Denon 3803 Surround Back/Zone 2 Question (1 Viewer)

[Nick B]

Hello All:

Talk about wanting it all! I have a Denon 3803 that is currently driving my HT system. I currently have a 7.1 set-up, utilizing two side surrounds and two back surrounds. I now wish to add two new speakers in another room and utilize the Zone 2 feature. The problem is, as far as I can gather from the manual, I must choose between Zone 2 and Surround Back. However, I do have an open pair of speaker outputs with my 7.1 set-up. The 3803 offers a choice of Surround A or Surround B for the side surrounds. Could I run my new speakers as Zone 2, and use both Surround A and Surround B simultaneously? Or would this make me lose my "back" channel? Thank you in advance for your input.

NickB

 

[BrianWoerndle]

"Could I run my new speakers as Zone 2, and use both Surround A and Surround B simultaneously? Or would this make me lose my "back" channel? Thank you in advance for your input."

NO. If you run surround A+B all 4 speakers will get the surround signal, and you will not get the surround back channel.

The 3803 only has 7 amps. Since you want 7 speakers in the main room you will need to buy a seperate amplifier for the Zone 2 speakers and hook it up to the Zone 2 Preouts.

 

[Nick B]

Hello Brian, and thank you for your response. Your response makes clear that I must use the Surround Back channel to get the Surround Back effects, but is there a way of wiring both Surround Back and Zone 2 and switching back and forth?

After my post, I realized that I left out some important information. At no time will I ever need to have the 7 speakers in the home theater room running at the same time as the 2 Zone 2 speakers. It will always be one or the other. Does this change your opinion?

Again, thank you for your input. I greatly appreciate the advice.

Nick B

 

[dan-0]

Your 3803 has front A & B speakers. Can't you wire your zone two speakers as the B speakers, then using the front speaker button on the face of the 3803 to toggle between the two?

 

[ScottCHI]

no, it doesn't. your 2803 does, but not the 3803.

 

[Nick B]

DAMN! Should have gotten the 2803! Problem would have been solved. How about some sort of speaker switching device? Is anyone here familiar with brands they would recommend, or that I should stay away from?

Nick