Multi-zone home theater (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

I'm looking at receivers to do mulitple zones. I have a living room to setup surround sound in plus i'd like to add 1 ceilling speaker in the dining room, probably 2 in the living room and another one for ourdoors in the backyard. I'm debating adding to the bed rooms as well. I would like to be able to operate each zone independently at times to play different sources ( Pandora, Sirius, TV, etc ). I'm having a complete renovation done and in the next week or 2 all the walls will be completely open so it's the perfect time to run all the wiring.

any advise on the proper receiver and/or speaker's or other equipment would be much appreciated.

Thank you

You should never install a single speaker.Everything should be stereo(Makes it simpler). If you want one spot, buy single source stereo speakers.How much cash are throwing here?

I started with just a home theater and have some options from a previous post here but when thinking about a way to lay it out ( and also someone raving to me about Sonos ) has shuffled stuff around. I'm not crazy about having power outlets in the ceiling. For the budget i'm thinking of setting my max around 5k for my TV home theater & the different rooms. The rooms are not big, my dining room is 14 X 12, the dinette is basically 7 X 11.5

Thank you

Ugh one more question, I read other postings and know you prefer Plasma's. I was eyeing up this panasonic TV but of course its now not available at the sites I was going to order from ( Panasonic 55" Class 1080p 600Hz 3D Plasma Smart HDTV-TC-P55ST60 ), I still think Plasma makes the best quality, i have 2 that are about 5 and 6 years old that still run great. Do you have a preference of a TV? i'm thinking 55 or 60 inches.

thanks

Samsung 5500/8500 plasma. Those have better 3D anyway, I'll bring up the Pioneer 1523 again, cause it is $1000...till gone.Lowest priced 9 channel AVR (and it does digital Zone 2/3)

Okay, will look for the TV & more at the AVR. Quick info on their website I see I can control it with my IPAD which would make using multiple zones helpful.

In your experience for the multiple zones does it make sense to just have 2 zones? If I have the 4 spots to have sound ( Living Room, Dining room, Kitchen area & back yard ), i'd like to either have all the same or potentially different. I guess having zone 1 as the living area and the rest of the house as another zone wouldn't be bad, maybe i'm over thinking it. I currently am not set on any speakers for any of the rooms ( I currently own some old ones which an old receiver so most likely would look to upgrade ). My inputs would be blue ray and PS4 to start for whichever TV.

Thank you

Where did you see that AVR for 1000? I'm in general looking for new unless you know somewhere that is certified

The rooms aren't really big but in general you would recommend 2, one in each corner? I'm going to have the walls open in 2-3 weeks, in general i've read it could work as well with one but I really want to make sure this is setup correct the first time. Your comment on 2 makes sense to me, i would think 2 in the dining room, 1 in the dinette and 1 in the kitchen ( shaped like a capital T the 2 rooms are ). I saw some Polk ceiling speakers that got ok reviews but i'm very open to suggestions for the speakers if you have one that works better.

Thanks

Amazon had the 1523 for $1000, did it go back up?

Even better, Amazon has warehouse deals under $830.

it looks like they are all used through the marketplace, for something like that i'd be little concerned about the used part or am I over thinking?

Amazon Warehouse Deal is customer return, just as it were open box at Target, Kmart, Best Buy and HH Gregg.As far as the manufacturer cares.It is new.

Okay thank you. I'll do some research on that, as far as general setup for the home theater and zones do you have a good reference layout you look at?

Reference? No.

Every set up is different. Essentially..we would need to know everything to offer a guide.

How many sources?
What are those sources?
What is the content provided by those sources?
What, of those sources, is also meant for being used in the other zones?
Want video in any of those other zones?
How many other zones are there?
Do you want "all these other zones" to have access to 1 thing...or want those zones access to 2 different things? 3 different things? 4 different things?

Sources: PS4, maybe Xbox, blue ray dvd, perhaps ipad/ipod or some type of music device and of course cable. Streaming services ( Sirius, Pandora, etc )

I'd lke to share the sources so if we have say a football game in the living room it can be broadcast through the house, or if we have music streaming it can be through the house. OR if we want football in the living room and spotify in the dining room, kitchen/dinette & the outside we can zone it so that could work. I don't know if i'm over thinking the zoning but maybe they do not need to be individual each maybe we can get away with just having 2 or 3 and have them shared. The dining area is pretty close to the living room and kitchen so i don't think we'd be able to play something in the dining that didn't match one of the other rooms. the kitchen is far enough away where the living room and it can be separate but now the dining room.

thanks

With the 626...Your PS4 would need HDMI and an analog audio connection(can it do that?)The ipad/iPod would use Bluetooth to stream. If the onboard is usable zone 2, great. If not, you need a $40 BMR.The cable box(for its audio) would need an analog, as well as the HDMI. Many cable boxes kill the other outputs when HDMI is active. If yours does, use component/ toslink and analog.The Denon X3000 would not need the extra analog connections.

PS4 is only HDMI, will have to check on my cable box but pretty sure it has an analog line ( time warner in NYC ). The 626, you're referring to another AVR?

If your sources that you want to use for zone 2 do not have an analog...You need a digital zone AVR. The Denon x3000

ah gotcha, sounds like most of my sources will be digital minus that cable box if i need to use the analog.
Looking at this for the speakers, how would the connectivity work to a second zone? If i wanted to make a second zone, 2 speakers in the dining room or 1 stereo, 2 in the kitchen area and one outdoors? I see the inputs for all the surround sound speakers

thanks

Get a 4 pair speaker switch(typically there are no odd number switches)

Find the thread Ron(the owner) Just started about Denon and Marantz. They just signed an agreement with Crestron.The X3000 is included and makes your endeavor much simpler.