Multi-room Speaker Setup

[David R Noseworthy]

Hi there,

I recently purchased a home that has two in-wall speakers in three rooms (i.e. 3 pairs of speakers). Each pair of speakers is connected to a volume controller. These are in turn connected back to a Yamaha receiver (see attached diagram for additional information).

My question pertains the the volume. With these speaker connected, and the volume on the receiver set to -15dB, the volume in each of the rooms is what I would describe as "moderate" - not loud. If I try to increase the volume much beyond -15dB, the receiver will display "Check SP Wires" and then shut off. I have had this received connected to a pair of speakers previously and I know it can produce a volume much higher than what I am getting with the configuration described here.

Is there an issue with the configuration? Does anyone have any troubleshooting suggestions?

I don't know a lot about home audio, so any thoughts or advice on this would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[KEW]

Try running only one pair of speakers at a time.
Unless you have something to control overall impedance, I fear you are destroying your amp section by running three pairs at once!

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

What Kurt said about burning out your Yamaha. You really should get a separate amplifier for the remote speakers. Home Theater Direct, Niles Audio etc. sell multi-channel amps for whole-house audio.

BTW, nicely done diagram - thanks for that, it was very helpful. Most people just leave it to our imaginations to figure out what they're talking about!

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[herbu]

Each pair of speakers is connected to a volume controller.

Exactly what are your "volume controllers"?
If they are simply impedance devices, you are indeed gonna burn out your AVR. You effectively have 3 speakers connected in parallel to your AVR for Left & Right. If they are all 8ohm speakers, your AVR is seeing only 2ohms.

Like Kurt and Wayne said, your "volume controllers" should be amps. And your AVR outputs should be Preouts, not Speaker outputs. If you're using Speaker outputs on your AVR, I suggest disconnecting the speakers in the 2nd & 3rd rooms immediately.

 

[XEagleDriver]

Or . . . get a ~$40 speaker selector switch with impedance protection, connect it between the AVR and the volume controls and press on. The reason you would need a separate amplifier is if the volume is too low. I doubt powering just three sets of speakers will be too much for the AVR when impedance protected.

Or . . . if the AVR has an "all channel stereo" mode, connect each set of speakers to a different set of AVR speaker outputs (i.e. L/R Front, Surround L/R, and Rear Surround L/R) and then enable this "all channel stereo" mode (goes by different names with different manufacturers) to provide an identical stereo signal to all three sets of room speakers.
This potential solution has the advantage of using the "extra" amplifiers already resident in the AVR, instead of paying for additional ones.

Cheers,
XEagleDriver

 

[David R Noseworthy]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

I am not clear on the purpose of the volume controller. They are Elan vs1248. In addition to volume, I thought the controllers were for impedance matching and would prevent over loading the receiver.

 

[markw]

while they might prevent "overloading" the receiver as far as low impedance goes, they don't do anything to minimize the power draw on the unit. They absorb a lot of power that never makes it to the speakers.