2nd Audio Zone problems (1 Viewer)

[David Perrapato]

Hello all,
Thanks for the nice welcome from HTF.

I have just purchased a new Onkyo 601 series AV/Receiver
and am thrilled with my new toy.
It has the 2nd zone capability, which was something I
was needing since I have many speakers in which to play
with, 2 patio 2 in my living room and lastly the 6
in my family room which is where the system is housed.
My query...the receiver (Onkyo) can only handle 2 of the
four speakers on zone 2, so, I have a channel 4 by switcher
or another receiver I can use for an amp, my old Kenwood.
I would like not to have to use the Kenwood for the 2nd
source, but am having problems config. the ins and outs
of how to use the switcher to work with my system and
carry the 2nd source.
I did hook the Kenwood up and I am not getting anything
out of the 2nd channel, which I thought
I installed properly, but...here I am wondering what went
wrong.
Any and all help would be great...I am at my wits end just
playing with all the blasted wires anywho...couldn't a system be hooked up easier than ALL these wires?

Thanks again, David Perrapato

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

David,

This shouldn’t be a big problem. The first thing to do is hook up the Kenwood separately – a signal source and a pair of speakers – to verify that it is working properly. This will let you know if the 2nd channel problem is with the Kenwood or somewhere else, like perhaps cabling between the two.

Again, not sure what you’re trying to accomplish here. For instance, if you’re using whatever source is connected to the Onkyo and being used at the time for the 2nd zone, you don’t need any kind of switcher. All you need is an RCA signal feed to the Kenwood. This can be any tape or VCR output jacks or 2nd output jacks on the Onkyo. Whatever is playing on the Onkyo would be fed to the Kenwood.

If you’re trying to use a separate signal source for Zone 2, that’s another situation entirely, but I’m not sure if that’s what you’re trying to do.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt