Quivering With Anticipation

[dragon breath]

I just got the OK from the LOL to buy a new system! The old one is 15 years old (Denon DRA-75VR and DCD-1100).

Her OK just happens to coinside with a whole house remodel and she wants to have speakers on separate volume control in the kitchen and outside. She loves her Bose Acoustimass separates and wants them in the kitchen.

I have a budget of about $2000.00 for hardware. I will upgrade speakers later. SO, I have a few questions.

What receiver should I buy? And because of the Bose speakers in the kitchen, do I need one that can handle two subs?

How do I wire the Bose system through the in-line volume control?

Distance from the set-up to the speakers is about 40 ft. What guage and type of wire would you suggest.

Whew!

Thanks in advance for your response.

Jay

 

[hammong]

Most of the better receivers have Zone 2 output and can be wired for an extra remote control receiver mounted in another room. That way, she can control the volume from the kitchen, and have full remote functionality. If she's got a television in the kitchen, you could also run a composite video cable (or something more extravagant) from the receiver to the TV and she can see what the volume level and tuner frequency is without actually seeing the receiver. Wouldn't that be neat? *grin*

As for outside --- that leads me to a question. Will the Kitchen, Main, and Outside all be playing at the same time, and need independant volume control in each of the three areas? If so, you could wire the outside up as "Speaker B" and have an in-wall volume adjustment (attenuator) in between the receiver and the speakers. The volume would never be louder than the level the receiver is set to play at, but you could turn it down. If you requite truely independant level control, you might need an auxillary amplifier with it's own volume.

Greg

 

[BMXTRIX]

The B(l)ose speakers looks like they are passive which means that you just hook a stereo speaker output to the speakers and the sub uses an internal crossover to pull the low frequencies off and sends the rest to the speakers.

You could get a Denon 3805 or a Yamaha RX-V2500 and one additional amp.

Both the Denon & Yamaha are 3 zone units. The first zone would be your primary surround zone (7.1) and the second zone would be the kitchen using the internal volume control of the receiver. The 3rd zone would be outside + any additional zones using volume controls in those areas.

You would need a outboard amp (or two if you do more than 5.1 in your room). Those can be had for a couple hundred bucks each - or less. I picked up a couple of Sonance 60 watt per channel amps on eBay for under 100 bucks each and they work great.

 

[dragon breath]

Thanks, More Questions

Hammong and BMXTrix,

Thanks for responding. I haven't had any luck on another form.

So, let me see if I have this right.

I can buy a receiver with 2 or 3 zones, and it will play music in all it's zones from the same source, and I can use the "internal" volume control of the receiver? This would mean that I would have to walk to the receiver, or have a remote in my hand, lets say in the kitchen, to adjust the volume. Right?

Or, I could use one zone as Speaker B and the other zone I could use an in-wall volume control, but for the run with the volume control, I would need another amp. Am I correct so far?

I like the idea of an "attenuator" for the outside speakers, since I will probably never be playing them as loud as I would the indoor ones.

So, I guess I will look at the suggested receivers, and count on putting an inwall volume control for the kitchen, (with having to buy one amp for that run) and do the speaker B option for the outside on an attenuator.

Does that sound about right.

Again, Thank you for your responses.

Jay

 

[Azz123]

Hi Jay.
I have a similar setup here at my place.

Ive a Yamaha RX-v1500 (baby 2500)

Zone 1 - you can guess....

Zone 2 I have running to outside speakers amplified from the Yami.

Zone 3 I have running to self powered speakers in the kitchen..

Beauty of this amp is that you can have 3 different sources playing to each independant zone.
DVD to zone one, mp3's to zone two, and CD to zone 3, and volume for zone 1&2 can be independantly controlled..
Zone 3 with the Yami amp (this model anyway) is line out/line level only - so you must have a self powered speaker/system to produce audio running to Zone 3 the Yammi 2500 may have zone 3 powered, I'm not sure. The 2500 commands a serious price over the 1500 here in Australia (1500 - RRP$1700, 2500 - RRP$2700) and if you hunt around and lean on the right retailer you can get the 1500 for near the price of the RX-V750.

To my knowledge the Bose systems are as such - the main unit/amp also combines the sub?? and the satelites plug into this unit?

Unfortunately the Yami's Remote is InfraRed not Radio like the Bose systems so yes, its a case of "line of sight" for remote use or running the optional input for a 2nd remote.

Best of luck!

A