New Receiver to existing speakers?

[Born2RV]

Well, a little at a time I believe my husband and I are figuring out all of our equipment in our new motorhome - with all of your help, of course!! We've got the Kingdome working - YEAHHH!! Our motorhome came with 4 very nice Panasonic speakers and a sub-woofer installed, but the previous owner took the receiver with him. We have now purchased a nice receiver, since we'll be replacing the front tube TV this winter, and we'd like to hook the speakers back up to the receiver.

It appears that the speaker wires were undone from the previous receiver and bundled together in one big bundle. How do we BEGIN to figure out which wire is for which speaker?? Any good ideas? We go camping this weekend, and I hope to be able to work on it while hubby is at work Friday night. Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you!

[Harry B]

If the wires are paired, I would take an AA or AAA battery and intermittently connect it across the 2 wires. This should produce a popping sound each time contact is made and identify which speaker belong with the wire you are doing this to.

[Born2RV]

Great idea!!! Thank you!

[Richard S.]

The wiring drawings are available for Winnebago.

[offshore]

Never used the batteries before...good idea Harry.

[Born2RV]

WOW! Just back from a very productive weekend of camping for a couple reasons! First of all, thank you, Harry, for the great battery idea! It worked wonderfully!!! We paired and marked all the speaker wires. Just a couple questions though:

1) The speaker wires are color coded - but one is striped and one is solid. From the sound the battery makes when they are touched to positive and negative, it seems that the solid speaker wire is positive, while the striped is negative? The "static" sound seems to be clearer and louder this way. Could this be?
2) The sub-woofer has just the normal positive and negative speaker wires instead of the "plug" that's required on the receiver. We bought a "plug" (don't know the proper term?) and hubby said he'd wire the sub-woofer wires into the "plug". Will this work?

We have an older King Dome with just one LNB, but purchased a Dish 1000 on a tripod to use when we're at a location for longer than just a weekend. We have a Dish 311 AND a Dish 722 receiver in the front to support the Dome or the Dish 1000. We've come up with this drawing - http://www.irv2.com/forums/attachmen...1&d=1255886419

Our question is - when hubby installs his large LCD in the storage bay outside and uses his new Dish 1000 with tripod, he plans on running it to the Dish 622 receiver in the storage bay, then running a co-ax from the 622 receiver to the bedroom TV. We want the bedroom TV to be able to run off the bat wing antenna and the dome, controlled by the Fleetwood control box, AND, when applicable, be able to use the 2nd TV option from the 622 receiver in the storage bay. Would we have to use a splitter of some type to connect BOTH co-ax cables to the bedroom TV? Have we missed something on the diagram above? Thank you!!! We could never have done all this without all of you!!!

[Harry B]

BornToRV......Complex but I don’t see a problem with your drawing except TV2 & TV3. To connect TV2 and the TV3 you will have to install an A/B switch on each TV, that selects either the coax for the roof satellite antenna (Kingdome) or the dish 1000 (tripot) antenna.

You will also have to install a splitter just before connecting either the 622 or 722 receivers as they have dual inputs that need to be connected. The Dish Network splitter part number 123254 is the one needed for this and is compatible with the dish 1000 antenna.

Usually the striped or red wire on speaker wires indicates the positive wire but this rule is not cast in concrete.You might take a look at one of your speakers and see how it is connected there and if they are marked plus and minus.

It is not a major issue if those wires run directly from the amp to the speakers. Connecting the polarity correctly ensures that the phase of the signal between speakers is maintained, which enhances the bass sound. You may however not hear difference if connected in reverse.


I am not sure I understand the sub woofer and “plug” part of your question. Perhaps someone else will chime in on this issue.

[Theberrys]

Harry
It's not uncommon for the subwoofer to have a RCA Connection so this may be what there talking about.

As far as the speaker wires go it really doesn't matter which is Positive or Negative as long as all four are hooked up the same the phase will be preserved and there won't be any audio canceling between the speakers.

Dick

[Born2RV]

What type of A/B switch box should we use? Will we be able to find it at Radio Shack? TV 3 will be connected to the 622 Dish Receiver via a HDMI cable, while TV 2 will be connected to the 622 Dish Receiver via a coax. I noticed that the LCD TV in the bedroom is set to "antenna" and receives the Dome signal AND the antenna signal. If I change the TV 2 in the bedroom to "cable", won't it automaticall pick up the signal from the 622 Dish Receiver then? Do we still need an A/B switch on TV 3 even though it'll receive one signal through the coax from dome and antenna, and one signal from the HDMI cable? Can we just switch it over using the menu on the TV?

Also, the 722 Dish Receiver will only have ONE TV connected - TV 1 in the front of the coach. Since you said it's set up for dual input, will it cause any problems with just the one TV? We plan on running a coax from the Dish 1000 through the side window for TV 1, and the second coax to the 622 Dish Receiver in the storage bay. Does that make sense? We're open to any better ideas, group!

[Harry B]

What type of A/B switch box should we use? Will we be able to find it at Radio Shack? ............. Radio Shack has them. You need a coax A/B switch

TV 3 will be connected to the 622 Dish Receiver via a HDMI cable, while TV 2 will be connected to the 622 Dish Receiver via a coax. You're OK here and you don't need an A/B switch on this TV then

I noticed that the LCD TV in the bedroom is set to "antenna" and receives the Dome signal AND the antenna signal. If I change the TV 2 in the bedroom to "cable", won't it automaticall pick up the signal from the 622 Dish Receiver then? Do we still need an A/B switch on TV 3 even though it'll receive one signal through the coax from dome and antenna, and one signal from the HDMI cable? Can we just switch it over using the menu on the TV?
....... You will need an A/B switch if multiple coax cables are to be connected to the TV input. This allows you to switch/connect to the either signal sources

Also, the 722 Dish Receiver will only have ONE TV connected - TV 1 in the front of the coach. Since you said it's set up for dual input, will it cause any problems with just the one TV? We plan on running a coax from the Dish 1000 through the side window for TV 1, and the second coax to the 622 Dish Receiver in the storage bay. Does that make sense? We're open to any better ideas, group!
In order for either DVR to work the same as in the house, you will need to connect both inputs of the DVR to the dish antenna. If you only connect one input you will not be able to watch one program live, while the DVR is recording another program. You may also not record programs that are scheduled to record on the receiver that has no connection to it. Installing the splitter I mentioned P/N 123254 will resolve this problem

[Born2RV]

Harry, thank you so much for walking us through it! Hubby is taking the drawing to work today to "revise" and correct it. I'll post it again if you wouldn't mind taking one last look at it? We're going to use the 622 Dish Receiver for TV 3 and TV 2 (HD on #3, SD on #2) so there will be an HDMI running to TV3 from the 622, and a coax running to TV3 from the dome and antenna. No A/V switch there?

There will be a coax from the 622 receiver running to TV2 and a coax from the dome and antenna to TV2, so there WILL be an A/B switch there.

We've decided to purchase a 211 Dish Receiver for the front, so there will be an HDMI cable running from the 211 dish receiver to the front Sony receiver, and a coax running from the dome and antenna to the Sony receiver. No A/B switch there? Since the 211 only supports one TV, we won't have to worry about a splitter.

We won't have to worry about recording since I have a huge portable hard drive that we will bring with us. I take programs off the VIP 722 Dish receiver at our stick house that I've recorded, and put the USB in the USB slot in the Sony TV in the front of the coach. Sound good?

Thank you again! I'll post the corrected drawing once we complete it.