Receiver -> Powered Soundbar?
December 10, 2019 4:17 AM Subscribe
I got a good deal on a nice receiver and am trying to convert my home theater setup. I used to use a soundbar and kinda liked it. Now, however, I accidentally have an apartment with 4 ceiling surround-sound speakers, and want to still incorporate my soundbar. Should I buy an attenuator?
I have two issues:
1) It might be nice to keep the soundbar involved. It saves me ~$100 buying new R+L speakers, and I'll still have it if I move away. The soundbar also powers a subwoofer (which has no other input), and has a further out for two satellites. So, bonus if I can keep soundbar involved.
2) But, R+L speaker-wire outputs from receiver are powered, and if they go into the soundbar R+L inputs, that will probably Be Bad. Can't put a powered output into another amplifier, right? There is an unpowered subwoofer out on the receiver, but no unpowered R+L.
Should I try to buy an attenuator ("L-pad" or ?) to route Receiver_RL -> Soundbar_RL? What value attenuation is appropriate? Or should I just toss the soundbar+subwoofer, as things not worthy of my sophistication?
I have two issues:
1) It might be nice to keep the soundbar involved. It saves me ~$100 buying new R+L speakers, and I'll still have it if I move away. The soundbar also powers a subwoofer (which has no other input), and has a further out for two satellites. So, bonus if I can keep soundbar involved.
2) But, R+L speaker-wire outputs from receiver are powered, and if they go into the soundbar R+L inputs, that will probably Be Bad. Can't put a powered output into another amplifier, right? There is an unpowered subwoofer out on the receiver, but no unpowered R+L.
Should I try to buy an attenuator ("L-pad" or ?) to route Receiver_RL -> Soundbar_RL? What value attenuation is appropriate? Or should I just toss the soundbar+subwoofer, as things not worthy of my sophistication?
+1 model numbers
The biggest disadvantage I see is that if you use the soundbar’s built-in amplifier, you’d have two volume levels to adjust simultaneously.
Does the amplifier have a line-level “tape” out? Or a Zone 2 output?
How would you feel about taking the case off the sound bar and extracting the speaker wire that feeds its R+L speakers? No idea how well this would work; the resistance might not match and your amplifier might blow them out.
Personally I’d use the sound bar in another room.
posted by supercres at 5:40 AM on December 10, 2019
The biggest disadvantage I see is that if you use the soundbar’s built-in amplifier, you’d have two volume levels to adjust simultaneously.
Does the amplifier have a line-level “tape” out? Or a Zone 2 output?
How would you feel about taking the case off the sound bar and extracting the speaker wire that feeds its R+L speakers? No idea how well this would work; the resistance might not match and your amplifier might blow them out.
Personally I’d use the sound bar in another room.
posted by supercres at 5:40 AM on December 10, 2019
Response by poster: Soundbar is VIZIO S4251w-B4 5.1
https://www.vizio.com/s4251wb4.html
TV is outputting optical sound to Onkyo HT-RC160
https://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-RC160-7-2-Channel-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B0028AD7BE/
Ceiling speakers are unknowns, connected via speakerwire.
---
Ok, on a second look, receiver has Zone 2 line out. I was using it for the ceiling speakers in the bathroom + kitchen.
I suppose I could shift everything over: soundbar gets zone 2 line out, which I summon for movie watching; kitchen/bathroom gets "Surround Back", which is excluded when using Zone 2. 4 ceiling speakers are Front Speakers + Surround speakers. Only downside here is I have music playing all over the house when I'm in the shower?
posted by tintexas at 5:59 AM on December 10, 2019
https://www.vizio.com/s4251wb4.html
TV is outputting optical sound to Onkyo HT-RC160
https://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-RC160-7-2-Channel-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B0028AD7BE/
Ceiling speakers are unknowns, connected via speakerwire.
---
Ok, on a second look, receiver has Zone 2 line out. I was using it for the ceiling speakers in the bathroom + kitchen.
I suppose I could shift everything over: soundbar gets zone 2 line out, which I summon for movie watching; kitchen/bathroom gets "Surround Back", which is excluded when using Zone 2. 4 ceiling speakers are Front Speakers + Surround speakers. Only downside here is I have music playing all over the house when I'm in the shower?
posted by tintexas at 5:59 AM on December 10, 2019
Response by poster: small detail: it may be true that Zone 2 does not get digital (incl optical) inputs.
posted by tintexas at 6:02 AM on December 10, 2019
posted by tintexas at 6:02 AM on December 10, 2019
From a quick look at the manuals, the receiver has HDMI ins & an out, so I'm thinking something like your BluRay player/cable box/streaming devices go to the HDMI ins of the receiver, send the HDMI out to the TV, connect the TV audio outs to the soundbar system and the receiver surround speaker outs to the installed speakers. The wrinkle there would be that since you're not using your main L+R outs of the receiver, if you're listening to a CD or something that's just audio you'd still have to have your TV on just to pass the audio through to the soundbar system.
posted by soundguy99 at 3:52 PM on December 10, 2019
posted by soundguy99 at 3:52 PM on December 10, 2019
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