Can I use my old Receiver as an amplifier to play music through my new receiver in zone 2?

[Stefmhall]

Prior set-up: Den with television , surround sound with 5 speakers, receiver (Denon AVR-2805/985) and Yamaha Musicast with stored music. In addition, I have a pair of speakers in 2 other rooms and a pair outside and a Niles speaker selector. All speakers are high quality and installed in wall/ceiling. The system has worked for years.

I recently bought a new LG tv and, as a result, had to buy a new receiver that had HDMI to accommodate the new tv. The tech who installed the T.V. recommended a couple of receivers that had 2 zones (as with my prior Denon receiver) so I could continue to play my music in the other rooms thru zone 2. I purchased a new Denon receiver (AVR-X1700H). . After set-up (which took forever to figure out proper settings for zone 2), the music volume in zone 2 was very low and after a short time stopped altogether and the receiver showed that speakers went into “speaker protection” mode. This never happened with my old Denon. (Shouldn’t technology have improved in 10 years?)
The store where I purchased is now telling me that the new Denon receiver I bought isn’t designed to play audio on 6 additional speakers in zone 2, or even 4 speakers. They tried to sell me a Sonos system with a separate amplifier for each set of speakers.
I can’t get an answer as to why my old Denon receiver had no problem playing music in multiple rooms, but the new Denon receiver cannot do so. I really don’t want to spend another $1,000 + on an amplifier, or have to exchange my new receiver for something much more expensive.
So, 1) why is my new Denon receiver unable to do what my old receiver could do? and 2) can I repurpose my old Denon receiver as an amplifier to resolve the issue (only downside is having 2 large receivers in my stereo closet.)
Thank for in advance for any helpful advice.
(Desperate first-time poster)
P.S. - I don’t need to play music on zone 2 while watching T.V. in main zone. The rooms are fairly close together so I’m either watching tv or listening to music, I just want to be able to play music throughout my house speakers.

 

[Trebdp83]

Welcome to the forums. The X1700H is, unfortunately too low on the ladder for certain features. The X2700H would have given you Zone 2 pre outs that could have been connected to your 2805 and it could have continued to power your other zones.

 

[Stefmhall]

Thank you. If, indeed, spending another $300-$400 to upgrade to this model (I can return my new one) will fix the problem then this may be the best solution. But the only difference I can see is that my model 1700H has 7 x 85W and the model 2700H has 7 x 95 W. That doesn't seem like it will make enough of a difference.
(My old Denon, without HDMI, was much higher on the ladder but I already spent $$ on the new tv so was trying to avoid having to do so with a new receiver.)

 

[Stefmhall]

sorry, I'm not knowledgeable about "pre-outs" and how that makes a difference. I thought it was a power issue , that this receiver doesn't have enough to manage a 5.1 and 2 other sets of speakers.

 

[Trebdp83]

A Zone 2 pre out would look like those used to connect the subwoofers.

 

[Trebdp83]

There are a number of work arounds I can think of off of the top of my head. Can you list all of your devices and the source of the music you want in the other zone?

 

[lovinthehd]

sorry, I'm not knowledgeable about "pre-outs" and how that makes a difference. I thought it was a power issue , that this receiver doesn't have enough to manage a 5.1 and 2 other sets of speakers.

Pre-out is short for pre-amplifier output, so you can use an external amp for zone 2. The zone 2 pre-outs are a couple positiions to the left of your sub pre-outs on the back panel on the 1700. Loading up a bunch of speakers on the speaker terminals for zone 2 could easily be an impedance load problem, tho. Do you have another amp for zone 2 you can connect the pre-outs to?

ps I wouldn't connect speakers like you did for zone 2 before in the first place....