Model home sound system needs reworking -

[Mookev]

Friends - first time post.
Here's my situation:
I bought a model home with an installed whole house sound system. Four rooms have two speakers. Each room has it's own wall-mounted volume control in that room.
AS a model, the builder had it set up with a small amp with a iphone input playing soft music.
As I moved in and looked closer, it seems that for their purposes, they had EVERY speaker wire hooked together. That is, ALL eight "+" wires were connected together and terminated in a media area (TV, internet and speaker wires) - all the negatives too.
I opened up one of the wall-mounted volume switch and noticed it was bypassed and the speaker wires were wired mono and they went through a 70 watt 8 ohm transformer.
The speakers are ORIGIN D61, 6 ohms, rated at 100 watts.
I know very little about these things, but I think running all the speaker wires through the transformers was an attempt to bring the ohm load to a useable amount for their little amplifier.
I think the wall mounted volume controls were by-passed so customers wouldn't mess around with it.
-SO -
For now, I'd like to use two rooms (two sets of stereo speakers) I'm using a Yamana amp RX-V1300 with two speaker inputs.
I think what I could do is remove the transformers, wire the speakers stereo into the volume control and wire those two imputs into my Yamaha amp...
I would suppose I could find some combination of amplifier power output and volume control level that works for me.
Whaddyathink?

Mookev

 

[highfigh]

Friends - first time post.
Here's my situation:
I bought a model home with an installed whole house sound system. Four rooms have two speakers. Each room has it's own wall-mounted volume control in that room.
AS a model, the builder had it set up with a small amp with a iphone input playing soft music.
As I moved in and looked closer, it seems that for their purposes, they had EVERY speaker wire hooked together. That is, ALL eight "+" wires were connected together and terminated in a media area (TV, internet and speaker wires) - all the negatives too.
I opened up one of the wall-mounted volume switch and noticed it was bypassed and the speaker wires were wired mono and they went through a 70 watt 8 ohm transformer.
The speakers are ORIGIN D61, 6 ohms, rated at 100 watts.
I know very little about these things, but I think running all the speaker wires through the transformers was an attempt to bring the ohm load to a useable amount for their little amplifier.
I think the wall mounted volume controls were by-passed so customers wouldn't mess around with it.
-SO -
For now, I'd like to use two rooms (two sets of stereo speakers) I'm using a Yamana amp RX-V1300 with two speaker inputs.
I think what I could do is remove the transformers, wire the speakers stereo into the volume control and wire those two imputs into my Yamaha amp...
I would suppose I could find some combination of amplifier power output and volume control level that works for me.
Whaddyathink?

Mookev

Remove one speaker grill and check for a dial that has settings for level and power- this would be for a 70V system, which is commonly used for commercial/industrial spaces and if it is that kind of system, it's OK to parallel the speakers. If the amplifier is gone, you'll need to check into what you have- remove one speaker and check the model so you can look on the Origin Acoustics site for info.

If the speaker are more typical, I would recommend using a multi-channel amplifier for each pair- it's better than using a stereo amp and trying to make the connections, it doesn't require sharing the power among the speakers and you won't need to buy a 250W amplifier just to have 60W/speaker (if that would be necessary).

I would look at this one- I have used them and they work well-

Home

Dayton Audio MA1240a Multi-Zone 12 Channel AmplifierDayton Audio MA1240a Multi-Zone 12 Channel AmplifierThe high-density solution to the challenges of multi-room audioThe Dayton Audio MA1240a features a Class-AB output circuit that delivers superior audiophile sound quality and stable...

www.parts-express.com

This amp's channels can be bridged, to provide more power for the speakers that need it, like outdoors or in a larger room.

