5.1 Surround Sound system help

[Doomed User]

Looking to buy a Sony DAV-TZ140 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker/DVD Player duo, and I have a question.

• We already have 4 set of Sony speakers that can generally be used as Front L/R and Rear L/R. About 18-24'' in height and maybe a foot in length. We currently do not have any extra speaker wire for them that I know of. Is it possible to find wire to hook them up to a setup like this:

Sorry for poor pic, didn't feel like getting up off the couch to take a pic with my phone, so I did it with my laptop.

[Bobamatic]

General speaker wire is easy to find in local stores.  If you're going for heavy gauge look at monoprice stuff on Amazon or their site.  It's cheap and good.

[Dustin Hart AM]

Make sure your speakers have matching impedance to what that player puts out. A lot of speakers are 8ohm's so you might be alright but mismatching can lead to issues especially with lower end power sources like that Sony player you're looking at. If that matches up then you can power those speakers I just wouldn't expect a lot from them given the source is probably meant to drive much smaller satellite speakers. Basic speaker wire will do the job which like Bobamatic said can be found locally or online through amazon/monoprice.

[Doomed User]

4 hours ago, Dustin Hart AM said:

Make sure your speakers have matching impedance to what that player puts out. A lot of speakers are 8ohm's so you might be alright but mismatching can lead to issues especially with lower end power sources like that Sony player you're looking at. If that matches up then you can power those speakers I just wouldn't expect a lot from them given the source is probably meant to drive much smaller satellite speakers. Basic speaker wire will do the job which like Bobamatic said can be found locally or online through amazon/monoprice.

So if I were to buy an RCA one I saw, with smaller left and right front/back speakers than the ones I have, than it would lead to sound issues if I used my Sony's? I don't understand 100% how that would work (I get the idea though) but thanks for the info.

[Dustin Hart AM]

Not necessarily. Generally audio quality relies a lot on what is powering the speakers and the quality of the source. Typically any kind of integrated player unit or home theater in a box (HTIB) setups are meant to power really low end speakers and don't drive more conventional speakers properly. Your sony's might be more set up for traditional audio receivers than the HTIB player mentioned in your first post. I think if you were to really drive those speakers at high volumes with that unit you'd probably run the risk of over-stressing the amp before you'd mess up the speakers. If you're anywhere near a major city you might be able to find an older but still solid 5.1 receiver from companies like Denon, Yamaha, Marantz, etc. for a decent price. Just feed the receiver an optical or coax cable from your preferred source and you'll be good to go.

[Doomed User]

On 11/2/2016 at 7:39 PM, Dustin Hart AM said:

Not necessarily. Generally audio quality relies a lot on what is powering the speakers and the quality of the source. Typically any kind of integrated player unit or home theater in a box (HTIB) setups are meant to power really low end speakers and don't drive more conventional speakers properly. Your sony's might be more set up for traditional audio receivers than the HTIB player mentioned in your first post. I think if you were to really drive those speakers at high volumes with that unit you'd probably run the risk of over-stressing the amp before you'd mess up the speakers. If you're anywhere near a major city you might be able to find an older but still solid 5.1 receiver from companies like Denon, Yamaha, Marantz, etc. for a decent price. Just feed the receiver an optical or coax cable from your preferred source and you'll be good to go.

Probably won't be blasting it at high volumes considering my room is literally right next to my parents' room, and we live on the 2nd floor of a 3-story apartment building. I was going to get a receiver but figured it would be easier to just get a Blu-Ray player and be done with it. I'm gonna see if I can get both and hook up the speakers through the receiver. Thanks a bunch!