Denon 4806 Speaker Setup Question

[ddawatson]

I have a new Denon 4806 that can drive 3 Zones. I have three separate floors wired for sound: Family Room (Multimedia Room), Living Room, Top Floor Den. Each room has speaker connections wired and terminating to patch panel behind my Denon 4806 Receiver/Mitsubishi 54" DLP/TV/CD/DVD/PS3 rack in Family Room. This patch panel truncates all wiring for Dolby 5.1 surround room (five speakers, L/R Front, L/R Rear, Subwoofer, Front Projection speaker) in audio/video room (same room) and two separate floors for independent pair of speakers.

The problem is that I cannot drive all three floors with same sound source, unless I use a Surround Sound mode. I would like to drive the same music source (i.e. a CD or Radio) to all three floors simultaneously without using surround sound mode. Additionally, the Denon 4806 manual suggests that I wire my L/R Rear speakers to Surround Speaker A ports on back of AVR-4806. Do I have to purchase a separate amplifier for Zone 2 and Zone 3? Or is there a way to configure the AVR-4806 to push music Zone 2 and Zone 3 without the use of amplifier?

Thanks for your insight.

 

[ddawatson]

Update

You cannot channel digital sources to Zone 2 or Zone 3. Only analog sources. To replicate the front channel to my second story and or third story of my home, I need to assign the Surround and Surround Back amps to Front and physically connect the wiring for the two other set of speakers to the speaker terminals labeled SURR-A and SURR BACK respectively.

 

[AVRat]

Too bad no one replied earlier to your inquiry. Most receivers only handle analog signals through zones 2/3. To alleviate the reconfiguation issues, it would be advisable to use a separate amp for zone 3 operation. You can usually find good deals for Audiosource amps on Ubid that would work well.

 

[ddawatson]

I just purchased the Denon PMA-2000ivr to allow my source channels to reach my Zone 2 and Zone 3. The next addition is to select and purchase the cables to connect the amplifier to the AVR-4806. I am not sure what type of B&W speakers to use for my Zone 2 and Zone 3 areas. I do have a pair of 7NT's used for my HT 7.1; probably purchase a new set (or two) for Zone 2 and Zone 3 areas in the house.

 

[Davemcc]

If you assign the Surr. Back speaker terminals to zone 2, then run RCA cables to the stereo amp for zone 3, you have 5.1 in the family room and can play either the same or different sources in each of the two other rooms.

Is this what you're planning to do?

 

[mrnick]

Hate to circumvent the system here but I need 5 posts to post links in a post!