8 speakers

[Grimis]

I have several questions. My situation is that I want to have 8 speakers (4 inside, 4 outside) that will be listened to stereo and how will I hook up all 8 speakers to one receiver? I have read about switching speakers A and B, but will this only allow me to use 4 at a time? it seems like there are no receivers that you can hook up this many speakers too. Also how hard would it be to install a volume control for 2 or 4 speakers say in the room that they will be playing in (The receiver will be in a closet) This will be in a new home that is not built yet, so wiring isn't a problem. Sorry about the newb questions. Thanks for any help

 

[j_garcia]

Most receivers are capable of handling at least 1 extra zone of speakers and some 2, 3 or 4, however you will still either want an impedance matching 8-speaker selector like this, or you can just use impedance matching volume controls. I would recommend using an external amp for the "other" zones.

 

[beam3]

How bad is it for a receiver if you run two pairs of speakers from one channel? Assumming the recever isn't abused?

 

[jcPanny]

Multiple speakers

By connecting 2 speakers in parallel to a single amp channel, the impedance is cut in half. So two 8 ohm speakers = 4 ohms. A 4 ohm impedence is bad for most receivers and they work much better with 6-8 ohm loads. In contrast, most outboard amps are stable into 4 ohms and some into 2 ohms.

Grimis,
It should be easy to add a VC in each room to control 2-4 speakers. If you want to run 4 speakers off a single VC, get one with a higher power rating like 100 Watts. There are also weatherproof versions for outside. Also make sure it has the impedence matching feature as suggested above.

I would recommend that you pick 4 outdoor speakers that are the same and 4 indoor speakers that are the same.

An inexpensive amp like the Behringer A500 or an audiosource should work great for background music to 8 speakers.

 

[Grimis]

So really to make things easier and save myself some money, I should just cut back to 7 speakers, and buy a 7.1 channel receiver rather than use 8 speakers, and buy an amp and a receiver. Because I could run 7 speakers on a 7.1 receiver in stereo correct? Thanks

 

[j_garcia]

What you want is a receiver with the ability to handle at least 2 zones. The HT would be the primary zone and have 5.1, 6.1, 7.1; whatever you choose. The main channel outputs are not intended to be used for speakers in other areas with the exception of some that can reassign the 6th and 7th to power another zone. Then zone 2 would be all of the other speakers (powered by one external amp). This would allow you to use any stereo analog source for zone 2 and have independent volume control of them via the receiver. If you use an RF capable remote (or convert the one you have with a RF extender kit), you can then control the overall system volume from anywhere in the house (globally, not individually though).

A+B switching for 2 speakers probably won't hurt anything unless you really crank it, but running 2 sets of speakers from a single channel is probably not a good idea.

 

[NotherNewbie]

an alternative

you might checkout a Niles SVC 6 unit - about $200..
you connect it to the main speaker temrinal on your amp..
it handles 6 pairs of speakers, each with on/off and individual volume control

there's also a model out by Russsound that is dual input.

 

[Grimis]

I'm not going to run a HT off the receiver, just going to run the 7 or 8 speakers in stereo.

 

[j_garcia]

I'm not going to run a HT off the receiver, just going to run the 7 or 8 speakers in stereo.

Then a HT receiver isn't what you want. What I did in an install for a customer was to use a stereo receiver whose job was to do nothing but be hooked to the 4 speaker selector switch and power the speakers connected to it. It works quite well. Their HT is separate from the various speakers around the house however.

 

[jcPanny]

Configuration options

You will probably want a volume control in each room / zone so that cost is not a factor. I think the cost of a stereo receiver and amp would be comparable to the cost of a 7.1 receiver with enough power for your application:

Stereo or entry level HT receiver: $2-300
Behringer A500 amp: $180

Mid-fi 7.1 receiver: $3-500

I think that the receiver amp configuration would be easier to upgrade and expand and will probably deliver more power to each of the speakers.

 

[mike c]

I think with an impedance matching Volume Control, a single HK 3480 stereo receiver can power all 8 speakers (4 pairs)

 

[Grimis]

I looked at this amp online, thanks for the reccomendation... it looks like to me that there is only 4 speaker hookups... please explain also, what kind of input on the amp would you need to hook up a computer? would RCA's do or would you need something else?

 

[jcPanny]

Receiver connections

You will only utilize one pair of speaker connection on the back of the receiver (or Amp). The impedence matching volume controls allow the receiver to see an 8 ohm impedence with 4 pairs of speakers connected. It effectively "divides" the power, so an amp with 100 Watts per channel will deliver 25 Watts to each of 4 speakers.

From the PC you can use an analog conneciton which is usually a 1/4" jack on PC to RCA connections on the receiver.
OR a digital connection via digital optical or coax cable from the PC to receiver.

 

[Grimis]

So what your saying is hook up 2 pairs (4 speakers) to two of the outputs and give each speaker 25 watts? Could I hook up one pair to each output and get 50 watts per speaker, or would this not work?