Speaker Switch or Receiver Output Idea?

[lespaul00]

Hello!

I have had a bit of an issue with my home theater system. To try to explain things best, I will first discuss my setup, then my problem, and what I've done as a workaround to date.

My Setup:
I have a Denon AVR-2112 receiver for my home theater system. I have all components feed to this receiver via HDMI, and 1 HMDI out to my TV. All of my components' (regardless of which I am using) will send the audio signal through HDMI to the receiver and out to my 5.1 speakers (of course depending on the signal.... i.e., if it's a stereo signal, it will output as 2 channel, etc.)

One of my components is a WD TV Live Hub and another is a Logitech Revue. Both do a great job when I play internet media and music [like Pandora] (2 channel), netflix media (5.1 and 2 channel depending on the media), and my home network media from my NAS (2 channel and 5.1 channel depending on the media).

My problem:
I installed two speakers on my back porch. I fed these to my receiver's "Zone 2" speaker leads, which are stereo only. The intent of this is to be able to play media in 2 zones at once (or 1 at once as desired). When I listen to, say, Pandora internet radio, the Zone 2 speakers don't work as my components are configured. An example is, I will have my WD TV Live Hub audio output as "pass-through via HDMI" and not as "stereo", so that when I play movies with 5.1 signals, they'll transmit it. But it seems to confuse the receiver, such that the receiver does not "downmix" the signal to stereo for zone 2, even if it is stereo (since the WD TV Live Hub audio out isn't specifically set to stereo).

Workarounds and ideas to date:
To fix this, I have to go into my WD TV Live Hub settings, change the audio out setting from passthrough to stereo, and reboot my WD TV Live Hub and Receiver to get it to work. This does the trick. But ideally, I shouldn't have to keep switching the settings. Can't the receiver do it?

Another idea I had was to simply add a speaker splitter to my receiver's main front L and R speakers, and add my home theater front L and R speakers as "zone 1" and my back porch speakers as "zone 2". That way I could simply control this type of "stereo" output to 2 zones via the switch, and not have to mess with anything else. However, I am not sure if this will compromise the quality of the signal, and the sound quality of my home theater speakers since it's another "box" the front L and R speaker signals must pass through (I don't particularly care if the back porch speaker quality isn't 'perfect').

Help:
Does anyone have suggestions on what I should do? Will a switch cause any quality loss? Is it recommended? Is it discouraged? What can I do?

Thanks a bunch!

- Nick

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum, Nick!

I want to make sure that I understand something before making suggestions. Do you have the WD TV Live Hub connected to your Denon using both an HDMI cable and left/right RCA cables from the analog audio outputs on the Live Hub? My understanding from the Denon manual is that your receiver will only play analog input signals through Zone 2. Based on the manual for the Live Hub that I found (might not apply to your version if there's more than one), it seems that it will not output audio from the analog connections at the same time as the HDMI connection, causing you to switch between the two in order to get output from Zone 2. If you are using both types of cable connection, I think that explains what you are experiencing. If you are only using an HDMI connection, then I need to get a better understanding of how that Denon is processing material for Zone 2.

I'll think about solutions, but please let me know if that's how you have it connected.

 

[lespaul00]

Thanks for the welcome and the quick response!

You are correct. Sorry for the confusion. I forgot that I was only able to get pandora working in zone 2 (listening through my wdtv) by adding the rca cables too.

 

[Adam]

Well, I believe that you can pretty easily listen to the same material in both zones at the same time, and that sounds like what you are going after. If you actually want to listen to two different sources in the two zones, let us know.

On page 86 of the Denon manual, it explains how to assign which signals will go out through the two assignable speaker terminals on the back - the ones that you are currently using for Zone 2. If you change that setting from "Zone2" to "Front B", then you should be able to play digital sources through the speakers on your porch.

The catch at the moment is that I haven't found in the manual how to turn the "B" speakers on and off (and I'm assuming that you won't always want your porch speakers on). Some receivers have that function on the front panel and/or remote. Yours might, but I just haven't found it. If it doesn't have that, then the only way to do it would be in the menu by setting that assignment, and that's...well...inconvenient.

Anyway, that's just an idea to get the juices flowing. You might already know how to turn those on and off, but if not, check out the manual and see if it says.

 

[lespaul00]

Thanks!!! I feel like such a moron, because a solution was right under my nose. The "Front B" selection is what I was looking for, and I even simply dismissed this selection when thoroughly reading my manual.

I understand I can use the Zone 2 selection as a separate zone to play different sources to the two "zones". However, I will rarely do this, so I'll deal with that when I need to. (I believe I will just have to set it from "Front B" to "Zone 2" and then I know how to select different sources from there).

Now, the only issue I have, is, (as I am watching the BCS championship game), is that I have audio through both "zones", and zone 2 (or, shall I say, "front B" speakers), are much lower sounding in volume. I understand this since the signal is a 5.1 (multi) signal, and of course it sounds louder inside (Front A) since I have a center channel too. So, my question, can I adjust the volume for the Front B speakers, separate from the Front A speakers? I was able to do this when I had it set for "Zone 2" instead, but I cannot seem to find it with the Front B setup.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!!!!