What receivers do I need

[winomate]

i had my new home pre wired for all kinds of whole house audio. i have 4 volume controls going to 8 speakers in my back yard areas. i have 3 volume controls going to 6 speakers inside my house. what type of receivers/amps do i need to use all of this?

 

[jamie2112]

Well it sounds like you are going to need a few amps and a 7.1 receiver at the very least. Your budget would be helpful in helping you with choices..

 

[bandphan]

What type of control are you looking for? Multiple sources for multiple zones? Are the speakers in the house for a surround system?

 

[marsilians]

If you list your budget, listening preferences as well as how many places you want to listen it, then it makes it a bit easier to provide info re: receivers and possibly amps, speaker etc.

 

[winomate]

they're not for surround sound. it is just distributed audio. i just need something different to be playing outside and something different to be playing inside. my budget is not really an issue. i just want to keep it somewhat simple.

 

[bandphan]

they're not for surround sound. it is just distributed audio. i just need something different to be playing outside and something different to be playing inside. my budget is not really an issue. i just want to keep it somewhat simple.

Please be specific. How many rooms inside? Are the speakers outside in different areas? Simple is a relative term. Honestly if budget were no issue to me, and I wasnt knowledgable, I would be in a B&M store letting them work it out There are alot variables to distributed audio

 

[winomate]

well inside the house there is the living area, family room, dining, kitchen which is all one open space. one big space with 3 volume controls. outside there is my cabana thing with 4 speakers and 2 volume controls and there is pool room with 2 speakers outside facing the pool with a VC and my patio with 2 speakers and a vC. all pretty close togeather. so you could see how i would just want them to be playing the same thing inside but maybe a different thing outside. i just want to be able to play cds and listen to the radio. maybe a sterio with an mp3 plugin would be nice.

 

[jcPanny]

Distributed audio

Sounds like a nice system.

Here are some recomendations for the distributed audio.
1. Check your VCs and make sure that they are the imedance matching type, if not replace them with Impedance matching VCs and set all of them to the 4x setting.

2. Get 2 stereo amps with 100-200 Watts/channel, one for each zone. The $180 Behringer A500 amps would work well. For a little more, the $500 Emotiva LPA-1 amp includes 6 channels.

3. Receiver ($400-1000). If you have a main HT, get a higher end receiver that can contol 3 zones (main HT, inside, and outside). If you have a seperate system for the HT then receivers in the $400 range will have the features you need. You will need analog audio connections from each source to the receiver.

4. Get an RF remote so you can control the gear from any room of the house. URC makes some RF models for <$100.

 

[winomate]

1. no problem I'm still setting up all of this and haven't even put in VC's yet.

2. the emotiva seems a bit exesive with 6 zones and all. and the behringer seems inefficient since i need 2 is there an in between?

3. this is where i get confused. What do you mean main HT? also, why do I need analog connections? and what do you mean from each source to the receiver. Do you just mean from the amp(s) to the receiver because i dont believe analog connections where prewired anywhere.

4. RF remote. great suggestion and I will look into that.



thanks for all the help so far people

 

[jcPanny]

2. the emotiva seems a bit exesive with 6 zones and all. and the behringer seems inefficient since i need 2 is there an in between?

You need at least 4 channels of amplification, 2 for inside, and 2 for outside. 2x stereo amps or 1 HT amp will take care of this.

3. this is where i get confused. What do you mean main HT? also, why do I need analog connections? and what do you mean from each source to the receiver. Do you just mean from the amp(s) to the receiver because i dont believe analog connections where prewired anywhere.

The main home theater is a room where you have the TV and a surround sound system (5.1 or 7.1).

The analog audio connections (Red/White RCA jacks) are required because the receivers don't do any digital processing for the Zone 2 and Zone 3 outputs. The analog Zone2/3 outputs each connect to one of the amps.

The source components refer to the DVD player, cable/satelite box, etc. These are in the same room or closet as the receiver and the amplifiers and where the house and outdoor speaker wires terminate.

 

[winomate]

there is no home theatre surround sound just speakers here and there. oh i forgot i have 2 in the master bedroom with a vc. that should probably be on its own zone. so im thinkin i should have 4 zones now so maybe i should go with the emotiva. now what kind of receiver should i get? it's got to have some kind of mp3 plugin.

 

[jcPanny]

Distributed audio

Wino,
There are a couple differnt approaches to a distributed audio system, it can be complex and expensive, or simple and cheaper.

