Left and Right Speaker together

AlNipper49

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I am installing four outside speakers, and want them all independent of one another.

I bought this: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=9995&gclid=CNap0L2vhMoCFQ8HkQod0_sMWQ

However much like everything I do, I didn't think it all way through. You can select speaker zones, but each speaker zone assumes a left and a right speaker. I just want one speaker to act as both left and right... for starters I don't feel like laying that much cable underneath the ground in my backyard. Secondly, two of the speakers are going on trees where there realistically can only be one speaker.

One each speaker "set" can I wire the left and right speaker to a single speaker? i.e. can I wire the left and right speakers into a single set of speaker wire without bad distortion and general all-around-badness?

It's plugging into a Denon receiver where I'm setting "all channel stereo", so my alternate idea is bypassing the speaker selector and just living with all speakers playing at once, since I can wire each to the receiver and basically take each speaker in independently.

Ideally the speakers would not play all at once. I want to wire up an outside projector and if I play all the speakers at once I will not be able to go "all out" since the two tree-speakers are next to our neighbors, who would hear it too much. The two speaker by our firepit would be the projector speakers and are central to the backyard, and I plan on positioning to minimize their impact on the neighbors.
 

cgori

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If you wire two speakers to only the "Left" output of your Denon you'll only get the "Left" signal (i.e. half of the signal is missing). Different stuff goes to the Left and Right outputs (unless you can put the Denon in Mono? That'd be pretty meh.)

You could wire the two tree-speakers as Left/Right of the same "zone" on the monoprice switcher. (i.e. only use two zones of the monoprice box: Tree:Tree-Left, Tree-Right, and Firepit: Firepit-Left, Firepit-Right). That'd still be the same amount of cable to run, and would preserve the stereo aspect of the output. You would need to run a Left and Right set of wires from the Denon to the switcher (where I guess you were thinking of not doing that? Seems like you should.)

Basically you really only needed a 2-zone switcher but now you have extras - you could find some other part of your yard/house to annoy people in :)

EDIT: I just realized you wanted to run them all independently, so what I suggested above wouldn't work due to neighbor issues.

Here's what you do then:
Zone 1 is Tree Left
Zone 2 is Tree Right
Zone 3 is Firepit Left
Zone 4 is Firepit Right

Plug in the Denon Left and Right to the switcher input.

Plug in Tree Speaker Left to Zone 1 Left terminals
Plug in Tree Speaker Right to Zone 2 Right terminals
Plug in Firepit Speaker Left to Zone 3 Left terminals
Plug in Firepit Speaker Right to Zone 4 Right terminals
(You could merge Zone 3 and 4 together into just zone 3, if you think you can always turn on both firepit speakers at once - just plug Firepit Speaker Right into Zone 3 Right instead of Zone 4 Right.)

Mostly I would then activate zones 1+2 together or zones 3+4 together, in theory you could do just zone 1 or just zone 2 but it won't sound that great. You won't get distortion, just you'll be missing half the signal.
 
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AlNipper49

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Right, that is what the Crutchfield guy told me to do with the "All Channel Stereo" option, but that still doesn't make me feel good about wiring just one speaker to either Left or Right, or somehow combining the two.

Simplified - I think that I'll get this to work, but I don't want to get it to "work" only to find out I was better off doing something another way. I want it to work well.
 

SumnerH

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I am installing four outside speakers, and want them all independent of one another.

I bought this: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=9995&gclid=CNap0L2vhMoCFQ8HkQod0_sMWQ

However much like everything I do, I didn't think it all way through. You can select speaker zones, but each speaker zone assumes a left and a right speaker. I just want one speaker to act as both left and right... for starters I don't feel like laying that much cable underneath the ground in my backyard. Secondly, two of the speakers are going on trees where there realistically can only be one speaker.

One each speaker "set" can I wire the left and right speaker to a single speaker? i.e. can I wire the left and right speakers into a single set of speaker wire without bad distortion and general all-around-badness?
You'll be shorting out the connection to the speaker selector if you do this.

