Yamaha RX-V671 zone 2 question

[stuthemonkey]

I've been reading up on various receivers, and I believe this one will do what I want. But some of the FAQs on yamahas website makes me question things. So I thought I would ask here.

What I need is a receiver that supports full 7.1 audio for normal day to day use. But I would also like support for 2 speakers in a zone 2. I know zone 2 can only take analog audio signals. So I'll be converting the toslink from my appleTv to rca audio as a secondary input on the receiver for use when I want to use zone 2.

Now my question is, is it easy to switch between zone 1 full 7.1, and zone 2 audio output? From looking at a link on the yamaha faq site about zone 2 setup on this receiver it seems like you have to go through all sorts of changes to switch between them (sorry I don't have enough posts on here to be allowed to post a link to the faq). What i'm hoping for is to preset a specific input to use zone 2, while all other inputs use zone 1. I do not expect to be able to have different inputs going to both zones simultaneously, or to even have both zones running at the same time. However if that is possible that would be cool.

Basically I just don't want to have to manually go into the settings every time to switch the speakers so I have full 7.1 in my movie room after listening to music in my zone 2 area. I may just be misinterpreting the instructions in the link i posted above. Thats why I thought I would ask the experts here their thoughts.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

From skimming the owner's manual (available on Yamaha's page for the RX-V671, but it requires an account so I didn't link it here), it seems like operating Zone 2 is pretty easy. Here's what I got from reading it:

• Turning Zone 2 on and off is easy (page 71 of the manual). You set a switch on the remote control to "Zone2" and press the RECEIVER power button to turn Zone 2 on and off.
• When Zone 2 is turned on, you'll only have 5.1 in the main room (page 69). When Zone 2 is turned off, you'll have 7.1 in the main room. This appears to be done automatically by the receiver and doesn't require you to go into any menus.
• You can listen to two different sources in the two zones at the same time (page 69). I'm guessing that you can also listen to the same source, but I didn't see that explicitly mentioned.
• My hunch is that the receiver will remember the last source selection. If so, then you won't have to select the source for your Apple TV every time - it will be the default for Zone 2 when you turn on Zone 2. The input selected for the main zone should be unaffected.

If there's a FAQ in particular that was confusing, just let us know the title of it and we can find it on their site. I'm pretty sure that it's straightforward and easy to use Zone 2, but I'd like to read what you did to make sure that I didn't miss something. I don't want to steer you wrong.

 

[stuthemonkey]

Thanks for the quick info. I figured it would be pretty simple. But just wanted to check.

The FAQ on their site was titled RX-V671 Zone 2 Setup using the ZONE2/PRESENCE Extra Speakers. A google search for "Yamaha RX-V671 zone 2 setup" links to it on the first result i believe.

if it really is that simple the next thing i'll have to figure out is how to program a harmony one to be able to do the same thing. But harmony remotes are usually really good at having all the buttons needed for stuff like that.

 

[Adam]

Happy to help!

The FAQ on their site was titled RX-V671 Zone 2 Setup using the ZONE2/PRESENCE Extra Speakers.

Ah, yes. That makes it look more complicated , but you only need to configure that Presence/Zone2 speaker preference when you first set up the receiver - assuming that you aren't planning to use the presence speakers. I made that assumption above because the presence speakers aren't part of a normal 7.1 setup. If you are planning to use the presence speakers, then it gets more complicated (including the need to use an external speaker switch so that you can connect two pairs of speakers to that single set of speaker terminals).

 

[stuthemonkey]

I wasn't planning on using presence. just the zone2 for a set of speakers out on my patio. but since that faq was what came up on a search for zone 2 I just wanted to make sure.

thanks for all the help. looks like i'll be ordering a receiver in the near future.

 

[nfv11128]

Trying to figure this out too..

Hey guys, this is my first new receiver in quite some time and am a bit confused about this Zone 2 option. Best Buy sales people were totally useless and gave me complete different answers. So basically I am also tryin to have my zone 2 be used for 2 outdoor speakers. Currently I have six speakers total (4 inside, 2 outside) and when played in stereo at the same time they all play fine. So I took off the banana plug from 2 outside speakers and plugged the bare copper into zone 2 on back of the receiver. When I select Zone 2 on the front of the receiver the 2 outside speakers do play but I lose two of the four inside speakers.

Is there a way to to be able to have all all four (inside Zone 1) play at the same time with Zone 2 outdoors? Do I need to wire up two additional lines and plug back into where I mentioned I had taken off the banan plugs? Ideally I want to be able to stream Pandora outside and other music source inside. I can get Pandora outside and can control it through the web browser so I m good there.
Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Mike

 

[nfv11128]

Just an added note, when I turn off Zone 2 from the browser it does automatically turn the other two speakers back on. But I am sure that is what it is supposed to do.

Mike

 

[Grador]

Hey guys, this is my first new receiver in quite some time and am a bit confused about this Zone 2 option. Best Buy sales people were totally useless and gave me complete different answers. So basically I am also tryin to have my zone 2 be used for 2 outdoor speakers. Currently I have six speakers total (4 inside, 2 outside) and when played in stereo at the same time they all play fine. So I took off the banana plug from 2 outside speakers and plugged the bare copper into zone 2 on back of the receiver. When I select Zone 2 on the front of the receiver the 2 outside speakers do play but I lose two of the four inside speakers.

Is there a way to to be able to have all all four (inside Zone 1) play at the same time with Zone 2 outdoors? Do I need to wire up two additional lines and plug back into where I mentioned I had taken off the banan plugs? Ideally I want to be able to stream Pandora outside and other music source inside. I can get Pandora outside and can control it through the web browser so I m good there.
Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Mike

From your symptoms I'm assuming you have 2 of your speakers plugged in as "surround back"s instead of surrounds. for a 4 speaker system you want the rears to be surrounds, not surround backs.

Despite having 9 speaker connections the receiver only has 7 amplifiers. When you turn on zone2 it automatically takes the amplifiers it was using for the surround backs and uses them for zone2 instead.

 

[nfv11128]

Hi Grador,

To be honest I dont recall because I was plugging in and out a lot trying to figure it out. You very well may be right. As soon as I get home from work later I will double check. Thanks a lot.

 

[nfv11128]

Thanks a lot thats exactly what it was. Working fine now. I would assume then that the "surround backs" are used for blu/ray movie type stuff as opposed to just audio? I really just use it for music but will play with the blu/ray stuff soon I think.

Thanks again