Outdoor Audio System for my Dad PLEASE HELP! Lol

[ELinneman27]

Hey Audioholics, Newcomer here, My names Eric. Okay so I got my dad (what I think to be) a sick Outdoor Audio System for Father's day and it's coming time to hook everything up and I need advice. Here's what I got so far.

1 Sonance 875D SE 8 Channel Amp
1 Xantech PA635X 6 Channel Amp
1 Marantz-SR5003 7.1 Channel Receiver
4 Proficient VC60i Individual Volume Controls

Speakers:
8 OSD 60w Landscape Speakers
2 Polk Audio Atrium 5 Outdoor speakers

Okay so, the pair of Polk Audio Atrium 5 are going on my deck (Zone 1). Than 2 OSD Speakers by my pool (Zone 2). Than 4 OSD Speakers along my fence (wired in series parallel) (Zone 3). And the last 2 OSD Speakers back by our Horseshoe pits (Zone 4). I was told to get the individual volume controls so I can control the volume of each zone separately. So here's where I get lost and need help lol...So Zone 1,2,3,4 each get wired into each individual volume control first. From there I wire the volume controls into Zone 1&2 on the 1st Amp and Zones 3&4 get wired into the second Amp. And than from there I would assume that I connect the two amps to the pre outs of the Marrantz Reciever with RCA cables. So here's my question. Is that right at all? Do I have everything I need? Is that the proper way to connect two amps together into one system? Do I need an Active crossover? Or an Amplifier Speaker Selector? But I want to be able to play all the zones at once when I have a party, so a speaker selector won't work..What do I need to make this all work? PLEASE HELP

I plan on running individual speaker wire to each speaker in Zones 1,2 and 4 and than connecting them together before inserting them into the volume controls. And than since Zone 3 has four speakers getting wired into one volume control instead of two I was going to wire those four Speakers in series parallel. Hope this all works out as I planned! Lol

 

[lovinthehd]

FWIW this first post was sufficient, extra posts really don't do a lot around here I know my avr has an all-zone party mode but don't see in your avr's manual that it has such (not unusual for older avrs and zones from what I know). This type of setup isn't generally something this forum specializes in, altho there are a few who might have some ideas for you with the gear you propose.

 

[ELinneman27]

FWIW this first post was sufficient, extra posts really don't do a lot around here I know my avr has an all-zone party mode but don't see in your avr's manual that it has such (not unusual for older avrs and zones from what I know). This type of setup isn't generally something this forum specializes in, altho there are a few who might have some ideas for you with the gear you propose.

Hey thanks for answering man. I'm pretty much setting it up just like a home theater system. It just happens to be outdoor speakers. I'm using all regular home theater equipment to power everything from my garage.

 

[lovinthehd]

Home theater would be surround, which would be largely useless outdoors, you're dealing with either poor stereo with so many speakers or just go mono....

 

[ELinneman27]

Hey thanks for answering man. I'm pretty much setting it up just like a home theater system. It just happens to be outdoor speakers. I'm using all regular home theater equipment to power everything from my garage.

Dude your talking gibberish to me right now lol you realize this is the beginners and amateurs forum right? Why can't I split all the speakers into 4 zones..front left right back....except it will be my deck my pool my yard and my horseshoe pits....what's the difference? I've talked to a bunch of people and they didn't seem to think it would be a problem

 

[lovinthehd]

It's just not the same as HT, which is only main zone. You're dealing with at best stereo pairs and with poor speaker placement (which to me includes multiple 2ch stereo pairs), it's just a compromise. What you want to do more resembles whole home audio setups. You can use 4 zones easily enough, but playing everything simultaneously is something that came along later in avr zone options (and can be limited by source drm too). A stereo pair is best used as just that, a single stereo pair. Otherwise personally I'd go mono (don't even know if that's an option in your avr, tho). Just how big an area is this? Do you really need so many speakers?

 

[ELinneman27]

Yeah my yard is 100x200 ft lol. Listen I don't need amazing sound that you hear at the movie theater. My old man doesn't even want a sub. He's old school. As long as he can hear music everywhere in his yard he'll be happy. We're not rich we can't afford these 1200 dollar machines that make this easier. What I'm asking is with everything I have will it work. And are there ways to make it better.

 

[lovinthehd]

Personally I'd go with more capable speakers and amps and go with a simpler setup but that is indeed a huge area to cover properly (but would go mono generally with multiple speakers as you propose still for such a large area where the stereo effect is simply going to get lost from all but a few listening positions). Subs outdoors are very limited without room enforcement (somewhat bass in general). There are even transducers for inside pools, tho! (look at Clark Synthesis). What impresses you may not impress dad, tho

 

[lovinthehd]

Another general thing, usually we have best results by proposing things/fleshing them out before buying anything.....

