Have RX-V685 and new home has many in-wall speakers. Need options?

[William Lemmerhirt]

I checked. My length is 15’ with sofa at 0’ to TV and front+center. Either sides are just 6’ away but middle of room left folds into a big room: dining area. So i have 2 front/left, center, 2 surrounds ear level either side of sofa making it a 5.1 setup. Woofer: somewhere. I now will have the top wall 2 presence speakers making it 5.1.2. With the new AV receiver i think the best will be 5.1.4. The +2 coming from the 2 high mounted rears. That should do it.

any AV supporting natively this type of setup ie 5.1.4 or 5.2.4 is really expensive starting at +900$. Oh boy! All current 5.1/5.2 or 7.1/7.2 are decently priced but cant find any which can cover the 2 rears. I think that is why you mentioned getting a 2nd AV to power the 2 rears while using any of the decently priced 5.1/7.1 AV?

Exactly. Almost...
I wouldn’t recommend using a second AVR to power the extra speakers. That will get complicated, and results might be sketchy. And also, technically it won’t be 5.1.2 until you have Atmos processing. Currently you’d have 5.1+”front height” but PLIIZ height, not Atmos height. Confused yet? Lol.
But yes, an external amp is what you’d need. I haven’t shopped for any light duty ones as I haven’t had a need, but since the height speakers don’t generally present much load, you can get away with a cheaper one.
Also, it’s very much worth finding a good spot for your subwoofer, as long as you have options to choose from. Subs don’t always WORK best where they LOOK best. So that’s another can of worms lol.
For AVR’s, again, I’d look at a4L for a refurb, or search for an open box deal. I know spending that extra amount can seem like a lot but buyers remorse, and wondering what if hurts even more! Lol

 

[bmninada]

Nah. I got it. Thanks. Awesome.
Let me know this: I will go with a receiver which supports 5.1.2 at a minimum and MUST support Atmos. Then also look at a 2 channel amplifier which i can plug into this receiver for the rear 2 speakers. I effect i have 5.1.4. If budget permits the better choice obviously will be a receiver which can natively support 5.1.4 and then i wont need this 2nd amplifier at all. Is this understanding correct?


If i indeed need to go / opt for that 2nd amplifier then how or where I plug it into the main receiver? Is there any feature I need to look for to ensure this can be done, in that main receiver?

Finally, can’t i use my current AV as that 2nd 2 channel amplifier? I mean strictly like an amplifier only.

 

[lovinthehd]

I was looking at the 685 spec briefly the other day, it only has 2.2 pre-outs, so an external amp seems to be only used for R/L channels (and subs) at a guess, but I didn't go thru the manual to see if it has amp channel assignment capabilities to use other channels via the pre-outs, so make sure you understand what you can do with it by checking your manual. I don't see anything in the 685 specs indicating it has a multi-ch input to make it easily useful as an external amp either.