General home theory audio question. (1 Viewer)

[Mhall812]

My buddy is getting a home theater revamp for christmas. Here is the scenario. He bought his home with the speakers already installed into the walls. There are 4 speakers installed in his tv room (these will be the fronts and the backs obviously). He will complete his tv room by buying and installing the center channel and a subwoofer to complete the 5.1 experience. The zinger is that he has 7 other rooms with two speakers each as well as a volume control installed. He is wanting to buy a dual zone receiver and connect an 8 zone speaker selector to connect to his "Zone B.....AKA 2 remaining unused rear channels". My concern is the power output of this receiver (STRDN840) when he enables the Zone B. Does he need to run his Zone B through a power amplifier to satisfy the speakers? I dont know the wattage or ohm rating of these speakers, but I am assuming they are standard 8 ohm speakers. If so how exactly does one "hook up" he amplifier?This receiver model is not set in stone. That is just what the Geek squad reccomended. I am trying to get him to do it himself and save $1000. The hard part is done, he just needs to hook it all up.

 

[schan1269]

You can't use that AVR with an external amplifier.(it doesn't have Zone pre-out)

Front B is fine if he wants the same sound, at the same volume(to be attenuated by the volume controls) all over the house.

Zone 2 is what he needs if he wants different sources at a different volume over the rest of the house.(and those sources would be what? Ipad/ipod? Droid? Network audio? CD? LP?)

How he "hooks up" the amplifier depends on what is there for these 7 other rooms to hook up to. You haven't said what that is...

Empty wires sitting in a closet?
A speaker switch?
An amp already there?

What?

Did Idiot Squad mention what the difference between Zone B and Zone 2 is?

 

[Mhall812]

You can't use that AVR with an external amplifier.(it doesn't have Zone pre-out)

Front B is fine if he wants the same sound, at the same volume(to be attenuated by the volume controls) all over the house.

Zone 2 is what he needs if he wants different sources at a different volume over the rest of the house.(and those sources would be what? Ipad/ipod? Droid? Network audio? CD? LP?)

How he "hooks up" the amplifier depends on what is there for these 7 other rooms to hook up to. You haven't said what that is...

Empty wires sitting in a closet?
A speaker switch?
An amp already there?

What?

Did Idiot Squad mention what the difference between Zone B and Zone 2 is?

First of all thank you for your prompt response. I am not sure I understand your question refering to the "hooking up the amplifier" All his his alternate room speakers feed into a volumn control device. (2 speakers and 1 device per room). All those volum control wires(speaker wires) end at the same spot (where his reciver will be.) I was thinking he could use an 8 channel selecter and input all those Volumn control wires, then plug the selecter into the zone 2 output. If an amplifier is not possible with this unit can you recommend one that is sold at the particular brick and mortar store? He needs to spend his money there in order to get back his $100 consultation fee. The idiot squad never said anything about an amplifier I just assumed trying to drive all those speakers would end up clipping that receiver. As far as his alternate Zone 2 sources go...all of the above. He just wants to be able to take full availibilty of the already installed speakers.

 

[schan1269]

What does this mean?

"I am not sure I understand your question refering to the "hooking up the amplifier"(in relation to what I said)

There are speaker switches with a feature called Impedance Matching. Don't buy one that doesn't say that.

In theory, every amplifier ever made, and will ever be made, will run 7 pairs of speakers with an IM speaker switch.

Zone B is the same content as Zone A(and I have a feeling you can't use B without A...you want that Sony, you read the OM). So there is no "oh, that won't work in Zone B".

Now if you want an actual multi-zone AVR that does digital zoning(not all of them do)...look at the Denon X4000. The X3000 might, download the manuals for both and read them.
Some of the Yamaha RX-A line(notably the 30X0 and the newer 20X0) do digital zoning as well.

 

[schan1269]

And by the way, if he buys a 3-zone AVR...

He can buy a switch like this...
http://www.amazon.com/Speaker-Selector-Switcher-Control-900-Watt/dp/B004C6O86A/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1385841477&sr=1-3&keywords=speaker+switch+zone (this one only does 6...there are versions in 8...just first one I found)

Then he'd connect his Zone 2 and Zone 3 to that...then he can split 2 different sources(and those would be totally separate from the main theatre) among the 7 sets of speakers.