Advice needed on a 3 or 4 pairs of speakers to 1 audio source hookup

[okidoki]

Hello, I would like to install 3 or 4 pairs of wall speakers in a new restaurant but only want to run them off one amplifier. I'm seeking advice on the best and most economical way of doing this. I know hooking up all 6 to 8 speakers through the L & R outputs behind the amp probably is not advisable. Common sense tells me that wiring all the speakers would require a special amp with multiple outputs - which sounds very expensive. Alternatively, there must be some way to split the output into all these speakers without messing up the amp, ohms, etc. Any suggestions/recommendations for this setup? Thanks in advance!

 

[markw]

For that number of speakers, forget about stereo.

I elieve you're going for low level background music and nobody will benefit from any stereo effect.

Look into Niles for impedance matching speaker switches, These allow multiple pairs of speakers to be played simultaneously and maintain a conastant impedance to prevent the amplifier section from becoming braised in it's own natural juices. ..and, if you can, swich it to mono operation.

http://www.nilesaudio.com/products/aip_speaker_selection.html

 

[okidoki]

Thanks. Actually, brian32672 was most helpful with some advice and affordable pricing to boot! Here's what he recommended ...

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What is your budget. On a quick search I found this 12 channel amp, and volume can be set on each pair of speakers. Made by Phoenix Gold. Here is a link. Selling for 499.00 and valued at 1100.00 There are 8 channel amps that can be had for about 299.00 but I thought this was a bargain. Here is the link.
http://www.outdoorspeakerdepot.com/amplifier1.html
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BTW, with that 6 channel amp I sent you, and you decide you want 8 speakers. Well for a restuarant you will not need to blast the sound. So you could use 2 sets of speakers that are 16 ohms for the front main channels (wired in series) which would only see a 8 ohm load. However those 4 would have the least amount of volume control. What you will need for each set of speaker is a L-Pad controller. You can get these at Radio Shack for about 8.00 a piece.
So it would not be a problem to run that 6 channel amp with 8 speakers. Use all the other speakers as 8 ohms. Heck I think that amp could easily handle a 4 ohm load. So you would not hurt it in anyway possible.
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[Mudcat]

I used an older version of the JSS4-HP. You would probably only need one JSS4 or JSS6. The JSS4-HP should be about $160, is that within you budget? Plus you can get rack ears for a standard 19 inch rack.

http://www.jamospeakers.com/Default.asp?ID=1414