Help with Amplifier Selection (1 Viewer)

[EYESPORTS]

The following is coming from a "rookie" who knows little about A/V setups - looking for help with selecting an Amp.

Basically, I have 7 pairs of speakers (living room, dining room, kitchen, breakfast room, patio, plus 2 pairs in outside garden). I'm running background music to all of the speakers from a single source which is a SONOS zone player (ZP100) (www.sonos.com). All pairs of the speakers are 100 watt, 8 ohm, and every pair is connected thru a Russound impedence matching volume controller.

All music is background music, however, the outdoor speakers (2 pairs) need much more power to drive them as the volume comes out very low. I'm looking to get an Amp, however, I am clueless as to what to get.

Questions:
1) Since I can run 5 pairs of the speakers directly from the SONOS unit - should I just get an Amp that would connect on the line out from SONOS unit to the 2 pairs of outdoor speakers (as these need the power).
2) What would you recommend for an Amp. Again, this is background music - we are not audiophiles. I guess that if I were just to run the 2 pairs of outdoor speakers, I would need a 2 channel Amp - but I can get a 7 channel Amp to run everything.
3) Note that an "auto turn on" would be a very nice feature, but we're looking not to spend alot.

Thanks for your input.

 

[mackie]

Check out ebay or audiogon for a used Adcom, parasound, or Rotel amp in the 75 watt range. You can pick one of these up dirt cheap and will work fine for what you're trying to do.