Multiple Zones with Marantz 7012

[lucky03]

Looking for advice on how to power my ceiling speakers (in all 4 rooms below). Not sure if an external amp or second receiver can be connected to my primary one.

My Setup (all on same floor):

TV Room: 2 Front, 2 Rear, 2 Side, 1 sub, 1 center, 2 ceiling
Hallway: 2 ceiling speakers
Dining Room: 3 ceiling speakers
Office: 2 ceiling speakers

Right now, I've got the Marantz 7012 hooked up in the TV room (all speakers connected right now). Our PC (connected in the TV room) is the source of all of our content (videos, tv shows, music, etc.)

What setup would allow me to:
- Play audio on all speakers ONLY in the TV room (if it simplifies the setup, ceiling speakers are not mandatory)
- Play audio on all ceiling speakers (ideally including the TV Room's ceiling speakers)
- Play audio on all speakers (TV Room + all ceiling speakers)
- Bonus: be able to play audio in each room separately (not a deal breaker if this cannot be done easily)

Any suggestions would be great.

 

[mazersteven]

Do a search on whole house audio.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Realistically you want a surround sound AV receiver with two zones and 9.1 channel setup for the TV room, then a second amplifier to power the other rooms.

The receiver will feed a single source to the three other rooms.

Do you have volume controls in those three rooms or are they just directly wired back to the equipment location?

I'm assuming you don't have volume controls, which means, at the very least, you will need a speaker selector/volume control unit for those three rooms like this:

Niles SSVC-4 Four Pair Speaker Selector w/Volume for sale online

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Niles SSVC-4 Four Pair Speaker Selector w/Volume at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

This will allow you to turn on/off the individual rooms and adjust volume for each room.

Pair it with a decent amplifier and call it done.

If you want to actually have those three other zones be capable of playing their own source, at different volumes, and control it from a phone and play different things in different rooms, then you might need something like this from HTD:

MCA-66 Set (No Keypads)

DetailsCat 5/6 cable NOT requiredIt is possible to control our Mid-Level and Lync whole-house audio systems from any iOS or Android smart phone or tablet using your existing WiFi network and our free apps. If the difficulty of running Cat 5/5e/6 cable to Keypad locations has prevented you from...

www.htd.com

 

[lucky03]

Realistically you want a surround sound AV receiver with two zones and 9.1 channel setup for the TV room, then a second amplifier to power the other rooms.

The receiver will feed a single source to the three other rooms.

Do you have volume controls in those three rooms or are they just directly wired back to the equipment location?

I'm assuming you don't have volume controls, which means, at the very least, you will need a speaker selector/volume control unit for those three rooms like this:

Niles SSVC-4 Four Pair Speaker Selector w/Volume for sale online

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Niles SSVC-4 Four Pair Speaker Selector w/Volume at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

This will allow you to turn on/off the individual rooms and adjust volume for each room.

Pair it with a decent amplifier and call it done.

If you want to actually have those three other zones be capable of playing their own source, at different volumes, and control it from a phone and play different things in different rooms, then you might need something like this from HTD:

MCA-66 Set (No Keypads)

DetailsCat 5/6 cable NOT requiredIt is possible to control our Mid-Level and Lync whole-house audio systems from any iOS or Android smart phone or tablet using your existing WiFi network and our free apps. If the difficulty of running Cat 5/5e/6 cable to Keypad locations has prevented you from...

www.htd.com

Thanks for this! Amazing info.

Maybe an amateur question, based on what I've been reading. Could I use something like this? It doesn't have the most flexible volume control, but might just do the job. I also don't need each room to play from a separate source (everything will run from my PC): https://emotiva.com/collections/amps/products/a-400z

 

[BMXTRIX]

Maybe an amateur question, based on what I've been reading. Could I use something like this? It doesn't have the most flexible volume control, but might just do the job. I also don't need each room to play from a separate source (everything will run from my PC): https://emotiva.com/collections/amps/products/a-400z

It doesn't have any volume control at all really. You absolutely want some form of independent volume control for all of the rooms that have speakers in them. A surround receiver can handle the main zone, but even a good one typically only offers one or two zones of additional control. Most often, it is fed into a single output which then is split to multiple rooms. The lack of volume controls in those additional spaces indicates that either they had a more advanced system in place, or that they used a splitter/volume control like I listed.

The Emotiva is complete overkill for your needs. I would definitely use a more basic amplifier and pair it with a Niles (or similar) speaker selector/volume control unit so you can fine tune the audio levels in each room that has audio in it.

There are similar 12 channel amplifiers out there which can be purchased via eBay for similar money with more power in them that would act similarly to the Emotiva. But, I wouldn't go that route unless I intended to pair it with something that offered at least phone controls of the system.

Be aware that the Emotiva can power three rooms, but your main surround zone still needs a proper 9.1 channel A/V receiver with a zone 2 output.

RX-A2080 - Overview - Yamaha USA

Unbridled Performance and Function. This 9.2-channel AV receiver harnesses dual ESS SABRE™ DACs, seven HDMI inputs, three HDMI outputs, Dolby Atmos® and DTS:X™, Multi-Zone functionality, Phono input, Wi-Fi®, YPAO™ with Precision EQ and much more.

usa.yamaha.com

or

AVR-X3700H - 9.2 Ch. 105W 8K AV Receiver with HEOS® Built-in | Denon - US

The AVR-X3700H 9.2 Ch. 105W 8K AV Receiver with HEOS® Built-in from Denon provides high quality audio for your hi-fi needs. Explore more Archived Products at Denon - US.

www.denon.com