best multi room receiver?

[tshark]

hey all. I need a receiver that allows multi room and will allow me to let 1 room play the audio for the tv, while the rest of the rooms will be playing music. I have 10 ceiling speakers, 2 outdoor speakers, and then downstairs for the home theatre where there will be surround sound there will be a center speaker, sub, 2 front speakers, and then 2 speakers (part of the 10) that are in the ceiling.

any suggestions would be great. thanks!

 

[rolyasm]

Kind of confused about how many speakers you have. Most of the receivers will have 7amps for 7.1 plus 2 pre-out pairs for second zone, which require another amp if you want to play 7.1 and the second zone at the same time. This would give you a total of 14 individual speakers with a receiver, 18 with an amp. You won't be able to run the 7.1 and then like 12 other speakers at the same time. You might want to look at something along the lines of Nuvo or Russound multiroom amps. Gives you 6 zones to control, and you can run it off a reciever or alone.
Roly

 

[Johnd]

Good answer rolyasm. I would say the 5805 may be the best receiver for multizone, but most of us cannot afford 6k for a receiver (tshark did not post a price limit), and that is my highly subjective opinion (I have the 5803). A multiroom amp is probably the best way to go.

 

[LHawes]

Is it possible to listen to 2 different sources i.e. HT and sterero CD at that same time in different rooms? My very low end receiver has, of course, 2 zones but no way to play 2 sources that I know of just a switch between speakers 1 and 2. When, at what price, point does that feaure kick in?

EDIT: I just checked out Russound. Looks like a great product. Are there any other receivers that will stream more than one source?

 

[tshark]

thanks for the suggestion.. i am looking for a receiver that can do the surround sound downstairs and then also power the other speakers. I need to do all of that for under 2k or around that... is that possible ? Of course not every room will be on at the same time, soo i dont know... which receiver and amp would work out nicely?

thanks!

 

[zildjian]

Is it possible to listen to 2 different sources i.e. HT and sterero CD at that same time in different rooms?

Yes. Most midgrade receivers (don't know about the lower end ones) offer this as a "Zone 2" feature.

 

[jcPanny]

Multizone receiver

Assuming you only need 2 different sources, a mid-fi receiver and a stereo amp should work well for your system.
Start with a decent receiver like the Yamaha RX-V2600 or Denon 3806 for about $1k.
Use the receiver's Zone 2 line output to connect to a stereo amp for the house and outdoor speakers. An amp with at least 200 Watts x 2 would deliver 33 Watts to each of your 6 pairs of speakers. 1 or 2 Behringer A500s would work well for this purpose @ $180 each. Add an impedence matching volume control for speakers in each room of the house and outside for about $30 each.

 

[LHawes]

Yes. Most midgrade receivers (don't know about the lower end ones) offer this as a "Zone 2" feature.

Yeah but doesn't zone '2' play the same 'source' i.e. CD simply in another zone? Or will zone 2 play a totally different source, like a DVD at the same time? Sorry but a bit confused.

 

[jcPanny]

Zone 2

All receivers that advertise Zone 2 (or 3) will allow you to play a different source (CD, radio, etc.) in Zone 2 and in the Main zone (DVD, etc.). Any entry level receiver will allow you to send the same source to all speakers via the tape output.

One limitation of most mid-fi receivers is that they can only route analog sources to the zone 2. So if you are playing music on the DVD or CD player on the house speakers, you will need an analog audio cable connected to the receiver in addition to the digital optical or coax.

 

[LHawes]

All receivers that advertise Zone 2 (or 3) will allow you to play a different source (CD, radio, etc.) in Zone 2 and in the Main zone (DVD, etc.). Any entry level receiver will allow you to send the same source to all speakers via the tape output.

One limitation of most mid-fi receivers is that they can only route analog sources to the zone 2. So if you are playing music on the DVD or CD player on the house speakers, you will need an analog audio cable connected to the receiver in addition to the digital optical or coax.

Very helpful Panny - Didn't know that.

Thanks

Larry

 

[tshark]

thanks a lot for all of your help.. im gonna go with the Denon, and then probably get 2 Behringer A500 amps just to give a little more kick to my speakers.. now i just gotta figure out what speakers to get.. soo please checkout my other post to help me out. thanks!

I wish i could get the impedance matching volume controls setup, but dont want to have to do anymore wiring through the house. Or actually, is there a way to control what is being played from another controller that would be upstairs (receiver downstairs) wirelessly? (or hardwire if not just so I know) That way people wont have to constantly walk downstairs to change the music when they are upstairs.


