So freaking lost... (1 Viewer)

Hello to all. First post here and am in need of massive help as the people down at Best Buy seem to be about as clueless as me.

I just moved into a brand new house that has in ceiling speakers. There is the living room with 5 speakers, master bedroom w/ 2 speakers, master bathroom w/ 2 speakers, office w/ 2 speakers, and patio w/ 2 speakers. All the speaker wires are coming out of the wall in the living room. Besides the living room, each room has a volume control in it.

I had bought an LG Bluray/receiver combo package with speakers and subwoofer about 2-3 years ago.

I went to hook up speakers to my LG bluray/receiver and realized there are more speaker wires than there are speaker hookups.

I thought I needed a multi room capability receiver, but then the one friend of mine who knows about audio says I need a multi room amp.

All I really want to be able to do is watch tv in the living room and play music throughout the rest of the house. Don't need to have each room listening to something different.

What do I really need???

I would get a 5.1 channel receiver to power the living room, and a separate 8 channel amp to power the rest of the house. That way all parts of the system are available at all times. You could watch a movie in the living room with music playing in all of the other rooms at the same time.You could get by with a 5.1 channel receiver to power the living room and a two channel amp connected to a switchbox for the rest of the house, but that would limit the rest of the house to having audio in one room at a time. It would be worth spending a few bucks more for the 8 channel amp.

Carl Johnson said:

I would get a 5.1 channel receiver to power the living room, and a separate 8 channel amp to power the rest of the house. That way all parts of the system are available at all times. You could watch a movie in the living room with music playing in all of the other rooms at the same time.You could get by with a 5.1 channel receiver to power the living room and a two channel amp connected to a switchbox for the rest of the house, but that would limit the rest of the house to having audio in one room at a time. It would be worth spending a few bucks more for the 8 channel amp.

Click to expand...

So my existing bluray/receiver would be ok to use for living room and then just buy an amp?

Sorry if its a dumb question, I used to work at Best Buy way back in the day when they had Video and Audio as separate septs...I worked in Video so am pretty much clueless on Audio.

Also what amp would you recommend?

Your current bluray / receiver can almost certainly handle five channels, so that would work for the living room.I've never had need for an eight channel receiver so I can't recommend a specific model. I did a quick search and they seem to start in the $300 range.

In the first post you said amp, and now you said receiver. Im assuming you meant to say amp in 2nd post as well?

Well a receiver is an amp and a preamp in the same box. The preamp alters the sound with bass, treble, volume, balance, etc. The amp simply amplifies the signal and sends it to the speakers.If your amp has a volume and bass control on it, then it is a receiver. The terms are virtually interchangeable.How much use will the rooms other than the living room get? A stereo receiver connected to a switch box would be cheaper, and it would let you play music in any one of the rooms. The eight channel amp is a bit more expensive, but it allows you to play music in all of the rooms simultaneously.

Having music in other rooms is a luxury but since house came with speakers might as well use them! I'm sure next summer when I have the pool in the speakers on patio will be used extensively. But one thing playing on other rooms is fine by me I don't need multi zone so each zone can have its own music. Budget is definitely a concern, best buy guy said I need a whole new receiver and sub and gojng to cost like a grand

Sounds like you need a receiver with two zones. One for the living room, and one for the rest of the house, multiple 2 channel sound. The receiver should be able to power the living room theater and look for a receiver with a 2nd zone line output and buy an 8 channel amp. Search for something from Parasound or Audio Source. This would work to power the rest of the house https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-ma1240a-multi-zone-12-channel-amplifier--300-815

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/denon-1155w-7-2-ch-network-ready-4k-ultra-hd-and-3d-pass-through-a-v-home-theater-receiver/3800054.p?id=1219093905339&skuId=3800054&st=categoryid$pcmcat309300050002&cp=1&lp=1

This is what I was looking at getting. I talked to the people that actually wire the whole house and install the speakers and he said I need at least a 7.1 receiver. Would this work?

Do I need an amp if Im getting that receiver also or just a speaker selector?

I don't think that receiver would work as well as ideal. This is a better option (IMO):
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavr3313ci/denon-avr-3313ci-7.2-networking-receiver-w/airplay-3d-4k-ready/1.html

You can then connect a cable from the pre-output for zone 2 on the receiver into your multi-channel distribution amp, something like this: http://www.amazon.com/AudioSource-12-Channel-Audio-Distribution-Amplifier/dp/B004XT6PMQ

This is the cheapest option

So looking at $1100? Yeah.....wont be hooking up the rest of the house for a VERY long time.

I seriously doubt your LG combo will be able to handle what you want it to do and you are looking at a new receiver and bluray player.

Good news is the bluray player is you can get away with a reasonably price unit from $120 - $140 and down to about $90 for a Panasonic at Costco. There are two different routes you could go for the reciever. Personally I would not go with a straight 5.1 receiver if you are planning on playing music in other rooms. And the beauty of the multi zone receivers is you can play the same music in mulitple zones or play different sources in different rooms if you choose. Very handy during the holidays where you can play the music for the adults and kids music in another room.