 

[ELinneman27]

What do you mean when you keep saying going mono?

 

[lovinthehd]

Instead of having a 2.0 stereo signal, just have everything operate in monophonic mode. You know, what older records had before stereo. Multich is a different beast from 2.0 stereo....

 

[lovinthehd]

In general maybe this article has some ideas for you to consider https://www.audioholics.com/diy-audio/how-to-use-a-speaker-selector-for-multi-room-audio

 

[Eppie]

This is going to take some research, looking up the specs on all of your gear and it's past midnight here. Maybe have something for you tomorrow. Note that if you wire Zone 3 that way you will only get one channel, left or right, playing in those speakers unless you can set the source to mono (which blends left and right together and sends the combined signal to every channel. You might think series parallel makes sense because two 8 ohm speakers in parallel gives 4 ohms and two 4 ohm pairs of speakers in series gives 8 ohms, but you'll have every speaker on a separate channel (separate amp) in Zones 1, 2 and 4, but have 4 speakers on one amp in Zone 3, which may not balance out properly. With 14 channels of amplification there may be a better way. One extra volume control for Zone 3 and then you can have true stereo without the need for any series or parallel wiring assuming those volume controls are all 2 channel ganged controls. Needing 2 volume controls for Zone 3 is a compromise but better use of your amps and better balance all around. You may be able to find a 4 channel ganged volume control if it's a big issue but I haven't done any searching.

 

[ELinneman27]

Awesome man Thank you!

 

[BMXTRIX]

Hey Audioholics, Newcomer here, My names Eric. Okay so I got my dad (what I think to be) a sick Outdoor Audio System for Father's day and it's coming time to hook everything up and I need advice. Here's what I got so far.

1 Sonance 875D SE 8 Channel Amp
1 Xantech PA635X 6 Channel Amp
1 Marantz-SR5003 7.1 Channel Receiver
4 Proficient VC60i Individual Volume Controls

Speakers:
8 OSD 60w Landscape Speakers
2 Polk Audio Atrium 5 Outdoor speakers

Okay so, the pair of Polk Audio Atrium 5 are going on my deck (Zone 1). Than 2 OSD Speakers by my pool (Zone 2). Than 4 OSD Speakers along my fence (wired in series parallel) (Zone 3). And the last 2 OSD Speakers back by our Horseshoe pits (Zone 4). I was told to get the individual volume controls so I can control the volume of each zone separately. So here's where I get lost and need help lol...So Zone 1,2,3,4 each get wired into each individual volume control first. From there I wire the volume controls into Zone 1&2 on the 1st Amp and Zones 3&4 get wired into the second Amp. And than from there I would assume that I connect the two amps to the pre outs of the Marrantz Reciever with RCA cables. So here's my question. Is that right at all? Do I have everything I need? Is that the proper way to connect two amps together into one system? Do I need an Active crossover? Or an Amplifier Speaker Selector? But I want to be able to play all the zones at once when I have a party, so a speaker selector won't work..What do I need to make this all work? PLEASE HELP

I plan on running individual speaker wire to each speaker in Zones 1,2 and 4 and than connecting them together before inserting them into the volume controls. And than since Zone 3 has four speakers getting wired into one volume control instead of two I was going to wire those four Speakers in series parallel. Hope this all works out as I planned! Lol

There is no reason to use the second amp, and little reason to use the Marantz receiver at all if you are using volume controls. It depends a lot on what you want to listen to and how you want to power things on/off. If you use a source like a Sonos Port, then the Sonos would be the main source and it would connect to your Sonance amplifier.

The Sonance amplifier is a beast. It offers you 8 channels at 75 watts per channel. This means that for your 4 zones, it provides stereo audio to all 8 channels and you don't need a second amplifier and having/using the Xantech amp is a waste of space in this setup.

SOURCE->SONANCE
SONANCE CHANNEL 1&2 --> DECK VOLUME CONTROL INPUTS LEFT/RIGHT --> DECK SPEAKERS LEFT AND RIGHT
SONANCE CHANNEL 3&4 --> POOL VOLUME CONTROL INPUTS LEFT/RIGHT --> POOL SPEAKERS LEFT AND RIGHT
SONANCE CHANNEL 5&6 --> FENCE VOLUME CONTROL INPUTS LEFT/RIGHT --> FENCE SPEAKERS LEFT AND RIGHT (if 4 speakers total, wire in parallel if you can)
SONANCE CHANNEL 7&8 --> PITS VOLUME CONTROL INPUTS LEFT/RIGHT --> PITS SPEAKERS LEFT AND RIGHT

The volume controls only handle up to 60 watts, so you may want to back off the trim a bit on the amplifiers to ensure they don't blow out.