(after i get everything ill be sure to post my setup and also take some pics to show off)

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24017

 

[jcPanny]

House speakers

So the 5 pairs of house speakers are not wired for volume controls? That would be annoying.
In order to connect more than 2 pairs of speakers to a single Behringer amp, you will need impedance matching circuity. For example, if you connected 10 8 ohm speakers to one stereo amp, the amp would see a (8 / 5 =) 1.6 ohm load. This would easily overload the amp and cause it to go into shutdown. The impedance matching circuitry allows the amp to see a 4-8 ohm load so that it can function properly.
Something like this will allow you to adjust the volume of each set of speakers and prvide the impedance matching.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007KDWR/104-8795900-5346347?v=glance&n=172282
At over $300, it is more expensive than volume controlls in each room.

If you are in another part of the house and want to change the source, your best bet is an RF universal remote for all your gear. They work through walls and have a range up to 100 feet.

 

[tshark]

so even if I get 2 amps and bridge them I should get the Russound SDB-6.1 6-Pair Dual-Source Speaker Selector to hookup the 6 pairs of speakers for the house and outside? Its not like we are gonna have all of the speakers all on at once, but I still want to make sure that nothing gets overloaded.

 

[jcPanny]

Speaker selector

Without a speaker selector or volume controls, how will you prevent all of the speakers from being on at the same time?

Without impedence matching circuitry, the only way to prevent damage to one of the A500 amps is to connect no more than 1 or 2 speakers to each of the amp channels (because it is stable into 4 ohms).

 

[tshark]

what is the lowest impedance that a Behringer A500 can have before it shuts off? I was told not to bridge the 2 amps together.. instead have them split off from the receiver and then have a 4 channel switch connected to each amp, so then i dont run into as many problems with the amps shutting off.

I was told that sometimes when the impedance goes below 4 ohms on most digital amps that it will shutoff.. and at sometimes when you are running so many speakers it will go below 4 ohms and then the amp might shutoff, so I need to know what the lowest impedance this amp can handle.

thanks!

 

[jcPanny]

A500 specs

The Behringer is rated at 230 Watts x 2 into 4 ohms and 500 Watts into 8 ohms bridged. I wouldn't connect an impedence <4 ohms to either of the amps. Also note, when bridged, you must have an 8 ohm load.

Since you plan on getting a speaker selector, than get one that has the impdance matching circuit and / or volume controls. This will ensure that the amp sees a 6-8 ohm load regardless of the number of speakers or whether you are using the amps seperatley of bridged.

Also, with all the power available from 2 A500s, make sure your VCs and speaker selectors are rated appropriatelty for at least 100 Watts max.

 

[rolyasm]

You could get a 6 input 6 channel(stereo) amp for around $1,100. Here is an example.
http://www.homecontrols.com/cgi-bin/main/co_disp/displ/carfnbr/0/prrfnbr/838
Here is a 4 zone, 4 input for half the price.
https://www.homecontrols.com/cgi-bin/main/co_disp/displ/carfnbr/195/prrfnbr/3803/NuVo-Simplese-D-Amplifier-System

There are lots of other companies that make them as well. Then you could get an inexpensive reciever that has what you need for 7.1 for easily under $500.00. Total cost with reciever is less than $1,500, or $1,000 if you only want the 4 zone. The down, or upside, is that these multizone amps are designed so you have control in every room you have speakers. So if you have cat5 ran, or can run it, to the places you want speakers, great. Now every room has control over what is playing (CD, DVD, XM, TV) with up to 6 choices, and you can control individual volume, or whether or not that room is even on. Not all an or nothing type thing. If you can't run Cat5, then you would have see if a central hub at the amp station could run all the speakers in the different zones. You would lose control in the rooms, but you could possibly still control it all from the main station. I use russound in my house and love it. I can listen to a prize fight thoughout the house, or I can listen to the fight in the kitchen, a CD in my bedroom, XM on my porch, and a different Cd in my garage. Very versitile. Good luck with it all. If you live close to Utah, let me know. I can help you out.
Roly

 

[aabrams]

I have a question....If I wanted to have 16 pair of speakers running off of say an ONKYO TXSR604 what would I need beside the receiver? It sounds like the receiver plus an amplifier or 2 would work. The speakers I am going to use are just inwalls.

I have some integrators working on the whole house audio part of the job but I'm not sure I want to use them b/c all they want to sell me Crestron, and stuff like that. I want a simple system for whole house audio.