Zone 2 Audio, From Scratch

David_Miller · 10-24-2006, 10:01 AM

Hi guys, I searched around for some info on this and didn't find anything. Any suggestions on this rather vague request would be appreciated.

I have a main setup in a second floor family room with a Denon 2807 running to a 50 inch plasma and a 5:1 setup with all the components hidden in the closet using a Universal RF remote with blaster repeater.

I'd like to add audio in the sitting room and living room on the first floor of the house (and maybe a small flat screen in the living room that can be concealed behind artwork when not in use). It's a 100 year old victorian row house in DC, so the house is laid out front to back (house is about 25 feet wide and about 100 feet deep).

The family room with the setup is the front room on the second floor, the first floor living room is directly below that room with the sitting room the next room back.

I need to make some precise measurements, but I believe that the wall between the living room and sitting room is in line with the wall between the family room and the closet.

I can clone the remote and have one on the first floor to control the Denon (and tivo, dvd player, cd player) through the RF remote, so volume controls etc. are not necessary although if there are ideas for that kind of thing I'm all ears.

What I really need help with, I think, is what sort of speakers you would install and where (wall versus ceiling) in the living room and sitting room. The goal is not reference listening. We want to have background music for entertaining or for lazy Sundays reading the paper. It wouldn't suck to have the ability to watch tv down there too, but not a requirement, at least not at this time.

Any thoughts? Products? Installation issues? Something I haven't thought of?

More information you would need?

homthtr · 10-24-2006, 10:35 AM

Well First of all you have the correct receiver to do exactly what you are looking to do.

For the audio only portion the Denon's internal amp can be assigned so that the Surround Back ( you're not using since you have 5.1) can be assigned to output high level speaker out for your other zones.

The amp is also capable of sending a Composite video signal to another room as well.

If there is just one other room that you want to connect it's very simple.

You'll need to get wires from the Receiver to the Speaker locations in the other room and a video to the TV in the other room. The Denon 2807 has the ability to send a seperate video along with the audio to your second zone.

You'll need to Assign the amp in the setup menu to "zone2" Then just connect the surround Back speaker jacks on the back of your Denon to the Speakers in the other room. Same with the Video Cable the Yellow zone2 composite out from the Denon to your TV's Yellow Video in.

What remote are you using for controling this? I'll let you know how easy it is to clone the remotes, but you will need to add the Zone2 functions to the remote as it's probably not programmed for any Zone2 functions.

Let me know if your following me to this point.... and any issues.

and what the universal remote Make and Model is....

David_Miller · 10-24-2006, 10:46 AM

I am with you so far. Some responses/follow-ups:

Yeah, I bought the Denon with this in mind and finally pulled together the money to do stage 2.

The remote is this one:

http://www.universalremote.com/produ...l.php?model=98

with this in the closet:

http://www.universalremote.com/produ....php?model=101

It works really well, although it sometimes has some problems with some of the more advanced features of the Denon remote. (I have a lot of trouble understanding the Denon remote. Not sure if I am just stupid or if the remote is hard to use or both).

I assumed I would clone the remote and then learn the zone 2 commands on the downstairs version. I don't have to worry about messing up the family room tv because it is IR from the family room remote and the blaster is in the closet.

What would you suggest for speakers for general listening/background? Placement? I think I can easily get to the wall or the ceiling in both rooms without too much trouble.

(saw your responses in the 3 zone thread, hope this isn't going to be triple time....)

homthtr · 10-24-2006, 11:02 AM

No this is Quad time now!!

You'll have to decide on what kind of speakers you want and how you are getting wires from point A to point B.

You can do in Ceiling, In wall, Bookshelfs, whatever works for you will work with the system. Not being able to see this in perosn I can't really reccomend what you need and what your options are.. but the wiring doesn't change.

If you are doning 2 rooms you will want a seperate volume control for both zones. either an inwall volume control(impedance matching volume controls) or at least a Speaker selector in the closet with Volume controls to balance the volumes in the individual rooms. You will also need either of the above to take care of impedance matching for connecting more than one pair of speakers to the zone2 out.

If doing 2 rooms you'll want to run 16guage/4 condutor to the volume controls,( The volume controls will have to be impediance matching volume controls) if you are not going with inwall volume controls you can get away with using all 16/2 conductor wire. You could also use 14 guage wire, but it's not necessary.

That remote is totally cloneable... I don't have one in front of me right now, but I believe if you press and hold both the main and enter buttons for about 5-10 seconds it gets you into the programming mode. One of the options.. . and I believe it might be on page 2 in the programming mode.. mayby page (screen) 3 of the remote it says Clone..... the you have the option for "send" or "receive". When you clone the second remote be Very careful that the original remote is set to SEND and the new remote is set to Recieve. Otherwise you will totally whip out the first remote and have to start all over.

Once the second remote has been cloned to the first remote that just go back into the Programming mode and learn the Zone2 functions on another button or page.

The cloning process will transfer the RF commads also so It will control any video and audio equipment through the base station. The only thing that will actually be dependant on the IR will be the TV power and Input selection on the Zone2 tv.

David_Miller · 10-25-2006, 03:22 PM

Thanks.

The idea about the in wall volume controls is a good one. So, this way I can have independent sound levels in each of the two rooms.

I did some measurements/exploring last night and the wall in the closet is lined up with the wall between the living room and the sitting room on the first floor, so dropping wires for in wall speakers should be fairly simple to do.

What factors should I be considering when deciding between in wall versus in ceiling speakers? Installation in the wall is probably simpler. Both rooms are about 25 X 15.

If in wall, how high?

Any thoughts on specific products that will deliver nice clean sound in suh an installation?

**HTF Ads**

homthtr · 10-25-2006, 07:54 PM

Actually ceiling speakers are probably easier than inwall if you are working from the attic. You don't have the fish the wires back down into the wall for the speakers, but you will have to fish a four conductor down to the volume control along with 2-2 conductors up for the speakers so it's kinda you choice of either inwall or inceiling. In ceilings are nice for ambient sound like in a dining room, inwalls would be great for the room that you will have the TV connected also. but either will work in either situation. Normally inwalls are somewhere about 60-70" above the floor, but that will vary depending on the total height of the room.

I like Russound, Speakercraft, Polk, just to name a few for inwalls. It doesn't sound like you are going to be using this for anything more that background music so you don't really need to go nuts with the top of the line speakers.



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