Wallmounted Bluetooth Amp / General Advice

[fcervantes.jr.80]

I will be very brief and hopefully I can get all the answers in the same manner.

- I have 13 ceiling mounted speakers in my new home. (It was a model home, I did not put them there but grateful) The breakdown per room is next.
- 5 in the living room. 2 Outside, under patio. 2 in master bdr. 2 in spare bdr. 2 in Office.
- Each room hast its own volume control but all speaker wires come together in the living room where the TV is mounted. My guess is they had a large receiver that had at minimum 5 separate channels. What this means to me is that they played music throughout the house and the previous owner never used them, unless they had a 5 channel receiver as well. Below are my questions.

- If I buy a multi channel receiver, how would I control my patio speakers with my patio TV? When I connect my streaming Device (most likely Apple TV), will I have to airplay to the receiver? Will I have to use an HDMI to eARC from the TV to the receiver to the speakers? And the same goes for the Office.

- Could I even airplay multiple channels and the AMP/Receiver operate multiple channels at the same time?

- Would my in-laws, watching TV in their room, my wife using her office speakers and myself be able to tap into the receiver all at the same time in order to separate the sound from the Office, Bdr and Patio speakers?

- Would making each set of speakers be "cheaper" or "better" if I was to
- Put Wallmounted bluetooth amp in the Office, Bdr, Master Bdr and Patio?
- Only get a receiver to operate the 5 speakers in the living room so that I could still connect another sound source and sub?
- If I was to get wall mounted bluetooth amps, can they be connected to the house wiring? Is there a converter to will connect straight to the direct power, rather than using the 12v connection?

 

[everettT]

I will be very brief and hopefully I can get all the answers in the same manner.

- I have 13 ceiling mounted speakers in my new home. (It was a model home, I did not put them there but grateful) The breakdown per room is next.
- 5 in the living room. 2 Outside, under patio. 2 in master bdr. 2 in spare bdr. 2 in Office.
- Each room hast its own volume control but all speaker wires come together in the living room where the TV is mounted. My guess is they had a large receiver that had at minimum 5 separate channels. What this means to me is that they played music throughout the house and the previous owner never used them, unless they had a 5 channel receiver as well. Below are my questions.

- If I buy a multi channel receiver, how would I control my patio speakers with my patio TV? When I connect my streaming Device (most likely Apple TV), will I have to airplay to the receiver? Will I have to use an HDMI to eARC from the TV to the receiver to the speakers? And the same goes for the Office.

- Could I even airplay multiple channels and the AMP/Receiver operate multiple channels at the same time?

- Would my in-laws, watching TV in their room, my wife using her office speakers and myself be able to tap into the receiver all at the same time in order to separate the sound from the Office, Bdr and Patio speakers?

- Would making each set of speakers be "cheaper" or "better" if I was to
- Put Wallmounted bluetooth amp in the Office, Bdr, Master Bdr and Patio?
- Only get a receiver to operate the 5 speakers in the living room so that I could still connect another sound source and sub?
- If I was to get wall mounted bluetooth amps, can they be connected to the house wiring? Is there a converter to will connect straight to the direct power, rather than using the 12v connection?

You need a AVR for the living room speakers and a multi channel distribution amp for the rest of the house.

IMHO you should hire an AV company as trying to address your needs in a setup like yours over the Internet isn't easy since it is all pre-existing. There are plenty of ways to add individual room control to bypass the main setup, but again I'd pay to have an AV company to at least come out and look at it.
Whole house audio can go from simple to extremely complex and it's not something most people can take on their own, again, especially dealing with an existing setup.

The things that you need to know if you're gonna tackle this your self are, what are the existing speakers and what type of volume controls are installed. From your description of your setup my first comment on what gear you need was likely what the previous owner had used.

 

[fcervantes.jr.80]

That’s what I was afraid of. With the way things are now, I don’t see why I couldn’t do this myself.

I appreciate your honesty, but from I have torn apart and seen with my eyes is that each room has its own dedicated volume control, and all speakers meet behind the living room TV. Couldnt I just get an AVR for the living room and get a Sonos Amp for the rest? That should be easy enough right?

 

[everettT]

That’s what I was afraid of. With the way things are now, I don’t see why I couldn’t do this myself.

I appreciate your honesty, but from I have torn apart and seen with my eyes is that each room has its own dedicated volume control, and all speakers meet behind the living room TV. Couldnt I just get an AVR for the living room and get a Sonos Amp for the rest? That should be easy enough right?

Yes, which is what I was describing earlier with a distribution amp.

What are your overall goals for each room?

 

[fcervantes.jr.80]

Goal for living room is overall surround sound/home theater.
Goal for every other room is to just bluetooth to the speakers via phone, Apple TV, etc.
The outside patio, I just want it dedicated to the tv outside.

 

[TLS Guy]

Goal for living room is overall surround sound/home theater.
Goal for every other room is to just bluetooth to the speakers via phone, Apple TV, etc.
The outside patio, I just want it dedicated to the tv outside.

Ceiling speakers are for background music ONLY or to be used as ceiling Atmos speakers in home AV. For home AV you need three front speakers and two side surrounds minimum, but two rear surrounds as well is better. If you want Atmos then you need two to six ceiling speakers as well.

 

[fcervantes.jr.80]

Right, I can add a 6th ceiling speaker to the living room. The outside speakers, I just want them to enhance whatever sound I want. Whether it is music or TV, I am not looking for an outdoor surround sound.

