12 Channel Amplifier or 2 Channel w/ Speaker Selector?

[stewart715]

I'm looking to power 6 zones (2 speakers in each) and am wondering if I should go with a 12 channel amplifier (6 stereo zones) or something like the Emotiva 2 channel amp (125W x 2 or 300 x 2) with a cheap speaker selector? Any pros and cons to either solution?

Thanks!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I use the Adcom GFS-600 speaker selector. Adcom is high quality amp stuff. They are much better quality than the Niles or Russound slectors. The Adcom 600 has banana plugs. It works great. You can get them cheap on eBay. The older GFS-6 is also good, except it does not uses banana plugs, but still a lot better than Niles & Russound. I use the 600 for my HT room. I use the GFS-6 in my living room.

And depending on your AVR, you may not need an external amp!

http://www.adcom.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=75&category_id=35&vmcchk=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=122

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&_nkw=Adcom+speaker+selector&_sacat=0&_from=R40

 

[stewart715]

Great thanks, where are you getting your power from?

 

[ImcLoud]

I use the Adcom GFS-600 speaker selector. Adcom is high quality amp stuff. They are much better quality than the Niles or Russound slectors. The Adcom 600 has banana plugs. It works great. You can get them cheap on eBay. The older GFS-6 is also good, except it does not uses banana plugs, but still a lot better than Niles & Russound. I use the 600 for my HT room. I use the GFS-6 in my living room.

And depending on your AVR, you may not need an external amp!

GFS-600

Adcom speaker selector | eBay

Good call, them are good used prices, I already have a monoprice unit {works great}, but if it ever dies, Im going to def look into them.... thanks

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Great thanks, where are you getting your power from?

In my family room the power for my Focal, Dynaudio, ATC, and Phil3 speakers come only from my Denon 3312, which I think is 125 wpc.

The GFS-6 has these heavy duty twisty binding posts. They accept wires (12-16 gauge, 1/2" bare wire). You plug the bare wire into the post and turn the binding post clockwise to lock in. Very tight and sturdy.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Good call, them are good used prices, I already have a monoprice unit {works great}, but if it ever dies, Im going to def look into them.... thanks

After I bought the GFS-600 brand new, I then realized I could have gotten them used on eBay. So I went to eBay and bought a GFS-6 for $60 (for the family room), which looks excellent aesthetically.

I tried 2 different Niles selectors. They were not cheap either - $200 to $250. Their wire binding sucks big time, flimsy and cheap. The ones from Russound didn't look any better.

The only 2 selectors I've found that had high quality "amp" binding post were the Adcom and the Bryston. But the Bryston is ridiculously overpriced.

Adcom is a great amp company. I trust their selectors like I trust their amps and preamps.

Another thing is the SQ. IMO, the Niles SQ was not as good. The sound seemed a little "compressed" or something. It's okay for most people, but not okay for me and not okay for high quality speakers and AVR/amps.

I think the Adcom SQ is just better, very transparent like amps are.

 

[davidtwotrees]

I think acudeftech uses his speaker selector with all the speakers in one spot. If you're looking for whole house audio, the economical way to go is a two channel amp and a speaker selector with volume control for each zone. The next step up is the multichannel amp run to each zone or room with a volume control in each room.
I'm happy with my set up. Our townhouse is small enough that I can adjust volume from my main rig in the living room for all the zones pretty easily.
I previously owned a bare bones speaker selector, but found I really wanted to be able to control the volume in each room. Then I bought used on ebay a Sima SSWV-L6EX, (speaker selector w volume control). I was surprised how heavy the unit was. It does just what it's supposed to do. It doesn't have heavy duty binding posts, but once the wire is clamped down, it seems to hold just fine. I don't think mine degrades the sound at all. I I use a Parasound HCA 1000 amp to power the zone 2 SSWV. HTH

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I tried the Niles w/ Volume Controls. I thought the sound was degraded.

I would also check out the power watts rating on the selector. Some are not rated for more than 50 wpc, 100 wpc, etc. Even then, I was concerned. The Adcom is rated for 200 wpc RMS.

I noticed the $1,000 Bryston, Adcom, and Parasound selectors did not have any volume controls either.

 

[ImcLoud]

save yourself some trouble, grab a couple of them selectors that accu is talking about on ebay, anda good 2 ch amp...

I use the monoprice but didnt know about them used ones... Mine is rated for 100wpc but, I never had a problem with my 125wpc amp, also never ever had to turn t up very far, probably only pushing 100watts total at the loudest listening level..

 

[bmf795]

On sale now for $128 w/free shipping.

http://http://www.parts-express.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=300-812&scqty=1

 

[j_garcia]

I've used the Dayton impedance matching speaker selector before with a stereo amp and it worked very well.

 

[davidtwotrees]

I think the op is looking for background music with 6 zones. Less about SQ and more about control for each room, imho. I like the music louder than my wife. Hence, if she is in the office and I am in the kitchen, without seperate volume controls, you can't tailor the music for each room. I'm pretty sure on a custom install, they use the 12 channel amp, routed to each room with on wall control of the speakers and volume. I didn't have the cash for that, so I use the ss with vc.

 

[Haoleb]

The best way to do this is to get a unit like those made by Xantech where you have a multichannel amplifier/processor and keypads in each zone you wish to control. This way each zone has its own source, its own volume control, etc. You can listen to different things from each zone and turn everything on and off from that keypad. In wall volume controls are a thing of the past and have been for quite some time now.