hooking up 2 receivers (1 Viewer)

[beperson83]

I currently have an Onkyo tx-nr696 in my 40x60 shop. I'm wondering if I can hook up a second receiver to it for "zone 2". I'm not looking for sound quality necessarily, I only listen to music out there. I'm just looking to add more speakers throughout the shop. I know I can get an amp, but before spending the money, I have a few extra receivers laying around.

 

[JohnRice]

What is your music source? It might be easier to just split it and send it to both receivers.

 

[DaveF]

The difficulty is that the Zone 2 output will be an amplified signal for speakers, and not suitable for source input into a receiver? There's surely a way to work around that.

But John's comment on having a cheap splitter at the source, sending that to an independent 5.1 receiver in your workshop, sounds easier and better overall.

And if the source is a smartphone playing music, adding a bluetooth receiver to an old receiver would eliminate the possible difficulties of wiring for the source splitter or Zone 2.

 

[beperson83]

What is your music source? It might be easier to just split it and send it to both receivers.

My source is the tv via hdmi. Pretty much all that gets listened to out in the shop is music channels or football, so I'm not looking for movie quality, thats what the home theater is for.

 

[JohnRice]

My source is the tv via hdmi. Pretty much all that gets listened to out in the shop is music channels or football, so I'm not looking for movie quality, thats what the home theater is for.

Do you mean you're sending the audio from the TV to the receiver via hdmi ARC? The TV probably has an optical audio output as well, so if the other receiver has an optical input, you can use that for a second audio feed to it.

 

[beperson83]

Do you mean you're sending the audio from the TV to the receiver via hdmi ARC? The TV probably has an optical audio output as well, so if the other receiver has an optical input, you can use that for a second audio feed to it.

That is correct, arc. So I assume if I do hook up a second receiver, I’d have to control volume on both units separately? I was just curious if I could use a second receiver as basically an amp. So when I control volume on my main receiver, it would automatically control it on the second one. But maybe it doesn’t work that way.

 

[JohnRice]

Maybe. Probably not. That gets deep into the details of the receiver. As I consider it, it probably can't be done with a digital input, since most receivers won't output analog from a digital input, which would be the main way I can think of how you possibly could do it. Even just adding an amp probably isn't feasible either, since I doubt your receiver has preamp outputs, though I didn't look it up. That's generally only on very high end models.

 

[JohnRice]

An option would be if the TV has an analog audio output, which can probably be controlled with the TV's remote. Then you'd split that to both receivers and control the volume with the TV's remote. Inelegant, but that could work.

 

[beperson83]

Maybe. Probably not. That gets deep into the details of the receiver. As I consider it, it probably can't be done with a digital input, since most receivers won't output analog from a digital input, which would be the main way I can think of how you possibly could do it. Even just adding an amp probably isn't feasible either, since I doubt your receiver has preamp outputs, though I didn't look it up. That's generally only on very high end models.

The onkyo has a zone 2 hdmi output, that’s why I was curious about hooking up a second receiver

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

It appears the NR696 has both HDMI and RCA Zone2 outputs. Either could be used with a second receiver as a Zone 2 amplifier. You would probably have to control the volume on both units separately.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[beperson83]

It appears the NR696 has both HDMI and RCA Zone2 outputs. Either could be used with a second receiver as a Zone 2 amplifier. You would probably have to control the volume on both units separately.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

It appears the NR696 has both HDMI and RCA Zone2 outputs. Either could be used with a second receiver as a Zone 2 amplifier. You would probably have to control the volume on both units separately.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Thanks for the response, I’ve tried hooking up a second receiver using hdmi and I’ve tried with just the rca’s but no luck either way. I’m just curious if there’s a setting on the onkyo that I don’t know about.