Speaker wiring

[kenperkins]

Is it possible to use the rear speakers wired to my 5.1 system as part of my whole house audio system (These would also be wired to my whole house amp and use some type of switch to keep the current from going back to the amp not being used)?

 

[jinjuku]

You would need some form of relay to switch them out and it would, I believe, be break before make type.

Speakers normally are subjected to that type of scenario. They are typically designed staying permanently wired (unless pro-audio and that is just for setup/tear down).

A little more color on the picture you are trying to paint for us will help.

 

[kenperkins]

Thanks for the response. Not a lot of specifics yet. Having a poolhouse/workshop constructed and will have wal/ceiling mount speakers. In the main room 5.1 speakers and a line out to a amp. powering a speaker selector and 12 speakers. Thought it would be nice to use the rear surrounds to play background music if not being used for the surround system. Was trying to avoid adding extra speakers.

 

[jinjuku]

Honestly it's going to be more work and a hack vs getting a 7.1 receiver capable of Zone 2 and adding some cheap outdoor speakers.

 

[ImcLoud]

Thanks for the response. Not a lot of specifics yet. Having a poolhouse/workshop constructed and will have wal/ceiling mount speakers. In the main room 5.1 speakers and a line out to a amp. powering a speaker selector and 12 speakers. Thought it would be nice to use the rear surrounds to play background music if not being used for the surround system. Was trying to avoid adding extra speakers.

I have a 5.1 and multi room system, I just use zone 2 from my avr to feed the whole house amplifier its signal, so if you are using your theater and the whole house system it is separate, but if you are not useing the theater and want to have music in that room, just switch zone 1's input to be the same as the multi rooms source...

Sounds confusing but simple, then the music would come out of your front speakers... Thats what I do, I also have a set of RCA's running to my listening rooms preamp incase I want to have the same music in their...
if you dont want to run zone2 , then just split the source signal for the multi room system and send it to your 5.1 avr into an unused input, then run the entire 5.1
If your avr doesnt have zone 2, you can get one really cheap.. probably cheaper than rigging it up and definitely more reliable..

 

[BMXTRIX]

Thanks for the response. Not a lot of specifics yet. Having a poolhouse/workshop constructed and will have wal/ceiling mount speakers. In the main room 5.1 speakers and a line out to a amp. powering a speaker selector and 12 speakers. Thought it would be nice to use the rear surrounds to play background music if not being used for the surround system. Was trying to avoid adding extra speakers.

This is where you are confusing me...
If you have a 5.1 system, you would have surround speakers, not rear surrounds. Rear surrounds, or surround back speakers, are generally the speakers which are part of a 7.1 setup. It is just confusing me a bit, but I'm rather easily confused.

If you mean you would like to use your surround speakers for background music, then you can't easily do this without a proper relay system in place which would definitely be break before make (break the old amp connection, make the new amp connection)...

But, why not just use all five speakers in the surround system and turn the volume down and run it as 5 channel stereo? You should get far better low-level audio in the space for parties and general usage.

I have it setup this way on my home system for my 'party' input on my receiver and it works great. No extra buttons to hit or dials to turn, just turn the receiver on, put it on the 'house music' input, and I'm done.

 

[kenperkins]

Thanks guys-I see what you're saying and it makes sense-guess I was trying to make it too complicated.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Oh - by the way...

If you ARE determined - then this is how you do it!

Niles ABS-1 FG00271 Sound-Triggered Speaker-Level A-B Switch at Crutchfield.com

Yup, we can roll with you as well!