker terminals and the last speaker to one of the REAR speaker terminals and then select Dolby Surround for playback.

Good listening.
 
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bigcaddy64 said:
It has front/rear speaker outputs but with all speakers wired, i'm only getting sound from the front two. I can push a button on the front of the receiver and swap signals so the rears will play but never all 4 at once.
Click to expand...
Edit: My comments are for the KR-V7080. The original poster later informed us that the receiver he has is a Kenwood KR-V5580, a much different unit. My comments below do not apply to the KR-V5580.

See page 12 of the manual. It will explain that when you are in the Surround mode you will only be able to play either the A speakers or the B speakers but not both. If you switch to Stereo mode, you should be able to play both the A and B speakers at the same time.

manual: https://usermanual.wiki/Kenwood/KenwoodKrV7080OwnerSManual.1654627246/view
 
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Edit: My comments do not apply to the Kenwood KR-V5580.

KentTeffeteller said:
Won't happen. The AR speakers are inefficient. And power hungry, and less than a 4 ohm load together.
Click to expand...
It is OK because the amplifiers never see the two pairs of speakers in parallel. When one is in the STEREO mode, the B speakers are fed by the amplifier channels that are used as the REAR channels when in the Dolby Surround or DSP modes. That is the reason that one cannot operate both A and B speakers when in the Surround or DSP modes.
 
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Well, according to page 38 of the manual. albeit a bit optimistically rated, the front two channels are fairly beefy but, as was the norm with DPL receivers, the rear channels are (channel is?) a bit anemic. So, two pairs of 8 ohm AR2's might work, to some extent. either way. Which way is better*? Dunno This is one of those trial by error scenarios.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/287035/Kenwood-Kr-V7080.html?page=38#manual

* Second pair as "B" speakers OR rears? Remember, the rear "channels" of a DPL receiver are the same. It's the same one channel coming from both speakers.
 
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Well, I was wrong on the model. It's a KRV-5580. Here is a picture of the backside will all outputs showing

I've tried them on the rear outputs as well as using the second row of front outputs. Still nothing.
 

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My last reply was typed earlier, prior to the flood of info from other members posing ideas. I'll fiddle with it tomorrow since I'll be rained inside after work.

I'll post progress then. Thank you all for helping my solve this problem.
 
So, it sounds and looks like you have a Kenwood KR-V5580.

Taking a quick look at the schematic, it seems that one cannot play both the A and B speakers at the same time. If you want to play two sets of speakers you will need to hook up one pair to the front and a second set to the REAR speaker terminals and then select Dolby Pro-Logic, on the front panel. You also need to make the Dolby Pro-Logic "surround arrangements". i.e. Center channel Normal, Wide Band or Phantom and adjust the level of the SURROUND speakers, in the test tone mode, using the MULTI LEVEL CONTROL keys.

Another, maybe better, option is to connect the two front speakers as normal, connect one of the remaining speakers to the CENTER speaker terminals and the last speaker to one of the REAR speaker terminals and then select Dolby Surround for playback. If you do this you will still need to make the Center and Surround speaker adjustments.



The operator and service manuals are available on hifiengine.
 
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tcdriver said:
Edit: My comments do not apply to the Kenwood KR-V5580.

It is OK because the amplifiers never see the two pairs of speakers in parallel. When one is in the STEREO mode, the B speakers are fed by the amplifier channels that are used as the REAR channels when in the Dolby Surround or DSP modes. That is the reason that one cannot operate both A and B speakers when in the Surround or DSP modes.
Click to expand...

Also, still even then won't sound what it should. The AR 2 speakers need a better amplifier to sound best. Especially in the power supply department, and less damping factor for best bass. And they demand higher current from said amplifier. Not an AVR application, I don't care who's AVR.
 
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