Multi-Zone Question for RX-V663

[Clider]

I've not had experience with multi-zone setups so bare with me (I'm new here too).

I have the RX-V663 and know that it does multi-zone, but I am unsure how I would put that to work in my house. I have a fairly nice setup in my living room A/V wise, but if I can somehow run an alternate zone to my bedroom, or even the entire upstairs, that would be awesome.

If I wanted to run two pairs of additional speakers in each of the bedrooms upstairs and have them powered by the additional zone coming off my receiver in the living room, what exactly would I need to do to get the signal up there (transmittal wise, IE: what type of cable do I need to fish to the second floor).

I'm still even unsure about the capabilities of extra zones, I'm assuming I can use two different sources and send one downstairs and an alternate upstairs, or send one source to both zones - or am I way off?

I was 2 seconds away from having a pro come out and do an entire Speakercraft system in my home and still might, but that's on hold for a month or two... in the interim, while I have the carpet pulled up and baseboards off for the rennovation - I figured it couldn't hurt to pre-wire for any possible future capabilities.

Thanks guys.

 

[Midcow2]

Multi-zone

I've not had experience with multi-zone setups so bare with me (I'm new here too).

I have the RX-V663 and know that it does multi-zone, but I am unsure how I would put that to work in my house. I have a fairly nice setup in my living room A/V wise, but if I can somehow run an alternate zone to my bedroom, or even the entire upstairs, that would be awesome.

If I wanted to run two pairs of additional speakers in each of the bedrooms upstairs and have them powered by the additional zone coming off my receiver in the living room, what exactly would I need to do to get the signal up there (transmittal wise, IE: what type of cable do I need to fish to the second floor).

I'm still even unsure about the capabilities of extra zones, I'm assuming I can use two different sources and send one downstairs and an alternate upstairs, or send one source to both zones - or am I way off?

I was 2 seconds away from having a pro come out and do an entire Speakercraft system in my home and still might, but that's on hold for a month or two... in the interim, while I have the carpet pulled up and baseboards off for the rennovation - I figured it couldn't hurt to pre-wire for any possible future capabilities.

Thanks guys.

Okay here is the skinning about multi-zone on your Yamaha RX-V663

By the way you can look at your owner's manual online at : http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/Documents/YEC/AV_Receivers/Manual/RX-V663_U-1.pdf

Normally Zone 2 is a second set of front speaker output. Usually zone 2 is designated as B and you can have A, B, A+B, off. It normally has the same input source as Zone1 (A), but some AVRs can have separate inputs. it appears with your AVR the zone2 source is the same as zone1.

Look at page 98, 99 -you can set a separate initial and maximum volume for Zone 2.

Look at page 88 - you can have some other options on zone 2 : zone2, FRONT B, Zone B, PRESENCE, or NONE

Concerning prewiring- Use a two wire cable in a sheath either 14 gauge up to 50 feet or 12 gauge if going more than 50 feet. It is cheap to pre-wire ahead of time.

 

[MDS]

If I wanted to run two pairs of additional speakers in each of the bedrooms upstairs and have them powered by the additional zone coming off my receiver in the living room, what exactly would I need to do to get the signal up there (transmittal wise, IE: what type of cable do I need to fish to the second floor).

You just need speaker wire if you use the AVR to power zone 2. If you will have 2 pair of speakers (possibly in different rooms) running off zone 2 then you need impedance matching volume controls in those rooms. With two sets of speakers on zone 2 both pairs would only be able to play the same source but that source can still be different than the one playing in the main zone.

You should run one 4 conductor wire (eg. 16/4) from each volume control location to the location of the receiver and two 2 conductor wires from each volume control to the speakers in that room. Then at the receiver end you tie all the wires together and connect to the zone 2 speaker outputs. That's how my house is wired although I don't use speakers in the master bathroom which is where the second set of wires runs to.

I'm still even unsure about the capabilities of extra zones, I'm assuming I can use two different sources and send one downstairs and an alternate upstairs, or send one source to both zones - or am I way off?

You can have independent sources to each zone but zone 2 is stereo only. So you could be playing a DVD with a 5.1 soundtrack in the living room while listening to another source in stereo in zone 2 at the same time.

 

[Clider]

Okay, good, so I'm not that far off... I'm familiar with having the volume controls in those rooms.

Let me ask you this since it's what I want to do specifically.

I want to install two more in-wall speakers in my guest bedroom and master bedroom, short of running the wires, what exactly do I need to do. I know how to run the speaker wire from the volume control, out to the two speakers, but I am unsure what I need to do in between my receiver downstairs and the volume control knobs upstairs.

Like you said - I want to be able to watch DVD's, TV, XBOX, PS3, whatever downstairs and then listen to my Ipod upstairs in those bedrooms.

Do I need a multi-zone speaker selector?

I guess my main question is, and I'll have to look at it when I go over there shortly, is, what kind of wires come OUT of my main receiver... for some reason I assumbed it would be RCA, but I'm guessing it's just a regular speaker output?

So since I'm going to have two different rooms with in-walls, I'll need a speaker selector that I run the output from my receiver too, then that speaker/zone selector I run to the volume control knobs in each bedroom, then out to the speakers in the walls?

Hope I didn't just ramble too much.

