Setting up reciever for whole house system

amoe · 04-07-2008, 10:01 PM

Ok, where do I start. I guess I should mention that I know very little about this stuff and what I do know i've learned in the last 24 hours.

We have a new house that has 8 speakers total in 4 rooms(2 per room). The 3 rooms that dont have the stereo equipment(family room) each have there own volume contro. The family room which is where the reciever is located does not have a wall mounted volume control and the speakers in that room must be controlled directly by the volume control on the reciever.

I bought a reciever yesterday. Here are some pics of the back.

bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat13506&type=page&skuId=8734006&productId=1201307759894&viewtype=backView&h=387

There are 6 wires coming out of the electrical box where the reciever is located. Heres a pic

flickr.com/photos/9192910@N05/2393186513/

The 4 white wires on the left are for the rear surround and front sound in the family room. I dont have front speakers and will be using this whole thing for stereo only. The back surround speakers are working and the wires are connected to the two left(positive and negative) push button connections on the back of the reciever that are labeled for "surround".

The 5th white wire which is taped to the blue wire goes from the reciever location(family room) to a junction box in the garage. Inside this 5th white wire are 4 other wires(black, white, red and green). I've wire nutted these 4 wires(black, white, red and green) in the junction box to the same type of white wire(same 4 wires inside) which head to the volume control in each of these 3 other rooms. I"ve connected the other end of the white wire to the "front speaker" push button connections on the reciever.

The good news is all the speakers throughout the house have sound. The bad news is the speakers in the family room are ALWAYS louder than the speakers in the other rooms. A friend told me that it was because I've wires the other 3 rooms to the "front speaker" portion of the reciever. Is that correct? How do I fix? He recomended connecting all the wires to the "surround" portion of the reciever so all wires have the same level of sound going to all speakers.

Problem #2 and probably the biggest problem! How can I shut off the speakers in the family room without shutting off speakers in any one of the other 3 rooms? It doesnt seem possible without purchusing more equipment which I dont want to do.

I'm sure i've butchered the explanation of this whole thing but oh well. Its worth a shot.

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Robert_J · 04-09-2008, 02:33 PM

Just a few things.

Your receiver isn't a multi-zone receiver from what I can tell. That means if you connect some speakers to the main outputs while connecting other speakers to the surround outputs, each will get different sounds. The music may be the same but the matrix surround processor added echo and phase changes to the channels to simulate surround sound. Have you thought about using a true whole house amp like this? Or maybe use a 2 channel receiver/amp and an impedance matching distribution box like of of these. You also have to make sure your volume control is compatible with the distribution method you choose. Some are more advanced and allow source selection and send a signal back to the amp to control the volume. Others are less complicated and use resistors or a transformer to control the volume. Parts Express and Smart Home have hundreds of components. Search for "Whole house audio" and it should return everything you need to complete your system.

Connecting multiple speakers to one set of outputs is not recommended unless you know what you are doing. I bet the volume controls are raising the impedance and preventing your new receiver from blowing up. You are lucky.

Your friend doesn't know what he is talking about. Don't take his audio advice.

You may have to purchase more equipment to get your system to run the way you want it to. Cobbled together systems will just frustrate you and the rest of the family. No one will use it and it will be money wasted.

Finally, why aren't you setting up your receiver with front speakers, etc. so you will get full surround sound?

-Robert

Wayne A. Pflughaupt · 04-10-2008, 06:44 PM

Welcome to the Forum, Andy!

Adding a bit to what Robert said, hopefully your receiver has some kind of "5-channel stereo setting?" If not, all you're getting from the the speakers hooked up to the rear channels will be "reverby" or "echoey" ambience effects.

Make sure you do not have more than one wire per speaker terminal. Ganging extra speakers to a connection is a sure recipe to ruin your receiver.

I'm afraid you're going to have to spend at least some money to solve the different volume issue. Your best bet is to install an L-pad for each location where the volume is too loud. You could install them in your equipment rack, behind the system. Keep in mind that even once these are installed, the volume in the other rooms is still controlled by the receiver. However, sometimes when systems of this type are installed there is provision for a wall-mounted volume control in each room where there are speakers. If that's the case, and the wires inside the box are the same ones at the receiver, you could install the L-pad there.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt



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