The first thing to point out is the actual speaker connection layout. Unlike many receivers, in which the speaker connections are packed into a one section of the rear panel, the speaker connections on the TX-SR875 are laid out in a horizontal row on the bottom of the rear panel. This layout is the best one I have seen on a home theater receiver. There is plenty of room to attach the speaker wire to the appropriate connectors. In addition, the horizontal layout also makes it easier to organize the speaker cabling.
The TX-SR875 can accommodate several types of speaker setups. Here are some of the setup options that can be used:
1. If you want to use a full 7.1 Channel setup, you can use the Front, Center, Surround, and Surround Back connections.
2. If you don't want to use the 7.1 Channel setup with the Surround Back option, you can exclude the surround back channel and just use the rest of the speakers in a 5.1 channel speaker setup.
3. If you want to Bi-Amp your front main speakers (some speakers have separate terminals for the tweeter/midrange and woofer sections). You can use the Main and Surround Back speaker terminals to accomplish this.
In addition to the physical speaker connections, you will also need to use the menu setup options of the receiver to send the correct signal information to the speaker terminals, based on what speaker configuration option you are utilizing.