need help setting up 2 B&W CM7s to a Denon AVR 3310CI receiver

[foxycheri]

All the instructions discuss is surround sound. How do you set up just a pair of speakers? Are they front, center, bi-amp or what? I'm so lost.
Thanks.

[Dmantis]

I'm assuming you just want to listen to 2 channel? Then why buy a surround receiver? You should have picked up a Stereo Rotel receiver or preamp and amp.

Anyway I'll give you a few very basic pointers that will start you on the right foot.

1) Measure the Distance to the center of your listening position to the center of which the front speakers are going to be placed.
2)Tak that measurement and go 3/4 the distance wide for the front left and right speakers to be apart. You can go the full distance which would be called equal triangle technic but that doesn't work for B&W speakers as far as my experience goes.
3) Make sure they are at least 12 inches from the back wall and side walls. 2 to 3 feet would be better but really not practical in most living spaces.
4) Now point the speaker directly at the listening position at your ears. If you where sitting you should look at the left or right speaker and barely see the inside side of the speaker and have no ability to see the outside of either speaker. This will give you very focused center image and excite the entire wall behind to appear as if it was apart of the speaker. What I mean is now left and right sounds like 1 huge wall size speaker.

There are so many more things to do with angles , tilt , decoupling etc etc etc but these few very basic technics will get you to some damn good 2 channel reproduction.

Have fun , go read all you can about 2 channel speaker placement with B&W speakers. It sound be all in the manual.

The CM7's are one of my very favorite speakers. For that kind of money they are a true gem of the audio world. Love em.

[foxycheri]

Thanks for the info. I am trying to determine where to actually connect them in the receiver. I am leaning towards hooking them up to the input labeled 'front' speakers.
Would you agree?

Yes, I'm kicking myself on the receiver. But it is bought now so have to figure it.

[David Meek]

Hi Foxy, welcome to The Guide! :welcome:

I found an image to use for this thread: Denon 3310ci back

Yes, use the Front-A connections (over to the left side of all the speaker posts). There is also a Front-B (over to the right) which you could use to power two speakers in another room. Hope this helps.

Don't kick yourself about getting a surround receiver. It just means you'll have the capability to set up a multi-channel system if you ever get the urge.

[greenhorn]

Hope upi like the CM7's have a pair myself. Used to be hooked up to a Denon too. Nice 2 way set up.

[Blindamood]

You will also need to go into the receiver's Setup menu, and 'tell' it you're only using two speakers. For example, set Front Left/Right speakers to "On" (and probably "Large") if you're not using a subwoofer. All other speakers would need to be set to "Off" (Center, Surrounds, Sub). This will ensure that the full signal is getting sent only to these speakers.

Additionally, you'll want to set the mode to either "Direct", "Pure Direct" or "Stereo". Direct or Pure Direct will send the signal straight through, while "Stereo" will enable the use of Audyssey processing or manual sound adjustments. Pure Direct is straight through, and also turns off the display on the front of the receiver.