Receiver for Whole House Audio

[audioblue]

Hi guys, I'm a newbie here and am currently building a new home. I chose to have the whole house audio option to installed in my home. It includes 3 rooms which each have a pair of Klipsch CS650R speakers and a matching impedence volume control. My question is, do I purchase a cheap stereo receiver for this? If so, any that you all would recomend for me? I was looking at the Sherwood RX4105 for 79.00 at circuit city. Thanks in advance.

 

[InTheIndustry]

I would absolutely not get the $79 receiver. The power out of something like that is rather poor to begin with let alone after the current is daisy chained through three volume controls and/or a speaker selector switch. It's worth spending a couple of hundred dollars on a good Onkyo, Harman Kardon, or better yet, Marantz stereo receiver. The sound quality those receivers will put out will make an enormous difference in sound quality even in the most basic whole-house audio sysytems.

If spending $300 on a receiver will blow your budget, I would suggest just pre-wiring for whole the house audio system and waiting until you have a budget that will allow a proper set up.

I can tell you from experience that a receiver like what you are considering will work, but only to the degree of making noice come out of your speakers. For your speakers to sound good, go with a good receiver from a major brand.

Hope this helps!

 

[audioblue]

I appreciate your response. Someone had told me to just purchase a cheap receiver for this option, that's why I was considering the Sherwood. It seems as though most Onkyo's are all surrond sound and not stereo. Does this matter?

 

[InTheIndustry]

Unfortunately, the advice that you were given bfore, is not uncommon.

Quick example....
I had a customer last month who had used an Insignia $100 stereo receiver from Best Buy to power two zones of in-ceilings downstairs in his basement. He called me wanting to have someone come out and check to see if his wiring was done right because the sound was very muffled and lifeless. I happened to have an NAD T744 receiver on the truck and brought it in for him to A/B. Huge difference. Absolute night and day. Since the NAD was surround sound and he had Harman Kardon equipment in an open rack we ordered him an HK stereo receiver which did just as good as the NAD, but for a few hundered less. Going with a good receiver will pay off for you.

Onkyo makes two stereo models. TX-8522 ($300) and the TX-8222 ($200). The 8522, I think is the better product. Long term, what's a hundred bucks? No, you won't need the video switching in the 8522, but in my experience with both products, the 8522 sounds stronger even though the difference is only 30WPC. Since you are running this into 3 different volume controls, I think there will be a difference. Besides that, the 8522 has I-pod options as well as XM if that would matter to you.

 

[jchag]

Hi, I have a five zone system connected to an Onkyo TX-SR804. This is my main receiver for my HT. It has two zones. Ran it for a while with the included rear channel. I recently ordered a separate amp for the five zone, because I am adding rear speakers for the 7.1. If budget is a problem, combine your HT and zone in one receiver.

JCHag

 

[audioblue]

Guys, thanks for all your assistance...I really appreciate it. I think I'll go ahead and pickup one of the Onkyo TX-8522's. I was told that it's best to keep the Whole House Audio speakers on a separate receiver, so that's why I had not considered buying one receiver. I'm thinking of purchasing either the Yamaha RX-V659 or the Onkyo TX-SR604 for the HT.

 

[audioblue]

One last question.....Amazon has the Harman Kardon HK3480 on sale for 217.01 and the Onkyo for TX-8522 for 219.88. Anyone of these better than the other?

 

[jcPanny]

Amp for house speakers

Blue,
If you already have or are planning on a HT receiver like the RX-V659, I would consider a stereo amp for the house speakers.
The Behringer A500 is $180 and has about 200 Watts/channel. You can connect it to the Zone 2 line level output from the HT receiver.

An amp like the behringer will not have a tuner, audio switching and other features like a stereo receiver. If you will not be buying the HT gear for a while then get a receiver now for the house speakers OR buy the HT receiver now and use it to drive the house speakers.

 

[GG386]

When I built my house (3 years ago) it was prewired for the in wall speakers to return to 2 seperate locations. Last week I finally pulled the the trigger on a Nuvo system- it has 6 zones and 4 sources. The trick was to place the remotes in locations where they're accesible for each zone.

This unit is slick, it works off of cat5 wiring which hooks into preconfigured jacks that marry to the head unit. I'm not sure that a reciever will give you all this flexibility. My M.B. , Sunroom, 1st floor, 2nd floor and lower level all have ther own source and volume control.

sounds like your still putting you cable in, prewiring is cheap insurance now rather than trying to fish that stuff in later!

Good luck on your venture, remember you can always add the equipment later when you can catch your breath after dumping all that jing on the cable