RCA STA-3850 Preparation, Positioning Speakers, Connecting Speakers, Preparing the Speaker Wires

PREPARATION

Caution: Make all the necessary connections before you plug in or turn on the receiver.

POSITIONING SPEAKERS

Speaker (not supplied) placement can make a noticeable difference in your system’s sound. The guidelines in this section will help you choose the best locations. After you use your receiver for a while, you might want to try different locations for your speakers.

Bass response depends largely on speaker location. For strong bass, place the speakers in the corners of the room. If you want even stronger bass, place the speakers directly on the floor. If the bass is too strong, move the speakers slightly away from the corners of the room, or raise them 6 to 18 inches off the floor. You can buy speaker stands at your local RadioShack store.

The distance between the speakers should be about the same as the distance between the normal listening point and the point halfway between the speakers. If you place the speakers too close together, you reduce the stereo separation. If you place them too far apart, you reduce the bass effect and create a hole in the middle of the sound.

Most speakers have a tweeter dispersion angle of about 60 degrees. Ideally, your listening position should be just inside the overlap area of the tweeter dispersion. You can angle the speakers toward you for better stereo effect.

CONNECTING SPEAKERS

Follow these guidelines when you select and connect speakers.

•Only connect speakers that are rated at between 8 and 16 ohms.

•Be sure you properly connect all speakers.

•Do not connect two pairs of speakers to a single set of terminals (A or B) at the same time. When you use two pairs of speakers, connect one pair to the A SPEAKERS

terminals and the other pair to the B SPEAKERS terminals.

•Optimus, and other high-quality speakers have color- coded speaker terminals (red for positive polarity and black for negative polarity). Use these color-coded terminals as a guide to help you properly connect the speakers to the receiver.

Use 16-gauge (or larger) speaker wire for all speaker connections, and consider possible speaker locations before you decide how much speaker wire you need.

Preparing the Speaker Wires

Speaker wire consists of two conductors (individual wires) encased in insulation and is usually color-coded or marked with a ridge along one side so you can identify each conductor. Use these markings as a guide to help you properly connect the speakers to your receiver.

Follow these steps to prepare the speaker wires.

1.Cut the speaker wires to the necessary length.

2.Separate the wires about 4 inches on each end.

3.Using a wire stripper, carefully strip about 3/4 inch of insulation from the end of each conductor.

4.Twist the end of each conductor to secure any loose wire strands.

Caution: Twisting the end of each conductor helps prevent a short circuit because stray speaker wire strands do not touch other speaker terminals or any other receiver terminals.

Connecting Speakers to the A and B Terminals

Note:

•Be sure you connect the receiver’s right and left positive

(+) and negative (–) terminals to the speaker’s corresponding right and left positive (+) and negative (–) terminals.

•Fully insert the speaker wires to ensure a good connection. Leave extra wire at the back of the receiver so you do not disconnect the wires when you move the receiver.

Follow these steps to connect each speaker (A right or left or B right or left).

1.Press open the receiver’s positive ( +) red lever for the speaker you want to connect and insert the ridged or color- coded conductor’s end into the small hole. Release the lever to secure the conductor.

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