 

[TLS Guy]

Friends - first time post.
Here's my situation:
I bought a model home with an installed whole house sound system. Four rooms have two speakers. Each room has it's own wall-mounted volume control in that room.
AS a model, the builder had it set up with a small amp with a iphone input playing soft music.
As I moved in and looked closer, it seems that for their purposes, they had EVERY speaker wire hooked together. That is, ALL eight "+" wires were connected together and terminated in a media area (TV, internet and speaker wires) - all the negatives too.
I opened up one of the wall-mounted volume switch and noticed it was bypassed and the speaker wires were wired mono and they went through a 70 watt 8 ohm transformer.
The speakers are ORIGIN D61, 6 ohms, rated at 100 watts.
I know very little about these things, but I think running all the speaker wires through the transformers was an attempt to bring the ohm load to a useable amount for their little amplifier.
I think the wall mounted volume controls were by-passed so customers wouldn't mess around with it.
-SO -
For now, I'd like to use two rooms (two sets of stereo speakers) I'm using a Yamana amp RX-V1300 with two speaker inputs.
I think what I could do is remove the transformers, wire the speakers stereo into the volume control and wire those two imputs into my Yamaha amp...
I would suppose I could find some combination of amplifier power output and volume control level that works for me.
Whaddyathink?

Mookev

First of all home builders are pretty much universally idiots. You have to be round them pretty much 24/7 if you have any of them build a house. I know, I have just built a house.

Here is my guess as to what happend. I suspect he did wire all the speakers together originally. Then he connected an amp, and it blew right away as the impedance was too low. Then I suspect he panicked and called "an expert" whose knowledge base was just a few cu. inches bigger than his. He went ahead and converted it badly to a professional 70 volt system in mono.

We just get a steady stream of this nonsense here, and have done for years.

You really need to decide whether to remove the system and have the ceilings and walls repaired. That is probably your best bet, as those systems are known to be so awful, that they reduce the value of your home.

If you want to salvage it, then the thing to do in my view is to have a professional 70 volt system installed. That is what is used in commercial buildings and is very robust and reliable. From your description of the wiring, that may well be your only option.

However, remember those sort of systems, at best, give your home the ambience of a second rate shopping mall.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I will say that I completely disagree with what was said above. It does look like you have decent speakers. The lack of volume control being connected does indicate that they were trying to keep little hands off the volume in the zones. NOT hooking them up properly when they left is just bad form, but easy for a handy person to fix (which it sounds like you are). Whole house audio systems, that are easy to use, really don't take away from a home's value at all.

Check out the volume controls that were in use. Please let us know the make/model. Double check that they are of decent design.

Be aware that using a surround receiver for a whole house audio distribution hub is not at all what they were designed for. They really are designed to provide audio to a single room.

THAT SAID...
If you want to use your Yamaha, I would suggest pulling all extraneous transformers out, and properly wiring the speakers, as stereo, into the volume controls. Check each zone one by one by one with the Yamaha to ensure that audio is playing out of the speakers properly.
Then get a impedance matching speaker selector. This will allow you to run all your zones at the same time and have the volume controls work properly. All zones will be on when the Yamaha is on, but you can turn them off with the speaker selector, or by going into a room and just turning the volume down. The speaker selector is very inexpensive and will give you whole house audio on the cheap.

I do like the idea of a 8 channel or larger amplifier designed for whole house audio as that will give you the most reliable sound possible. I use Rotel RMB-1048 amplifiers in my home and they are now about 15+ years old. Every one of them works perfectly. So, you know.... reliable.

You have a ton of actual options when it comes to whole house audio (WHA) and it runs the gamut in terms of cost. But, at the very least, you can go through the steps of getting everything up and running. If you don't feel confident in your ability to do so yourself, you can contact a local pro who can help you out as well.

 

[highfigh]

While I don't recommend doing it, one of the Dayton amplifiers I installed is int the same room as a stationary sink that's normally used for laundry. The husband wasn't in the picture when I installed the equipment and he has proven to be pretty inept when it comes to electronics, so he proceeded to bring his aquariums into that room, attach a hose to the faucet and spray water in them, less than 10' from the amplifier that sits on a shelf. Since this wasn't something I or his wife had imagined when we discussed the original project, the shelf was a good idea. We never dreamed that anyone would do something so boneheaded.

Guess what still works fine, after I dried it.