Option 1: Distribution Amps, Keypads, etc.
There are several companies including Niles and Russound that make distributed audio systems. The distribution amps have a seperate amp channel for each speaker, for 6 zones you get a 12 channel amp. The amps are around $1k depending on the power and # of channels and you might need 2 amps for you system. Keypads in each room are about $100 each. You need a cat5 run to each VC/Keypad and probably need a customer installer to set this up. The advantage is that the keypads allow you to select any source in any room. My parents have a 10 zone russound systems in a large house. It is nice but also expensive.

Option 2: Stereo amp(s) and IMVCs.
I have the poor mans distributed audio system in my house. You use a stereo amp (or 2) and impedance matching VCs to power multiple pairs of speakers. All of the speakers connected to 1 amp are obviously playing the some source or "on the same zone". Many entry level receivers allow you to control 2 zones or audio (i.e. Yamaha RX-V663). Zone one is the main HT, zone 2 is another group of speakers powered by the amp. Higher end receivers (around $1k) have 3 zones of audio. If you can get by with 2-3 zones than this DIY system is much more cost effective.

Also If you are going to all this trouple, I would recommend a basic HT setup in your main room. You need a receiver anyway and any speakers will be better than the ones built into the TV.

 

[winomate]

so should everything be on one zone? for instance, say i set this all up and im having a party and want a cd or mp3 player to play over all the speakers. if they're on 2 or 3 zones, then would this even be possible?

 

[bandphan]

so should everything be on one zone? for instance, say i set this all up and im having a party and want a cd or mp3 player to play over all the speakers. if they're on 2 or 3 zones, then would this even be possible?

Yes it would work fine. The two options JC layed out sum it perfectly. First choose which option. Both manufactures make equipment suited for either option.

 

[3db]

i had my new home pre wired for all kinds of whole house audio. i have 4 volume controls going to 8 speakers in my back yard areas. i have 3 volume controls going to 6 speakers inside my house. what type of receivers/amps do i need to use all of this?

I would by two receivers. The 1st one would be for your main HT use and I would keep that seperate from the 2nd recevier. I know Niles specializes in multi-channel amps, talking about 12 or so channels. The last review I read was on a Niles, can't remember the model number but it was pushing like 30watts x12 channels. It was a costyl affair but maybe they make amps with few channels as well. That would be my approach if the budget is sufficient.

 

[jcPanny]

Audio zones

so should everything be on one zone? for instance, say i set this all up and im having a party and want a cd or mp3 player to play over all the speakers. if they're on 2 or 3 zones, then would this even be possible?

The different zones (1, 2, 3, etc.) allow you to independently adjust the audio source. Of course, you can play the same source in all of the zones. On my simple system, there is effectively a single zone (all rooms and the main HT are playing the same source) and this has never been an issue. In a larger house with kids, I can see how the zone 2 or 3 feature might be usefull.

 

[winomate]

i dont know why you guys keep talking about HT im not doing anything with HT and i dont care about it. honestly im just a little confused at this point because i dont know much about receivers and amps. which is why i don't want to make this to complicated. now what would be the best zone layout? 4 VC's with 8 speakers for outside, 3 VC's with 6 speakers for inside, and 1 VC in the master with 2 speakers. would it be crazy to have all of this on one zone? 8 volume controls?

 

[jcPanny]

Distributed audio.

For that many speakers, you will likely want 2 stereo amps to allow enough power (high enough volume) for all rooms. I budget concios solution would be to start with a single stereo amp and connect it to all 8 pairs of speakers. If it is not loud enough for the outdoor speakers or other rooms, add a 2nd amp and split into 2 zones.

If you have no desire for a receiver and a main HT, then you might be able to get buy with a simple analog audio switch box to select between the available sources.
This is intended for component video switching, but it would also work for analog audio:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10112&cs_id=1011201&p_id=3027&seq=1&format=2

 

[bandphan]

i dont know much about receivers and amps.

Did you look at the niles website? They have sample layouts for all of their amps in multiple configurations. Reading the manuals might provide so more insight as they have excellent illustrations.

 

[winomate]

Thanks you guys. honestly this setup isn't even for my house. I'm a low voltage technician. I mainly work with security systems and CCTV but I'm just a rookie when it comes to audio. This is a particularly big job that the company i work for got itself into. We always wing it. You've all been a big help and I think I've got my plan laid out now. I may be back for a couple of answers when we start the trim.