cheap solution to powering speakers in multiple rooms

[Remington]

So I moved into a new house this weekend and inside of the kitchen there are two speakers mounted inside of the ceiling, and outside are two. I have a samsung 1080p 32'' lcd, a dvr hooked up with hdmi, and a ps3 hooked up hdmi in the living room, but nothing to power any speakers (i.e. reciever or a amp). I'm not too sure as to what to get because I dont have the money to buy a nice multi-zone reciever right now, my price to spend at this time is around 150-300, maybe a little more. High wattage isnt a big need for me, all i really need to do is to be able to play music from a CD and ipod/iphone. I would really like to also beable to hook up my dvr and ps3 to the reciever through hdmi then hdmi out to my tv. What i am wondering is can I get a decent 7.1 surround sound reciever and run it mono and just hook up the kitchen and outside speakers to the reciever, and then add three speakers and a subwoofer to the livingroom to hook up to the reciever and be fine? Or is there a better option for me?

 

[BMXTRIX]

You don't have the budget to do it properly, so you have a choice of doing it very poorly, or just focussing on what is actually important to you at this time.

You can get a VERY entry level receiver, which doesn't seem to make much sense to me if your TV has speakers, which are likely lousy, then why not just use them instead of getting something marginally better?

It sounds like you have a kitchen zone, then some speakers outside (?)... are there speakers in the living room already? If so, what type are they?

Anyway, if you are just looking for an inexpensive amplifier to run the 2 pairs of speakers, and those speakers have volume controls in the walls, then you can use something like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/SONANCE-SONAMP-260-STEREO-POWER-AMPLIFIER-AMP-/300556550260?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45fa910074

You can connect an iPod directly to it and adjust volume at the volume controls, or even directly through an iPod.

Then, you can start saving and do some research on a A/V receiver to handle your living room setup - whatever that may be. You can get a 2-zone receiver for the living room with zone 1 running and powering the living room, and zone 2 feeding (but not powering!) the kitchen/outside speakers. I would never recommend running zone 2 for more than one pair of speakers for an A/V receiver unless you want to kill the receiver quickly.

Maybe a receiver like this in a month or two, but I'm sure others will offer some input on cheaper A/V receivers which have zone 2 preouts on the receiver available...

http://usa.denon.com/us/Product/Pages/Product-Detail.aspx?Catid=3d9614d1-8000-4106-ab91-8192242cab83&SubId=40b5820d-83c2-4e93-9909-60aae60e0bdd&ProductId=1bc1c58f-4aef-47b8-b401-02eb4ef6182f

 

[Remington]

Sorry to not make it clear, but there are no speakers in the living room, those will be purchased later depending on the reciever I get. My main priority at this point is to be able to play music quietly outside and in the kitchen from a iPod and CDs from my ps3. So should I get the descent reciever now and save to get speakers later as I planned? If so should I get one like you referred, or something else? I was also looking at a Sony STR-DH820 thinking it would be a good choice, anda little cheaper than the denon.

 

[BMXTRIX]

You should not get an A/V receiver. A/V receivers are primarily built to power and properly run your non-existent speakers in the living room.

A GOOD receiver will also provide a feed, and perhaps weak amplification for your second/third zones.

So, with your requirements, all you want/need is a amplifier which is built to feed the other two rooms you have. A 2 channel 60 watt amp is ideal, similar to the one I linked to above on eBay.

You did not say if you have in-wall volume controls in the two rooms you listed - kitchen & outside, and that does matter a great deal, because then you do need something which will provide volume control for those two locations.

So, you want this (or similar):
http://cgi.ebay.com/SONANCE-SONAMP-260-AMP-NICE-HOME-STEREO-AMPLIFIER-/350462160291?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51992c2da3

If you have volume controls in the rooms, then just hook up the speakers.

If not, then you need a speaker selector with volume control like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NILES-SVL-4-SPEAKER-SELECTOR-VOLUME-CONTROL-SYSTEM-/400214649040?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d2ea6e8d0

Then just use the TV speakers for everything in the living room.

 

[Remington]

No I do not have any volume controls. Thank you very much for your help and patience so far by the way, I really appreciate it. If I go with this setup you are referring me to, is it possible to find somekind of ipod/cd/am/fm dock or player of some sort with two audio outs, then get the same set up of sterio amp and speaker selecter/ volume control with four nice speakers to put in the living room later to primarily run the tv out, but beable to switch to the ipod player as well to have music going throught most of the house and in the back at the same time? As I have said before, kitchen and outside are main worries right now, but very soon, within the next 2 months at most i want to put something in my livingroom and would rather not have to buy something now i cant use later. Once again, thanks alot!