Newbie question about adding 2 outdoor speakers to home theater

[krolmec]

Can some one please tell me the best way to add 2 outdoor speakers (to my patio) from my existing Home Theater System (Sony HT-DDW700) 5.1 surrond sound. My receiver has no a/b switch and the back ony has speaker input for the 6 speakers. Is a speaker switch a good option? And also could I have my inside speakers off and outside on? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[spf]

Can some one please tell me the best way to add 2 outdoor speakers (to my patio) from my existing Home Theater System (Sony HT-DDW700) 5.1 surrond sound. My receiver has no a/b switch and the back ony has speaker input for the 6 speakers. Is a speaker switch a good option? And also could I have my inside speakers off and outside on? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

A switch or speaker selector should work as long as you don't have proprietary connectors for your speaker inputs on your receiver. (Some Home Theatre in a Box units have this) My only advice is to not run all the speakers at the same time if you can help it. A friend of mine had an older Panasonic and tried to run 7 speakers off of its 5.1 capabilities and it just about cooked it after a house party. Cheers

Shane

[krolmec]

What are proprietary connectors?

[markw]

What are proprietary connectors?If you can use bare wires, you're fine. if all your speakers are connected to the subwoofer, don't try this.

"propriatary connectors" refer to some devices that don't easily allow the use of equipment made by other manufacturers. Bose is famous for this and some HT systems also incorporate them.

Only try it if all speakers connect directly to the receiver with bare wires or some other common system, such as RCA (round plugs like those on the back of a DVD or CD player) but.,ultimately, if the manufacturer thought the unit had enough cojones to handle two sets of speakers, they generally include that A/B switch..

[spf]

If you can use bare wires, you're fine. if all your speakers are connected to the subwoofer, don't try this.

"propriatary connectors" refer to some devices that don't easily allow the use of equipment made by other manufacturers. Bose is famous for this and some HT systems also incorporate them.

Only try it if all speakers connect directly to the receiver with bare wires or some other common system, such as RCA (round plugs like those on the back of a DVD or CD player) but.,ultimately, if the manufacturer thought the unit had enough cojones to handle two sets of speakers, they generally include that A/B switch..

Thanks Mark for explaining that proprietary thing better (Was in a rush this morning ...hehehe) and krolmec, he is right that if the recevier does not have its own A/B switch there could be some risk involved.

Shane

[Tarheel_]

Not much of a risk using a speaker selector. When i did my neighbor's system...he refused to buy a new receiver so i ran a 5.1 setup in his living room, added a selector box for his 12 room in-ceiling speakers PLUS ran a pair of speakers on his deck.
All this coming from a 1999 Sony that doesn't even has DTS.

You should be safe...just don't crank all the speakers at once. Even then, your receiver should go into Protect mode.