Office, music (2 Speakers)
Spare BDR (probably never use)
Master BDR (use as surround sound)
Living Room (use at surround sound, can add the 6th speaker)
Outdoor (TV/Music only, 2 speakers, not looking for any great sound just more sound)

 

[TLS Guy]

Right, I can add a 6th ceiling speaker to the living room. The outside speakers, I just want them to enhance whatever sound I want. Whether it is music or TV, I am not looking for an outdoor surround sound.

Office, music (2 Speakers)
Spare BDR (probably never use)
Master BDR (use as surround sound)
Living Room (use at surround sound, can add the 6th speaker)
Outdoor (TV/Music only, 2 speakers, not looking for any great sound just more sound)

You don't get it. If you want an AV system then you need at least six and preferably seven FLOOR speakers, and one or two good Subs. Just using ceiling speakers is worse then no speakers at all.

 

[fcervantes.jr.80]

No, I get that. I plan on adding all of that to my living room. The 5 that are there now, a center channel, a sub or two. The living room will be a self operated system.

My basic question is: Would be easier/affordable to get wall mounted bluetooth amps for every space aside from the living room, or get an AVR for both? The living room with an independent AVR and all other rooms are connected to a separate AVR?

 

[TLS Guy]

No, I get that. I plan on adding all of that to my living room. The 5 that are there now, a center channel, a sub or two. The living room will be a self operated system.

My basic question is: Would be easier/affordable to get wall mounted bluetooth amps for every space aside from the living room, or get an AVR for both? The living room with an independent AVR and all other rooms are connected to a separate AVR?

You are not making yourself clear. Exactly where are those speakers that are there now? I strongly suspect they are in the wrong place. Pictures would be helpful.

 

[fcervantes.jr.80]

Hope the quality is good. You can see the front 3 speakers and back 2 speakers. I plan on adding more to include a sub. All other rooms, there are just 2 speakers. My main focus right now is making all other rooms independent with either a multiple channel system, like a Sonos Amp. Or they would be independent to each other and connect wall mounted bluetooth amps. like this (https://herdiotech.com/products/in-wall-bluetooth-amplifier-hwa16bt?srsltid=AfmBOoqgfP63-gfLZlFBIlDI1D76U2-JRfQ8BSNq33m7EZ3OabQHolPi)

the pictures are of the living room that I would control with a dedicated AVR.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hope the quality is good. You can see the front 3 speakers and back 2 speakers. I plan on adding more to include a sub. All other rooms, there are just 2 speakers. My main focus right now is making all other rooms independent with either a multiple channel system, like a Sonos Amp. Or they would be independent to each other and connect wall mounted bluetooth amps. like this (https://herdiotech.com/products/in-wall-bluetooth-amplifier-hwa16bt?srsltid=AfmBOoqgfP63-gfLZlFBIlDI1D76U2-JRfQ8BSNq33m7EZ3OabQHolPi)

the pictures are of the living room that I would control with a dedicated AVR.

Just what I thought. Those speakers are totally useless and unacceptable as your base layer speakers. They just might be acceptable as the ceiling speakers in an Atmos system if they are if good enough quality. However usually those speakers are just bottom end junk and not good for anything.

 

[fcervantes.jr.80]

Thanks but whether I test them, switch them, whatever, I appreciate the honesty, really I do, but this was no help. I asked what I should do. what you are saying is to switch them out. If I did, and got a better quality, what advice do you have?

im not a tool, i know enough to get by with the limited knowledge. I want to get a Denon 7.2. That would control whatever I decide to do with what’s up there now and add more.

im asking what’s cheaper. Get a receiver for the living room? Then get bluetooth wallmounts for the rest? Or get a Sonos amp style component for each channel?

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks but whether I test them, switch them, whatever, I appreciate the honesty, really I do, but this was no help. I asked what I should do. what you are saying is to switch them out. If I did, and got a better quality, what advice do you have?

im not a tool, i know enough to get by with the limited knowledge. I want to get a Denon 7.2. That would control whatever I decide to do with what’s up there now and add more.

im asking what’s cheaper. Get a receiver for the living room? Then get bluetooth wallmounts for the rest? Or get a Sonos amp style component for each channel?

The problem is that you are dealing with a ceiling whole house audio system, that are always low quality and sound like the background system in a shopping mall.

At the moment, you need to forget that house speakers are there.

For an AV system, you need good floor mounted speakers, and not ceiling speakers. You also need at least one sub and preferably more, but you can add one at a time. This is for the LFE channel and offloading some of the bass from the other speakers.

You can start with just good left and right speakers, then add a center channel and then side surrounds and if for completeness back surrounds.

Once you have the bed layer speakers, then you can think about adding ceiling Atmos speakers, of the right quality and in the right place.

At this time you need to forget that those speakers are there, as they are zero use to you at this time.

These are the Dolby guidelines for possible speaker layouts.

At the moment you have no clue how to even begin to set up the basics of an AV system. So before you spend even one dollar you need to educate yourself or contact a qualified professional installer.

The best advice I can give you is to build your system overtime as funds permit. Quality of purchases supersedes quantity. If funds are limited then start with two good floor standing speakers, at least one subwoofer, a receiver, what you want for inputs and a good TV. You need to sort out what peripherals you want to input into the system, like streamers, TV boxes, disc players etc.

What not to do is buy a bunch of junk, and there is plenty out there to be had, and coble it together, with no sensible design plan. Keeping to specification matters.