How do I wire 8 speakers to two out channels?

Question

I have a JVC 700 hundred and something watt 7.1 receiver. Stable at 6 - 16 ohms. I currently have 4, 8 ohm yamaha outdoor speakers to it wired in series for a 16 ohm load. I have bought 4 more speakers, do I now wire these parallel to get an 8 ohm load????? OR is there a better way to hook these up?

Answer 1

What are you using the system for?  For max output you should wire 7 of the speakers to your receiver and set the listening mode to 7-channel stereo.  How you wire them really depends on what type of listening you want to do with them.

Answer 2

You won't get an answer from JVC.

Also you do not have a 16 ohm load. You do not have a resistive load (in which case your math would work) but rather a impedance. Series or Parallel inductive loads are not a constant. And if you have avoided damage to your system so far you are lucky.

You need what is called distributed sound. Either with a impedance correcting switch or a 70V distributed system. For stereo Niles makes a great line of switches and amps that will give you much better results. Series configurations of speakers adds a host of issues, worst of all muddied sound.

70V systems are in the arena of professionals although you can make a rustic version with a little know how.