Need Advice On Setting Up Home Audio System

[Daniel Johnson]

Ok, so I'm trying to send an audio signal from my computer's sound card through a Yamaha RX-V377 5.1 Channel Receiver, which claims to support 100 watts per channel, to 4, 50-watt 4-ohm tactile transducers (basically just a type of speaker) and also a set of Logitech Z506 75 watts RMS with the Yamaha YBA-11 Bluetooth Wireless Audio Receiver hooked up as well.

So here's the plan so far:

1. Signal comes out of sound card via 3.5 mm jack to RCA adapter cable
2. Signal enters Audio on receiver via 3.5 mm jack to RCA adapter cable
3. Signal exits via AV Out AND via speaker connections (front-left, front-right, rear-left, rear-right, center is not used)
4. Each speaker connection goes to a seperate 50-watt 4-ohm transducer
5. AV Out goes to green 3.5 mm jack on the powered subwoofer in Logitech Z506 speaker set via another RCA to 3.5 mm jack adapter cable
6. Black and Orange 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm audio cables are connected from sound card to powered subwoofer
7. Yamaha YBA-11 Bluetooth Wireless Audio Receiver's RCA cable is plugged into either AV 2's or AV 3's coaxial port on receiver and powered via USB from the DC Out on receiver

My goal is to play audio through all speakers at once, and with 100 watts per channel the transducers wouldn't even come close to max, leaving plenty of room for a simple 75 watt surround sound speaker set, which actually won't even be powered by the receiver I don't believe..., and also to be able to switch the receiver to the bluetooth input and play audio wirelessly from my phone or any other bluetooth capable device.

The only issue I can come up with is that the transducers are 4-ohm and on the back of the receiver it cautions using anything below 8-ohms, saying to read the instruction manual for the correct setting when using speakers below 8-ohms.

I'd be fine with running 4 pairs of transducers in parallel to achieve this if necessary, but since I can't check the manual, could the receiver possibly support 4-ohm speakers?

Other than that, would this work?

I know it's a ton to read and very complex, but I need this to work or something similar where I can play audio to my speakers and transducers all at the same time. The Bluetooth capability is not required but is a nice bonus. I want to use this for gaming purposes where I can hear the game audio through my speakers and then have tactile feedback through the transducers into the chair I'll be sitting in.

Thank you guys for being super amazing and helping out

 

[kanewolf]

You would run the 4 ohm transducers in SERIES not parallel. In parallel they would be 2 ohms. In series they are 8 ohms.

 

[Daniel Johnson]

You would run the 4 ohm transducers in SERIES not parallel. In parallel they would be 2 ohms. In series they are 8 ohms.

Ah yes, my mistake, I knew this just typed the wrong word. Any ideas on if this would work in the real world?

 

[kanewolf]

You would run the 4 ohm transducers in SERIES not parallel. In parallel they would be 2 ohms. In series they are 8 ohms.

Ah yes, my mistake, I knew this just typed the wrong word. Any ideas on if this would work in the real world?

Not a clue. The wired stuff should work. Using RCA jacks will only give you stereo audio. You won't get multi-channel audio. If your sound card can handle it you might want to use multi-cable output to the Logitech for true multi-channel audio example --

 

[Daniel Johnson]

You would run the 4 ohm transducers in SERIES not parallel. In parallel they would be 2 ohms. In series they are 8 ohms.

Ah yes, my mistake, I knew this just typed the wrong word. Any ideas on if this would work in the real world?

Not a clue. The wired stuff should work. Using RCA jacks will only give you stereo audio. You won't get multi-channel audio. If your sound card can handle it you might want to use multi-cable output to the Logitech for true multi-channel audio example --

Well in order for game audio to be played into the transducers, it would have to go into the receiver, since the logitech set has no where to attach speaker cables, and the only way to do that is from the green 3.5 mm jack output to RCA input on the receiver.
But now I realize, and I think it's kind of what you're saying, is that doing this only feeds the front audio into those transducers, not the rear audio (orange 3.5 mm jack) as well. So even if it did work, the transducers would only hit when it receives audio through the green jack which is all front sound - it's no better than using 2 channel stereo really.
But I think in order to send the orange jack's signal into the receiver and back out the same way as the green jack's signal I would need a receiver with dual inputs and dual outputs. I should be able to leave the black 3.5 mm jack alone, as I don't think I'll be needing any subwoofer audio in the transducers.
So I guess I'm off to find a better receiver...

 

[Daniel Johnson]

On second thought, I'd need both inputs and both outputs on the same input and output (both as Video 1, for example), which I'm guessing is rare or non-existent. Would it be possible to mix the two signals together using a pre-amp/mixer? I've read that simply using a Y-splitter creates horrible sound quality.
Ugh, so complicated.

Edit: No, I think doing this would only produce all the sounds I want, but still only as 2 channel stereo basically.

 

[Daniel Johnson]

I think the only way I could think for this to truly work is if I used two of these receivers, sending the green 3.5 mm jack and front transducers to one, and sending the orange 3.5 mm jack and rear transducers to the other, this would give me dual RCA inputs and dual RCA outputs while keeping the signals separate from one another.
It's the best idea I have, worth a shot I guess.

 

[Daniel Johnson]

Upon further review, I've ran into yet another brick wall. I believe plugging the 3.5 mm jack output into the RCA Audio input would play that audio to the transducers ONLY, NOT to the AV OUT as well. But...even plugging the 3.5 mm jack output into AV 4 or AV 5 would play audio ONLY to the AV OUT, NOT to the transducers as well.
This, however, is merely a guess, but seems right to me.

 

[Daniel Johnson]

This still might be possible if I were to use a 1-female to 2-male RCA Y-Splitter on each of the RCA plugs from the 3.5 mm jack to RCA cable adapter, effectively giving me 4 male RCA plugs coming from the green 3.5 mm jack output. 2 of these could go into the Audio input ports, supplying signal to the front transducers, and the other 2 of these could go into a 2-female RCA to 3.5 mm jack, which gets plugged into the green port on the powered subwoofer.
And then this would be copied for the orange 3.5 mm jack output into the second receiver, except it would supply signal to the left and right rear transducers.
Yes, the signal would have some loss from being split, but it should do the job just fine....I think....

 

[Daniel Johnson]

I actually think I found the best solution, which is to not use the 3.5 mm jacks at all, but instead just send the audio out the Digital Optical output port of the sound card into AV 1 on the receiver in the digital optical port and then just hook up the speakers like normal front to front, rear to rear, center to center, and sub pre out to subwoofer. Then all I have to do is take speaker wire and run it to each speaker, and from each speaker run wire to each transducer (second set of speakers) on the office chair. The impedance should be fine, since running a set of 6-ohm speakers and 4-ohm speakers in series makes 10-ohms. Would I be able to use banana plugs to bring the signal in to each speaker and then run speaker wire out through bass pass filters to the transducers, or would I only be able to use straight wire for bringing the signal in and then back out?