1st post: question about splitting Left/Right/Center speakers to two locations

[djbarber]

1st time posting, not sure which forum this question belongs in. Please direct me.

I am setting up audio in a room that is 15’ wide by 30 long’.
I have a flat screen TV along the 15’ wall
And a projector that projects to a screen at the end of the room; i.e. 90 degree to the wall where the TV is.. (Example: Sit in a chair facing TV to watch TV, to watch projector screen, pick up chair and turn 90 degrees to face projector screen)
The projector screen has left/Right/Center speakers to the (Of course) Left Right and center of the screen. That works fine.
The surround speakers are on stands and can “float”, another words I can move them where I want them.
The problem is: When I watch TV, and I want audio processed by my receiver, the Left Right and center speakers are at the other end of the room.
What I want to do is: have two sets of Left/Right/center speakers, 1 set for watching projected movies placed around the projector screen, and a second set of Left/Right/Center placed around the TV screen, again the surround speakers are mobile and can be moved to accommodate seating arrangement.
I have been looking for a simple (No Volume control) A/B switch for these two sets of Left/Right/Center speakers but have been unable to find what I am looking for.
I have looked at A/B switches for speakers, but they seem to only work for Pairs (2 speakers in a remote room)
Are you aware of anything that you could point me to to solve my problem?, and anything I may need to be aware of when doing so.
All audio is processed through receiver (Blue ray player, Netflix etc.)
I will never have both sets of Left/Right/Center playing at the same time….
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!?
Thanks,
Daniel

 

[agarwalro]

I'm curious why your TV and PJ screen are not on the same wall...

Get a receiver with analog pre-outs and put active speakers and a powered sub on the L, C, R and sub pre-outs around the TV. Put all three active speakers and sub on one power strip. Then you only have to turn on/turn off the power strip to activate/deactivate them and you get a nice 3.1 setup for the TV.

Edit: Hmmm... That may not work because the EQ used for the speakers around the PJ screen will be applied to the pre-outs. So close... Still thinking.

 

[djbarber]

I was hoping for something simple along the lines of an A/B switch with three inputs (L, C, R) that could be directed to
A side out -> L, C, R of projector viewing
B side out ->L, C, R for TV viewing

But haven’t found anything like that in google search. I could probably find a single A/B switch that would handle, for instance, Left out from receiver to either A out (TV) or B out (Projector), and just get 1 for each speakers. As I mentioned, I would never go "out" to both sets at the same time...
That would not be a very elegant solution, but may reduce costs.

 

[djbarber]

Missed your first question..
"I'm curious why your TV and PJ screen are not on the same wall..."

Short answer: Because I'm married
Long Answer: The projector screen is 120", the TV is 42". The assumption was The wall that will have the TV will not have enough space for the 120" screen, so I am using the end of the room to project to.

But now that you ask, I am going to have to take a look at if that assumption is true or not. If I move the projector screen to where the TV is, the screen will cover two windows, but that’s OK as the windows will be
closed for movie viewing anyway. I will have to check what else is in the way i.e. Ceiling fan etc.

I think the preferable setup, unfortunately will be as I have it now, on two different walls....

 

[agarwalro]

If you are handy with a soldering iron (or crimping tool), the easiest and cheapest thing is a 4-pole, double throw toggle switch. Two of something like this.

Use one switch for L, R and another for C. The benefit is that by design you will never have 2 speakers connected to one channel of the receiver at any given time. You may have the wrong speaker active, but that is easily remedied by flipping the errant switch. Just never try to flip the switch which something playing.

 

[XEagleDriver]

Different approach

I am setting up audio in a room that is 15’ wide by 30 long’.
I have a flat screen TV along the 15’ wall
And a projector at the end of the room 90 degrees to the wall where the TV is..
(Example: Sit in a chair facing TV to watch TV, to watch projector screen, pick up chair and turn 90 degrees to face projector screen)
The projector screen has left/Right/Center speakers to the (Of course) Left Right and center of the screen. That works fine.
The surround speakers are on stands and can “float”, another words I can move them where I want them.
The problem is: When I watch TV, and I want audio processed by my receiver, the Left Right and center speakers are at the other end of the room.
What I want to do is: have two sets of Left/Right/center speakers, 1 set for watching projected movies placed around the projector screen, and a second set of Left/Right/Center placed around the TV screen, again the surround speakers are mobile and can be moved to accommodate seating arrangement.
I have been looking for a simple (No Volume control) A/B switch for these two sets of Left/Right/Center speakers but have been unable to find what I am looking for.
I have looked at A/B switches for speakers, but they seem to only work for Pairs (2 speakers in a remote room)
Are you aware of anything that you could point me to to solve my problem?, and anything I may need to be aware of when doing so.
All audio is processed through receiver (Blue ray player, Netflix etc.)
I will never have both sets of Left/Right/Center playing at the same time….
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!?
Thanks,
Daniel

Daniel,
Welcome to the forum.

I would suggest the following solution sets:

1) For the projector use your receiver to build a 5.1 system with the receiver's room EQ applied for the listening space and speaker positions.
2) For the TV get an inexpensive (or not) 2-channel AVR with sub out and a pair of speakers and sub (optional) to set up an independant 2.1 system in support of TV viewing.
- If commited to 3.1 for the TV, then buy a 5.1 AVR to enable this feature (not needed IMHO).
- Add a 2nd Bluray player (cheap these days) if needed for disks and/or Netflix; also consider adding an inexpensive bluetooth receiver (~$30) if you want to stream audio from iPad or other phone/tablet.

Advantages:
a) Control of systems rests in remote(s), vice switches.
b) Adds ability to have simultaneous viewing (multiple sport games?), even if you do not use both audio at same time.
c) Avoids the "mistake" of using the surrounds in two different systems/positions where it is not possible to dial them in properly (i.e. speaker distance, EQ curve, etc.)
d) Avoids the problematic nature of different main speakers (L/C/R) using the same speaker distance and EQ settings.

Disadvantages:
Increased cost of 2nd AVR and BR player.

3) For the chairs replace with swivel chairs - no need to throw a back out moving them back and forth

Cheers,
XEagleDriver