Need some parameters
Welcome to the forum,
I will be setting up a room that I am remodeling with some ceiling speakers as well as outdoor speakers on my patio. I mainly want to use this for music, maybe connect tv to it as well.
The room is about 300 sq. ft. I am thinking 2 ceiling speakers inside the room and 2 more outdoor speakers on the patio.
1) What type of receiver will I need if I want to power sound to both locations at the same time, and also if I only want the indoor speakers on at certain times and not my outdoor speakers ?
It depends on what you are trying to accomplish:
a)
At the simplist end of things, if you only want to play the same content (CD music, iPod, radio, TV, etc.) to one or both locations, then any receiver with A/B speaker support can do the trick.
- Connect the indoor speakers to the "A" terminals and the "B" terminals to the outdoor speakers and then select "A, B, or Both" to control which areas get sound.
-
Warning: A/B speaker outputs are only connected to one set of amplifiers and probably will require at least 8 ohm speakers to be used in the "Both" mode to avoid overtaxing the amplifier. Read and heed the manufacturer's directions on this.
b)
A bit more complicated is if you want to play one set of content to the indoor area (wife's favorite Michael Buble) while simultaneously playing different content to the outdoor area (your favorite sports broadcast). Now you need a receiver that supports 2-Zones.
- Connect Zone 1 (normally L/R Fronts) to the indoor speakers and which ever speakers support Zone 2 (normally the surrounds or back surrounds) to the outdoor speakers. In addtion, you will have to learn how to manipulate the receiver to control Zone 1 and then change to control Zone 2.
-
Note: This method does not use the same amplifer sets and so there will be less restrictions on the speaker types.
2) As for the speakers, do I need to look for stereo speakers ?
a) What are your intentions for these listening areas, critical audiphile hi-fi listening, general back ground/party music, an eventual home theater?
b) What is your speaker budget?
- The purpose and budget you have will help narrow the search for type and range of available speakers. The outdoor zone is probablity a general background music application, where the indoor zone can have more varied uses.
- For general background music you may want to consider dual-voice coil speakers where each speaker is producing both the L and R sound signals--these allow more installation options and area coverage, but sacrifice L/R stereo listening.
Cheers,
XEagleDriver
