Ceiling speakers and Subwoofer

[Paddy]

So I have 6 ceiling speakers just installed in the main living room, with speaker wire running back downstairs to the 8 zone C4 Amp in the Rack.

Now. How do I get a subwoofer into the equation ??

has anyone done this with C4 ?

[tigrzeye]

quick question, with 6 speakers in the living room are you looking to do surround sound with movies etc??

[Paddy]

yeah it is like kitchen joined to family room typical setup, so i guess I could use a pair of them for movies

[CFUG]

I think he means do expect something other than Stereo experience from a C4 amp. There is a recent thread about how to cobble-in a sub into a C4 amp run. I'm not a fan of doing that. If you need 2.1, 5.1, etc. a dedicated Denon is what you should consider.

Other than that yes, you can have two sets of speaks on one amp zone. I have two pairs of stereo and one dual-channel all on one zone with L-Pads for all three rooms. I don't care what they say, L-Pads are damn handy.

[tigrzeye]

^ like Controlfouruserguy said.. C4 amp is for stereo sound. If you were using the 6 speakers and the sub in that room for surround sound you need to use a surround sound receiver. It could still be mounted in your rack, if you are centrally locating your equipment, and use the already run wires to the ceiling speakers. You would have to run cabling into the room for the sub woofer.

Digital music, like Rhapsody, would still play over the surround receiver as well. Announcements are a bit different though as you have to build in a delay to account for time for amp to turn on and respond. And you may not be able to set a default volume depending on the receiver used and whether the driver supports and controls default volumes.

Sorry I was late in reposting

[3fingerbrown]

I don't think we're addressing Paddy's question by just telling him to get a surround reciever. A surround sound reciever putting out 5.1 or 7.1 is in fact what many people do for sourround sound, but it may not work in his situation, and he may want to just stick with his ceiling speakers rather than cluttering up his room with 5 more speakers.

Adding a sub to a pair of stereo speakers is a great improvement for sound, so if it could be done easily and cheaply, it would be well worth it in terms of improving your sound quality for that room.

I have been thinking the same thing for my family room, which right now is a two channel setup. One idea was to use the sound signal going to the TV. If you have HDMI going to the TV, perhaps you could get a soundbar for the TV, that comes with a wireless subwoofer that you could be put anywhere in the room.

That would be a $299 solution, using this setup from Samsung. This would give you ceiling speakers and a soundbar, which would be better for sound direction.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_305HWC450/Samsung-HW-C450-AudioBar.html?tp=6485

[CFUG]

^Nobody said to ditch his ceiling cones. I run Denons into mine in three areas. I wont comment on the economics- I value SQ along with eliminating clutter.

[tigrzeye]

^second that.. I did say he could run the current in ceiling speakers off a surround receiver and just add sub in the room.. didn't I???

[Rsmolo]

just an idea

http://www.nilesaudio.com/product.php?prodID=CM950SUB&recordID=Ceiling Mount Loudspeakers&categoryID=Speakers&catcdID=1&prdcdID=FG01322

don't forget that c4 amp is stable down to 4ohms, so you don't want to connect 3 pairs of speakers in to 1 output.