Big Grouch

I have a question for the stereo buffs. At work we have an el cheapo boombox so we can listen to the radio. It has two large speakers that look to me like they came with a 1980's rack system. They are mounted up near the ceiling in the shop, and are connected to the radio with some two conductor solid wire, not proper speaker wire.
I wanted to replace it with something better, I found a vintage Denon receiver for cheap. The seller demonstrated it for me, sounded great. But when I hooked it to the speakers at work, nothing. I'm sure I'm getting radio reception, there's a guage showing it. I have the A/B speaker switch on the correct setting, but not even static. I hooked it up to my home system, works great. Any ideas why the cheap cassette boom box will work with the speakers as they are but a Denon will not? The speakers are 30 feet off the floor, so I want to do research before I get the bucket lift and go up there. Thanks for any ideas.

cockney greg Loc: London E17

Maybe the cheapo boombox had a pre-amp and the Denon doesn't? Being a receiver maybe that's all it does and relies on an outside amp to boost it's signal.

larrywilk Loc: Palm Harbor, FL

Not sure but you may want to check impedance on the speakers. Make sure they are both 4, 8, 16 or whatever ohms and that it matches the receiver. Another thought, some receivers do just that - receive. They do not amplify the sound. Older stereo systems often comprised of receivers, turntable/tape, preamp, amp and speaker systems. The input(receiver) needed to be amplified enough to drive the speakers. Just a guess since I have not messed with any of this in years. :-)

Pictxterowner 3 D sbs

Check to see if you did not push the (vcr/tape two) button. If so it must be pressed again to release it.

Ambrose Loc: North America

What he said - or see if there's is some sort of output selection button that may ne turned off....

Big Grouch

As I said, it works at home on other speakers and speaker wire. All switches are set just as they should be. A receiver works by itself, if it was just a tuner it would need an amp. At home I just connected speakers to it, didn't run it through anything else, it worked beautiful.

Pictxterowner 3 D sbs

im confused about how the old speakers are hooked. they could have one commen ground wire and still be in stereo, or it may go from speaker to speaker (mono sound) you said it was not right?

Big Grouch

There is one, two conductor cable. running to each speaker. It appears to be hooked up correctly, as the current radio plays just fine in stereo. So at each speaker, one lead in the red connecter, one in the black connecter, just as they should be.

Tjon Loc: Wash DC

Last but not least if it is a old 4 channel amp/reciever you need to hook up 4 speaker of the same ohms!!!.. Wont work with just 2 speakers!!!...

Pictxterowner 3 D sbs

You did mention the speakers A and B button. So I ssume you ment A is on while B is off. I would want to have two speakers from home on site for testing the new unit just pryer to your next attemp and if possible a test of the 30 ft high speakers with your home reciever and amp. before the bucket truck comes.

rcirr Loc: Gilbert, Arizona

Most Denon's have extensive menues to set up. A lot of time, you have to assign inputs and outputs. I would get on line and try to find the user manual. They are usually available as free downloads. If you get the manual and have any questions, let me know and I'll try to help.

WNYShooter Loc: WNY

A quick way to make sure each speaker, as well as the wiring leading from each to the receiver, is actually working, is to touch the two leads to a 9V battery--one lead to the + and one to the -. you should hear a click from the speaker under test when you do this. (Note: you can also use this same method to insure that your speakers are wired in the same polarity)

If you hear clicks, now you need to make sure you have output at the speaker jacks of the receiver. You can do this with any speaker--even headphones or an ear plug. Make sure you have the volume turned down all the way and then only notch it up a little to check for output. If there is none, as previously mentioned, check that any speaker switches are on and that the tape 1 monitor switch is off.

There are really only three failure points, the speakers (and I seriously doubt both of them failed at the same time), the wiring between the speakers and receiver (which I wouldn't suspect if both were previously working in place), and the receiver output (this would be my suspect, and it's probably something simple.

Pepsiman Loc: New York City

How much power does the boom box have, ditto for the receiver? Did you turn the power on the receiver?

Pictxterowner 3 D sbs

Where we at? You wanna get the unit working at the shop first, bring two speakers you said they work from home. You get sound try hooking ceiling speakers to B see if you get four speaker sound, if not wire the ceiling speakers together with home speakers on A if your home speakers work and the other don't, call the bucket truck. I'm just dying to know though.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

When I purchased my first good stereo unit, the salesperson working with me on speakers told me that some speakers took more power to push than others. Maybe that's the problem you're running into here.