SPEAKER CONNECTIONS 9
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
HKTS 18 OM 10/6/06 1:34 PM Page 9