It's plugging into a Denon receiver where I'm setting "all channel stereo", so my alternate idea is bypassing the speaker selector and just living with all speakers playing at once, since I can wire each to the receiver and basically take each speaker in independently.
You'll get only the left or right on any given speaker, except for the center one (and sub). If you had "all channel mono" on your Denon, that'd be perfect (then run it through the speaker selector and just wire up one of left/right).

If you don't, possibilities in decreasing order of desirability:
1. Find another way to push a mono signal:
* Maybe your existing gear can push mono (e.g. if you're playing from a computer, you might just be able to set mono output from there)
* Use something cheap and simple like this if you only have one input
* Use a bridgeable amp or other means of mixing mono to stereo.
2. Get speakers that have stereo inputs (both left and right connectors); these are usually builtin models like this but there might be something similar you can use.
3. Split the center channel (and reamplify if needed); it might be getting mixed to mono or something close in your "all channel stereo" mode.
 

SumnerH

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Right, that is what the Crutchfield guy told me to do with the "All Channel Stereo" option, but that still doesn't make me feel good about wiring just one speaker to either Left or Right, or somehow combining the two.

Simplified - I think that I'll get this to work, but I don't want to get it to "work" only to find out I was better off doing something another way. I want it to work well.
Set to mono and wire only one of left/right is the correct answer. They're just duplicating the same signal at that point.
 

cgori

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The "all-channel stereo" option on the Denon still splits into left/right. It just duplicates the sound on front-left/back-left and front-right/back-right channels so that they are the same (no front/rear surround effects) - and then mixes(?) the L/R into the center, if I remember correctly. I would be quite curious to see what the output profile for a designated center-channel looks like when the receiver is in all-channel stereo mode, that might work as an output to feed to your Monoprice switcher's input, then you could just use half of the switcher (all Lefts or all Rights) and get what you want.

EDIT: the more I look at the Denon manuals online, I think the center in 5-channel stereo is a summed mono output. I believe this is what you want.
 
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timlinin8th

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Jun 6, 2009
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If you wire two speakers to only the "Left" output of your Denon you'll only get the "Left" signal (i.e. half of the signal is missing). Different stuff goes to the Left and Right outputs (unless you can put the Denon in Mono? That'd be pretty meh.)
Yeah mono would be pretty 'meh' as far as a home theater setup is concerned but I think is ultimately the desired output since Nip is talking about having "left and right channels out of all speakers".

I'm assuming its a big yard which is why we're looking for combined audio from a single speaker - the big question here is more the limitations of the Denon receiver itself and how it handles the audio output. What model is it? Does it do multi-zone on its own? Does it even HAVE a mono setting?

Ultimately if you're looking for left and right audio on the same speaker that IS mono. Are you looking for the fireplace speakers to be stereo though, and only the tree ones to be mono?
 

cgori

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Yea, any of the 5-channel stereo or 7-channel stereo output modes from any Denon made in the last ~5 years will have a mono (summed L+R) center channel output (this mode is sometimes called "party mode" - basically turn on all the speakers and have them play something, anything). If you put the receiver in 5-channel stereo mode, connect the center channel output to the L input of the monoprice box, and then hook each of the 4 speakers up to left 1-4, you'll get what you want. You may also be able to use mono movie mode and then any of the speaker outputs would work for this purpose (I can't find a lot of information about the mono movie mode on the receiver, so that's more of a guess).

I'm imagining that Nip is using this Denon just to drive these 4 speakers, and not anything else in his house, but I could be wrong. If he wants to be able to power a separate, true 5.1 system in one room, and then use zone 2 (or zone 3) of the Denon to drive the outdoor speakers in addition, you'll need a way to have the input to zone 2 be mono (basically all of the options SumnerH listed above).

But, if I'm reading it right, the Denon is dedicated to just this function (i.e. it is massive overkill), and the 5/7/multi-channel stereo mode will be fine for this.