Bought a house with pre wired speakers (1 Viewer)

[txflood3]

Hi gang...brand new here and pretty much brand new to trying to set up more than some speakers with wire run behind the couch


I just bought a home and it has speakers flush mounted in the celing....2 in the living room, 1 in the kitchen, 2 in the upstairs hall and 2 outside on the deck. The tv wall mount was left on the wall and there has been an HDMI cable left that was run through the wall and under the floor before being built. The wall where the cable comes out there are 4 'panels'...think light switch cover...each with the black and red clip to put in speaker wire. Each one is labeled Zone 1, 2, 3 and 4.


I know when we originally looked at the home, the owner had music(I'm assuming a playlist) playing in the kitchen and upstairs. I'm assuming the 4 zones are upstairs, kitchen, living room and outside.


My question is, what kind of receiver would I need to look at to run this set up? There has to be something out there that can play music in 2 'zones'(using that word because that's how it's labeled). Can I watch tv on 1 zone and listen to music outside? If i'm having a party, can I play music in 3 zones...living room, kitchen and outside?


Sorry, I'm kind of a newbie at this and with all the money I have just shelled out on the move, really don't want to drop some cash on a receiver to find out it's not what I need. Would also love the ability to hook up a turn table for vinyl at some point too.


Thanks in advance for the help

 

[schan1269]

Zone 2 is feature in AVR, yes. So is Zone 3 and 4.

Most bargain end AVR are analog for zone purposes(meaning...red/white only).

If digital or network is anything you want...it costs more.

Without knowing the intended sources for the zone(and if you want to split them up)...

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Welcome to the Forum, Kevin!


Most receivers, especially in the price range you’re looking for, have limited multi-zone functionality, generally limited to a main and one secondary zone. That will be fine of you want all the secondary zones you listed on or off at the same time. If you want independent control of each, things get more complicated – and expensive.


Whichever route you go with, you’re going to need additional equipment separate from the AVR you might use for your main home theater. Your cheapest alternative will probably be found at Home Theater Direct.


Regards,

Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[txflood3]

thanks for the quick replies


So if I was ok with only having a max of 2 zones going at the same time them something like the Yamaha RX-V675 would work?


How exspensive is expensive if I wanted to control 3-4 of those zones independently?

 

[schan1269]

To do self-powered zone 3 requires a 9 channel avr.

5 +2 +2 = 9

I'm not sure who, at the moment, has the lowest priced one. But none are going to be cheap.

A4L might have some left over Denon 4520.

Edit:

Just checked, A4L has the 4520 refurb at $800, new at $1000.

 

[ChromeJob]

thanks for the quick replies

So if I was ok with only having a max of 2 zones going at the same time them something like the Yamaha RX-V675 would work?

How exspensive is expensive if I wanted to control 3-4 of those zones independently?

I'm not sure I am seeing your wiring correctly, but you might consider the RX-V775 as I have. Same as the 675, but has pre-outs for channels.

Why? As Sam mentioned, the inputs that can be played on Zone 2 of the 675/775 are limited to mostly the analog (music) inputs, tuner, net radios. With four zones to feed, you could perhaps take the L+R pre-outs from the 775 and feed them into another amp or AVR that feeds zone 3 and zone 4 -- IF you want to use all of them. If you're happy with music in those zones, a stereo amp (like something you pick up at a pwn shop?) would suffice.

Questions:

Do you know what the impedance of the pre-wired speakers are? The power handling? Your seller might have this info if they didn't provide at closing.

Are you going to run a 5.1 home theater in the living room or elsewhere? 7.1? ... 9.1?

As asked, what inputs would you be playing music in the other rooms? CD player? radio? Amazon Fire Stick or Chromecast (means the content could be controlled from the other room)?

Most turntables have RCA line level output I believe. Getting an AVR with a "phono" input is getting harder (like stopping the gas pump on an even $1 amount) these days.

 

[ChromeJob]

Now for WHAT I DON'T KNOW. I'm not 100% positive that audio content provided via HDMI (or TOSlink/SPDIF) into a 775 will come out the L+R stereo pre-outs due to digital content protection. Anyone?