I would use 14/2 cabling to everything. Maybe even 14/4 to have some redundancy.

 

[ELinneman27]

There is no reason to use the second amp, and little reason to use the Marantz receiver at all if you are using volume controls. It depends a lot on what you want to listen to and how you want to power things on/off. If you use a source like a Sonos Port, then the Sonos would be the main source and it would connect to your Sonance amplifier.

The Sonance amplifier is a beast. It offers you 8 channels at 75 watts per channel. This means that for your 4 zones, it provides stereo audio to all 8 channels and you don't need a second amplifier and having/using the Xantech amp is a waste of space in this setup.

SOURCE->SONANCE
SONANCE CHANNEL 1&2 --> DECK VOLUME CONTROL INPUTS LEFT/RIGHT --> DECK SPEAKERS LEFT AND RIGHT
SONANCE CHANNEL 3&4 --> POOL VOLUME CONTROL INPUTS LEFT/RIGHT --> POOL SPEAKERS LEFT AND RIGHT
SONANCE CHANNEL 5&6 --> FENCE VOLUME CONTROL INPUTS LEFT/RIGHT --> FENCE SPEAKERS LEFT AND RIGHT (if 4 speakers total, wire in parallel if you can)
SONANCE CHANNEL 7&8 --> PITS VOLUME CONTROL INPUTS LEFT/RIGHT --> PITS SPEAKERS LEFT AND RIGHT

The volume controls only handle up to 60 watts, so you may want to back off the trim a bit on the amplifiers to ensure they don't blow out.

I would use 14/2 cabling to everything. Maybe even 14/4 to have some redundancy.

Only problem is one of the fuses are blown for one of the zones on the sonance so it only has 3 zones at the moment and I don't know how complicated it is to fix

 

[ELinneman27]

Only problem is one of the fuses are blown for one of the zones on the sonance so it only has 3 zones at the moment and I don't know how complicated it is to fix

And the only reason I have the reciever is because my dad is familiar with it and knows how to use it. And it was budget friendly lol

 

[BMXTRIX]

If you have a blown zone, I would take an hour to take it apart and see if the fuse replacement is easy or not. Sonance stuff doesn't fail often. Also worth calling to see if it is still under warranty. They fix things. But, you should then only use one channel of the Xantech amp, and I would use it for a single pair of speakers.

The Marantz is completely pointless unless you intend to use it as your actual source for audio. If it is the source for audio, then fine, if you intend to use something like a Sonos or some other similar streaming device, then just hook that device directly to the amplifiers. If you intend to hook a source into the Marantz, then turn the Marantz on/off, then use a different control for that source, then the Marantz is simply adding a completely pointless extra step to the entire system and complicating things.

SOURCE --> SONANCE BUS INPUT L/R
SONANCE BUS OUTPUT BUFFERED L/R --> XANTECH BUS INPUT L/R

 

[ELinneman27]

If you have a blown zone, I would take an hour to take it apart and see if the fuse replacement is easy or not. Sonance stuff doesn't fail often. Also worth calling to see if it is still under warranty. They fix things. But, you should then only use one channel of the Xantech amp, and I would use it for a single pair of speakers.

The Marantz is completely pointless unless you intend to use it as your actual source for audio. If it is the source for audio, then fine, if you intend to use something like a Sonos or some other similar streaming device, then just hook that device directly to the amplifiers. If you intend to hook a source into the Marantz, then turn the Marantz on/off, then use a different control for that source, then the Marantz is simply adding a completely pointless extra step to the entire system and complicating things.

SOURCE --> SONANCE BUS INPUT L/R
SONANCE BUS OUTPUT BUFFERED L/R --> XANTECH BUS INPUT L/R

I just opened up the Sonance..looks like there is 12 fuses in total...maybe I'll just replace all of them and see if that fixes the problem. And yes the Marrantz will be my main source of Audio...weather it's FM radio or AUX from my phone...sonos is too expensive for us.

 

[Eppie]

I just opened up the Sonance..looks like there is 12 fuses in total...maybe I'll just replace all of them and see if that fixes the problem. And yes the Marrantz will be my main source of Audio...weather it's FM radio or AUX from my phone...sonos is too expensive for us.

Your dad and friends don't have a simple multi-meter? You just need to measure for zero resistance. Make sure to replace with same rated fuse. Too small a rating and it will blow again; too large and it offers no protection. The rating is usually stamped into the metal if it is a glass type fuse.