Need Advice on Multi Zone Amp to use with Sonos (1 Viewer)

[Powersurged]

I was hit by a lightening strike or power surge with my whole house audio. My set up is as follows. Xantech Mr Audio 8x8 and Xantech 6 zone amplifier powering 10 zones with touch screen keypads and B&W speakers. I have two media centers that were 5.1 surround each driven by a Rotel RSX -1057. The power surge has caused circuit problems in both Rotels and completely fried both Xantech pieces. Everything was installed in new construction and have all home runs going to the AV Rack. My custom Installer went out of business a couple of years ago and left me with zero documentation. Here is my plan. I want to replace the Xantech with 10 sonos ZP 90s for my whole house audio. I'm going to replace the two Rotels with either 2 Marantz, Pioneer , or Onkyo A/V receivers Around $1k to $1.5 each. I will run the Sonos system off of IPADs or IPODs so I will eliminate all my in wall pads. Two Sonos players will connect to the A/V receivers, the rest will need a separate multi-zone amp. The new A/V Receivers (and a replacement blue ray player -- my LG BD 300 won't play dvds after a firmware upgrade) plus two new apple tvs will have to be programmed into my pair of URC MX 3000 remotes and MSC 400 controllers (which survived the surge). I met with a CI with all this in mind. He suggested a ADA PTM-1645 16 channel 8 zone superior amp to power the non media center zones. Happy with that. Unfortunately he wants to charge me 4K in labor to set this up (the new a/v receivers, sonos, NAS, amp, bd player and switches.) I'm happy with paying all the equipment costs, (and a fair labor costs) but this seems a bit much for what is basically URC programing, sound balancing and setting up Sonos which anyone can do. My problem is if I do it myself, I can't get the ADA amp. So I need to know if there is an equivalent Amp out there? Do dealers sell to you without doing the install? Am I crazy thinking the labor costs are high? and am I crazy thinking I can do it myself? I will need to program the URC remotes.

 

[Robert_J]

Do dealers sell to you without doing the install?

Rarely.

Am I crazy thinking the labor costs are high?

Not if they were installing from scratch. But you are replacing equipment.

am I crazy thinking I can do it myself?

Absolutely not. I'm all about DIY and cheaper than you. I was planning some audio in other rooms so I found some 6x30w amps built by Phoenix Gold for under $50 each.

I will need to program the URC remotes.

Are you stuck on URC? Will Harmony remotes work? Welcome to the forum. We are happy to answer your question as best as possible but you did post in the beginner section. I'd be surprised if 1/2 the new posters here even knew whole house audio existed. Most need help connecting their VCR to the HDTV they just purchased.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

4K to set up Sonos and a couple of A/V receivers??!! Run, run very quickly. Your rooms are prewired, your amps are plug and play, Sonos is easier to set up than a toaster, NAS drives aren't much harder than a toaster, and you can learn everything you want from here on how to set up receivers. PS - I agree with the Harmony remotes. Much better remotes, easier to program and user friendly too. Use the money saved from the install.