Help adding zones / AV receiver config

[chakotay2]

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I just bought a Pioneer VSX-1015. It's replacing my VSX-D914 (which died).

The VSX-D914 had 7 Speaker terminals and 2 (B) terminals for a total of 9. I had the first seven hooked to my speakers in my home theater room and the B (2) terminals hooked to a Jamo speaker selector to pipe into several different rooms in my house.

Now that I have the 1015, it only has 7. My A/V guy is suggesting I go with an output (such as optical out) on the 1015 and put a seperate receiver (simple 2 channel) to power the Jamo / additional speakers.

My question is, is this the best way to do this?
What suggestions do you have?

I want to stick with the 1015 and don't have much more of a budget left. Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[jcPanny]

House system

I think that your receiver can be setup to run 5.1 with powered zone 2, but for several pairs of speakers, you will need an outboard amp. Check out the Behringer A500 for $180.

Also make sure that you use impedance matching volume controls so that the amp will see a 4-8 ohm load. Connect the amp to a Tape or Zone 2 line level output on your current receiver.

Your receiver will only send Analog sources to this output, so you made need to add a couple analog cables from your CD palyer and other sources to the receiver.

 

[chakotay2]

Outboard amp?

What exactly do you mean by outboard amp? I do have a digital output on the VSX-1015 as well. Can't I just port this to a second amp?

 

[jcPanny]

Behringer A500 amp

Chako,
Here is a link for the Behringer for a good price:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=373631&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

This is an (outboard) amplifier. It has a single set of analog line level inputs (RCA or XLR connections) and stereo speaker level outputs. It is stable in to 4 ohm loads and can deliver over 200 Watts per channel. This model also happens to have a volume/gain adjustment to allow you to set the max power/volume and can be bridged to make a 500 Watt mono amp.

In contrast, a $200 stereo receiver will include an am/fm tuner, multiple analog and digital audio inputs, and probably some video switching. Most in this price range will have an amp with 50-80 Watts per channel and are only suitable for 8 ohm loads. When you start dividing 50 watts by 6 or 7, you have less than 10 Watts per channel which wont be too loud depending on the speakers and room size.

Also, the digital output is just a passthrough of 1 or more of the digital inputs. An amp like the Behringer A500 does not have any digital inputs. Another connection idea: Connect the amp to the main pre-outs on your pioneer. This would work for any analog or digital source, however, the amp would always have the same source as the main HT.

 

[chakotay2]

Thanks

Great! I will look into it. Thanks.