Does anyone bi-wire 4 rears speakers out of a 5.1 reciever

[McGarnigal]

I have 4 rear satellites and a 5.1 receiver. I was wondering what it would be like to have 2 speaker wires in each of the rear channel outputs, sending the same audio to side rear speakers and further behind you rear speakers ... Has anyone dones this or liked this?

[ghebert]

I'm actually planning on upgrading my surrounds to speakers with bi-amp capability...I'm interested to know if there is a huge benefit to this as well.

[zicmubleu]

Hopefully someone with the proper expertise will answer this question, but I would think at a minimum you would want to use 8 ohm speakers wired in parallel and have the receiver set for 4 ohms if it has that option. You are dividing your power output in half since these are not powered speakers and you might introduce some sound interference with cancellation a possibility of some frequencies. However it might sound fuller to you and you will be happy with it. Worst you could do is burn out the receivers outputs , then you have an excuse to buy a 7.1 system.

[McGarnigal]

How does the receiver know that there are 2 differant wires in one speaker output? couldn't it think its just one thick wire?

[Trix]

Originally Posted by McGarnigal

How does the receiver know that there are 2 differant wires in one speaker output? couldn't it think its just one thick wire?

The wire is not problem. The problem is that the same circuit is experiencing 2 seperate 8 ohm resistors, given the two seperate speakers. This creates a parallel circuit, which divides the power output.

[EDIT] I hate electrical engineering terms. It does not divide the power output, that is not what I meant to say. Someone please help me remember the real reason, while I google to post it if no one beats me.

[EDIT 2] Concept is at http://www.bcae1.com/spkrmlti.htm, but explanation is thin.

[McGarnigal]

thanks, i had taken a semester of engineering a few years ago, in DC circuits. I never thought about my speakers that wway though even though ohms was a factor.. once i saw that link it all came back to me..

[Trix]

Originally Posted by McGarnigal

thanks, i had taken a semester of engineering a few years ago, in DC circuits. I never thought about my speakers that wway though even though ohms was a factor.. once i saw that link it all came back to me..

It's funny how easy it is to forget that receivers output electrical signals over copper wire to resistors that make magnets move to produce cone movement and thus sound waves. Because none of those steps explain why it sounds so good!