You can go with a 9.1 receiver that you could configure to a 5.1 main theater and two seperate stereo zones by re assigning them to play other zones. Or you could configure your theater zone to 7.1 and get the most out of your blu-ray content when it is mixed in 7.1. Then use two internal channels for another zone then add external amplification for other zones that you do not have internal amplification.

The other route is the more expensive which gets into a new Dolby Atmos system. The beauty of this is you can start off using it in 5.1 without any overhead speakers and it will configure content to play for that configuration. For going this route I would make sure Dolby Atmos with 4K video switching! Going this route you may not have a 4K tv but the advantage is you have the central hub in your home theater that will route 4K video and give you the advanced Dolby Atoms and also play all current Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio as well. Then later on you can get a 4K tv and then upgrade to a 4k bluray player and you are done unless you need or want to add the speakers to the Atmos channel.

A new separate receiver could also offer you wireless access to streaming music and netflix and so could a stand alone bluray. You could also stream music from your pc or apple device depending on what receiver you get. Also usb ports will allow you to play music, view photos and videos off a flash drive. Getting the right receiver with Atmos could allow you depending on the size of the room 4 speakers over head or you could go with the atmos enabled speakers which would use drivers aimed upwards to bounce sound of the ceiling if you do not want to mount speakers on the ceiling or flush mount them into the ceiling.

How big is your room?

How many sources do you plan to hook up using hdmi?

The bigger the room the more power you will need!

Make sure you have room for expansion and never buy a model where you use up ever HDMI leaving nothing for future upgrades. The key is to buy more than you need and something better that you will usually buy. This will insure your purchase remains viable longer and you are more likely to stay satisfied with your purchase longer. The longer your purchase remains useful and does the job the less likely you will have to upgrade it spending more money before you should. If you do not have any speakers than the ones that came with your LG all in one then you will be looking at new speakers as well.

Figure out what you need to buy, receiver, bluray and speakers for example. Also include and plan what new cables you may need. Generally speaking the cables that are offered with most components are not that good and the build quality is poor as well. So put it all on paper and thin about what you will need if anything between components and seriously consider a high quality surge protector. This is an investment so you will want to protect your investment from power surges, spikes and brownouts. Some area's of the country are semi ok and other parts are horrible so protect your investment! If you want to step up from a simple surge protector you can go with a Monster or Panamax power conditioner. Once you have everything on paper figure out your budget and ether pay for an installer to configure it all or be willing to research and spend the time to configure and tweek everything to get the best results. Doing this will make sure you get the best performance out of your system and no system is set up out of the box. It will work out of the box but it will not be tuned for your room.

Blu-ray Players
Every day players: Sony or Panasonic
Higher End Boutique Players: Denon, Marantz or Oppo

Receivers
I like Denon, Rotel and Marantz personally but you could also check out the offerings from Pioneer, Onkyo, Integra and Pioneer Elite. I do not know if they have improved but Onkyo suffers from bad customer service and they have had HDMI issues and heat issues. Pioneer just sold there home entertainment lineup to Onkyo so it is hard to say what changes Onkyo may bring to Pioneer products.

Speakers
This is a important part of your system and many people would agree that speakers can and will effect the sound of your system! Buy the best speakers that you can afford that you like! When buying speakers you could get away with different brands but to get the best performance it is highly suggested you get matching speakers with the same style drivers. This will make sure you get even sound and dispersion around the room and even timber from speaker to speaker. Always spend time listening to speakers and bring your favorite music with you, call the retailer in advance to make sure they are ok with you bringing your discs in to audition new speakers. Bring the same discs and listen to the same tracks that you know the best so you will be more likely to catch sonic differences between speakers. Also if possible check into seeing if the bass and treble are set flat or if the interal eq is flat or has been set up for the room it is in. There are alot of questions but you will be the recipient of a better system in the end.

Polk
Boston
Bowers and Wilkins
Klipsch
Infinity
Cambridge Audio
JBL
Energy
Dynaudio
Definitive Technology


Last buy not least get information from audio video magazines and forums not from PC magazine or cnet. Since music and video are now played on many computers as well this makes computer magazines think they can write about and recommend stereo and home theater gear and tell you what tv to buy. When you want to look ito computers go to a PC magazine or forum for information. If you want real information about stereo or home theater you should stick with home theater forum and or audio video magazines not pc magazines.

I hope I did not throw to much at you all at once and more importantly I hope this helps!

This is what I have done and is my current configuration. I am researching and planning to upgrade to a Dolby Atmos system along with an upcoming 4K bluray player and 4 overhead atmos speakers will come sometime after.
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Pioneer Elite SC-05 7.1 receiver with Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio, Denon DBP-1611UD Bluray Player, Toshiba HD-DVD Player, JVC QL-50 turntable, Denon CD player, Denon DAT recorder, Marantz Laser Disc Player and Samsung UN55F9000 4K UHD TV.