zone 2 question

[moreira85]

I have been looking for a new receiver. I was looking at yamaha rx a800. I will have everything hdmi. I thought I read if you use zone 2 you can't use hdmi? I have dish network and currently when we sit outside we turn off 5.1 and put on zone 2 and listen to music on dish. So if I get the a800 and use all hdmi, I won't be able to listen to music in zone 2?

 

[Adam]

Hi. I believe it depends on how to plan to connect and power Zone 2.

You cannot listen to digital sources including HDMI if:

• You use Zone 2 analog audio outputs and connect those to an external amp.

You can listen to digital sources including HDMI if:

• You use the front left/right pre out jacks and connect those to an external amp.
• You choose the bi-amp option and connect Zone 2 speakers to the "Surround Back / Bi-amp" speaker terminals

You should be able to listen to digital sources including HDMI (I can't verify this, but I'll be shocked if it's not the case) if:

• You connect Zone 2 speakers to the "Zone2/Presence" speaker terminals

 

[moreira85]

zone 2

Thanks, I run 5 speakers to external amp. I simply just want to use the two outdoor speakers through presence or zone 2 terminal and hoping I can play sources that are connected via hdmi when I turn off zone 1.

 

[adk highlander]

Your receiver does say it supports HDMI output to Zone B but if you go to this page: Zone 2 Setup on the Receiver using the ZONE2/PRESENCE Extra Speakers - RX-A800 - AVENTAGE - Audio & Visual it states that only analog connections can be used to play via the Zone 2 speaker outputs (or analog pre outs). What they must be saying is that the second HDMI output is what they are considering as Zone B HDMI output which is not the same as Zone 2. You will need to connect the analog connections from the Dish to get sound in the second zone. The link I've put above walks through the entire setup.