Harman-Kardon HKTS 18 owner manual Speaker Connections, Speaker-LevelConnection Guide

SPEAKER CONNECTIONS

Speaker-Level Connection Guide

IMPORTANT NOTE: Before making speaker connections, be certain that your receiver or audio power amplifier is turned off and preferably unplugged from its AC power source. The SUB-TS18 subwoofer should not be connected to an AC power source until all speaker wire connections have been made.

Speakers and electronics terminals have corresponding (+) and (–) terminals. Most manufacturers of speakers and electronics, including Harman Kardon, use red to denote the (+) terminal and black for the (–) terminal.

Newer Harman Kardon receivers conform to the new CEA standard and therefore use a color other than red or black for the (+) ter- minal to indicate some speaker positions: e.g., surround left. Although the HKTS 18 system has red and black collars on the individual speaker terminals to denote the positive and negative connections, your system includes a colored band on the positive lead at both ends of every speaker cable and a matching colored sticker for each of the four satellite speakers, conforming to the chart on page 7. The center speaker has a green (+) terminal, and the subwoofer

has a purple SUB input jack. This system is intended to help you ensure that the speaker in each location is connected to the correct terminals on your receiver or amplifier.

The (+) lead of the speaker wire is indicated with a stripe and has the colored band cor- responding to the speaker’s position. It is important to connect all speakers identically:

(+)on the speaker to (+) on the amplifier and (–) on the speaker to (–) on the ampli- fier. Wiring “out of phase” results in thin sound, weak bass and a poor stereo image.

With the advent of multichannel surround sound systems, connecting all of the speakers in your system with the correct polarity remains equally important in order to preserve the proper ambience and directionality of the program material.

To connect the supplied speaker wires to the satellite and center speaker terminals located on the bottom of each speaker, press the red or black tab, insert the bare end of the wire into the hole and release the tab. Gently tug on the wire to make sure that it is fully inserted.

For the best performance, Harman Kardon recommends that the subwoofer be con- nected using either the Line-Level Subwoofer (SUB) Input § or the Line- Level Full-Range Inputs ¶. However, if the application requires the use of the speaker-level connections for the subwoofer, unscrew the binding-post collar until the pass-through hole in the center post is visi- ble under the collar. Insert the bare end of the wire through this hole; then screw the collar down until the connection is tight. The hole in the center of each collar is intended for use with banana-type connectors.

SPEAKER CONNECTIONS 9