Need Ideas for Multi room Set up

igillen

I know nothing about audio, which is why I'm asking for ideas; but also please try not to talk over my head when it comes to terminology.

Here's my set up; the missing link being a receiver of some sort:

I'm putting a pair of TC80i's in my family room and a pair in my kitchen for solid (both rooms approx 15x20), but not life changing music only. Additionally, I am going to put a pair of atrium 55s out on my back deck. All of this will be connected to a receiver of some sort, which will be connected to a Sonance iPort. I want to walk into my kitchen, dock my iPod, and BLAMO>>>tune-age. I need the music to be nice, but not so nice an audio enthusiast would crap their pants. Also, I need to be able to crank it up to a reasonable volume to allow for drunken dance parties.

Here's the catch...I need be able to turn off each room individually; therefore have any possible combination of the 3 zones able to be played. AND...I need to do this for $300 TOPS...if I can spend less it's a bonus.

What receiver do I get and can I use a speaker selector to increase the number of outputs? Or do I absolutely need a pricier multi amp?

Thanks!!!!!!

igillen

BTW...the indoor speakers need to be in-ceiling...so switching up speakers to another model (unless also in-ceiling) is not an option

amulford

I need to do this for $300 TOPS

Sorry, dude. Can't do it. I'd spend that much in wire...

igillen

Ugh...not even used?

igillen

What about this? Would a novice (me) know the difference? Or is this just a piece of garbage?

http://www.amazon.com/Sherwood-RX5502-Dual-Zone-Stereo-Receiver/dp/B000RGR50U/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1300996852&sr=1-5

Joe08867

Get yourself a decent receiver and one of these. It is a speaker selector.

http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PSS4-4-Channel-Speaker-Selector/dp/B000NJHAFQ/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1300998841&sr=1-6

igillen

Thanks, Joe. How do I match up watt RMS using a speaker selector? Do I still want to keep the watt RMS within what my speakers can handle, or more to compensate?

amulford

igillen wrote: »

What about this? Would a novice (me) know the difference? Or is this just a piece of garbage?

http://www.amazon.com/Sherwood-RX5502-Dual-Zone-Stereo-Receiver/dp/B000RGR50U/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1300996852&sr=1-5

That thing is crap. Joe has a good Idea. are you going to try to have everything playing at the same time? If you are those mini 75W amps would turn the trick, too. But you'd lose your local volume control...

tonyb

amulford wrote: »

Sorry, dude. Can't do it. I'd spend that much in wire...

:biggrin::biggrin:

rooftop59

igillen wrote: »

Ugh...not even used?

Negative ghostwriter.

You CAN do it, but you have to go used and perhaps take a bit of a risk. I have an HK AVR 630 (great powerful receiver but no hdmi) and a sonance sonamp 260x3 for my 2 (expandable to 3) zones. Works and sounds great. All you need is a receiver with zone 2 preouts and somethign like the sonamp. My receiver was 175 shipped and the sonamp was 45 shipped (took a chance on an untested one). So you can do it, you just have to be patient.

Peace,
Paul

rooftop59

[QUOTE=Sorry, dude. Can't do it. I'd spend that much in wire...[/QUOTE]

Negative ghostwriter.

You CAN do it, but you have to go used and perhaps take a bit of a risk. I have an HK AVR 630 (great powerful receiver but no hdmi) and a sonance sonamp 260x3 for my 2 (expandable to 3) zones. Works and sounds great. All you need is a receiver with zone 2 preouts and somethign like the sonamp. My receiver was 175 shipped and the sonamp was 45 shipped (took a chance on an untested one). So you can do it, you just have to be patient.

Peace,
Paul

igillen

Thanks, Paul. Is that a better option that if I got a solid receiver and got a niles speaker selector with independent volume control? Which would sound better?

igillen

amulford wrote: »

That thing is crap. Joe has a good Idea. are you going to try to have everything playing at the same time? If you are those mini 75W amps would turn the trick, too. But you'd lose your local volume control...

Thanks. I'll want the ability to shut off certain zones...esp with outdoor speakers being one of the zones

rooftop59

igillen wrote: »

Thanks, Paul. Is that a better option that if I got a solid receiver and got a niles speaker selector with independent volume control? Which would sound better?

I think so but it depends on the speakers. A separate amp gives more power which means better sound. My friend uses a speaker selector but he is driving all satellites so it is fine. I am driving some lsi7s (power hungry) so I knew that that wasn't a good option to me. So the answer is more power is always better, but whether the selector will work adequately depends on all the speakers involved.
paul

igillen

My speakers will be either TC80i's or RC80i's (not decided yet)...no big towers or anything. Do dual amp speaker selectors have more power or is it just so you can play form 2 different sources on your system?

igillen

I'd like to have the option to add more speakers (additional ceiling speakers) if I wanted to in the future

rooftop59

The potential problem is that the speaker selectors take the power from you rear surround speakers (so that you can only do 5.1 if that matters to you) and splits it among however many pairs of speakers you have. Most receivers do not have enough power on tap to do this well. That is why I suggest an external amp like the sonamp if you want decent sound quality. You could also get a used two channel amp and a selector and that would also help with power issues.

igillen

I think 5 pairs of speakers would be tops. I don't care about surround sound at all. Just crisp, clear music. This will never be used for movies or anything. So assuming the selector takes 100W like the Niles, that would mean my RC80i's would get 10W per speaker? If so, is that enough to get fairly loud but not teenager Honda civic loud?

rooftop59

OKay now I get it. Get a good stereo receiver like the NAD geppy posted in the fs section, get a speaker selector from even amazon or monoprice, and I think that you will be done. I was assuming ht plus section zone like mine. Sorry ;-)

igillen

Thanks for your help. Re: my last post...Do you think 10W will power those speakers enough?

tonyb

igillen wrote: »

Thanks for your help. Re: my last post...Do you think 10W will power those speakers enough?

In short, no.

rooftop59

It will sound okay because those speakers are efficient. But it wont sound great; wont have much baddfor instance. If its just background music like a department store then its fine, but the sound will be just soso.

Benfield4

Igillen

Thought I would give you some of my thoughts. I have a basic 2 channel setup in the living room and added a set of outdoor speakers to the back deck. This is all on the same level of our ranch home. What I did was just add another 2 channel receiver to run the back deck speakers. I just tied the two receivers together using the Tape Loops on them. That way you could share inputs off the living room setup. I wanted to have complete volume control for outside vs inside. Outside speakers have to be turned up pretty high to get loud since there are no walls for sound to bounce off of. Or if you want to have very quiet background music outside you can adjust the volume in each room to suit. I bought used off of the bay for the equipment. None of it is real high wattage mostly in the 60 watt range. I Have had it for a year or so and have been pleased with it despite adding another component to the stack in the living room.

What ever way you go enjoy the outside speakers! It's nice to have them. BTW if you can mount the outdoor speakers up near the eves of the home so you can enhance the bass effect of the speakers.