 

[Clider]

I'm looking at page 108 online and it shows the two sets of outputs labeled "Front Zone/Zone 2"... Since there are two sets, I run both left and right channels to the speaker selector, then out of that speaker selector, I run to the volume control knobs, then out to the speakers?

I was getting the "remote out" confused as the only way to run a second zone.

If I do need a multi-zone speaker selector, which is a good recommended one... I only need a four zone system at most.

 

[Midcow2]

okay sounds good!

You can have independent sources to each zone but zone 2 is stereo only. So you could be playing a DVD with a 5.1 soundtrack in the living room while listening to another source in stereo in zone 2 at the same time.

In reading the manual , I didn't see where you could specifiy two different zone inputs. If so then great, the OP can hear the IPOD upstairs and watch DVDs, TV or Xbox/360 downstairs.

 

[Clider]

In reading the manual , I didn't see where you could specifiy two different zone inputs. If so then great, the OP can hear the IPOD upstairs and watch DVDs, TV or Xbox/360 downstairs.

I am not asking rhetorically or be a smart alek...

...but isn't the purpose of multi-zone so you can have to different sources going to two different zones?

 

[MDS]

In reading the manual , I didn't see where you could specifiy two different zone inputs. If so then great, the OP can hear the IPOD upstairs and watch DVDs, TV or Xbox/360 downstairs.

The 663 is a relatively new 7.1 receiver and all 7.1 receivers with zone 2 capability work the same way.

 

[AVRat]

Theoretically, using the IM VCs you don’t need a speaker selector. Just turn the VC down when not in use, which is what I do. For the connections, generally you wire the speakers in parallel to the receiver (“+” ”+”R to receiver, “-” ”-”R to receiver and “+” ”+”L to receiver, “-” ”-”L to receiver).

 

[MDS]

I guess my main question is, and I'll have to look at it when I go over there shortly, is, what kind of wires come OUT of my main receiver... for some reason I assumbed it would be RCA, but I'm guessing it's just a regular speaker output?

There are usually two ways to utilize zone 2. One is to have the receiver itself power zone2, in which case you just need speaker wire connected to the zone 2 speaker outputs (typically the rear surround terminals are used for zone 2).

The other is to use the zone 2 line-out, in which case you need stereo audio cables to another receiver or amplifier and then speaker wire from that amp to the speakers. If you do it that way then you can retain 7.1 in the main zone while having stereo in the second zone whereas with the first option you can only get 5.1 in the main zone and stereo in the second zone because the receiver is using 2 of its 7 amplifiers to power zone 2.

So since I'm going to have two different rooms with in-walls, I'll need a speaker selector that I run the output from my receiver too, then that speaker/zone selector I run to the volume control knobs in each bedroom, then out to the speakers in the walls?

Not necessarily. The receiver has only 1 zone 2 output, whether you use the line-out to an additional amp or the speaker out directly to multiple volume controls or one speaker selector. Either way you get one source to all of the additional speakers. If you have impedance matching volume controls then you don't need a speaker selector.

Using more than one pair of speakers on a single output is effectively wiring all the speakers in parallel and the receiver can't deal with that - hence the need for IM volume controls or speaker selector.

 

[jotham]

are you sure you want to do this?

One thing to keep in mind is the convenience of your proposed approach. If you have an iPod hooked up downstairs it could be a hassle change tracks let alone the fact that you always have to turn the receiver on to listen to music. I've got a couple of multizone systems and so far, it seems the most convenient are ones that are mostly isolated to a particular floor, where the source is easy to control remotely (squeezebox) or somewhat standalone.

I understand the desire to save money but an inexpensive stereo receiver such as Harmon Kardon upstairs may be a more practical approach. You can hook up 4 speakers to the A and B terminals and the ipod Dock. You won't need wall mounted volume controls simplifying the wiring.

Sometimes I think multi-zone systems are designed to make installers money I know I'm oversimplifying but when you start adding multiple speakers, IR repeaters, multiple sources, etc it vastly increases complexity.

 

[Clider]

I always like to follow-up on my posts.

I got the entire system setup so far, using the Yamaha 663 downstairs. I have two RG6 run off of zone-2 into an 8 channel Speakercraft AMP in the closet that splits both the master suites upstairs. From there, I ran the four zones, one to each bedroom, one to the bathroom and one to my 2nd floor balcony (each to IM VC's). I have Speakercraft MT in walls in the three rooms and then the OE5's outside... and let me tell you, it sounds AWESOME for what I paid.

I also ran 3 CAT5 to each TV, back to the AMP since I'm having the MZC-66 put in next month (I realize I wasted money with the VC's) and are going to do HDMI video to all four TV's. I ran 16/4 and two extra RG6 back to the AMP so I could run multiple sources off the MZC when it's installed (with MODE in three zones), so needless to say, I'm excited.

The Yamaha does so much more than I realized when I bought it and I'm grateful I bought it. Zone-2 runs even if the amp is powered down and switching between inputs is easy as hitting "zone 2 control" and then using the input job dial to change selections. I wish it had a few extra HDMI inputs, but that's nothing a new receiver really couldn't fix.

Thanks again for everyone helping me figure it out... now that I learned the hard way, the rest will be easy.