Front l/r speaker level and pre outs simultaneously?

whgarrett1394

Was wondering if you can use the front l/r pre outs to dedicated amp at the same time as powered front l/r speaker level from a Marantz sr5001 receiver?

My marantz is only used as a pre amp right now but I want to use its internal amp to power speakers in the kitchen at the same time as the main room. This is different from a second zone. I already use that function and i can't play digital sources.

Thanks in advance

deronb1

I have seen in a number of manuals not to run the AVR that way. I had a Pioneer where I could turn off the speakers when using it with an amp in two channel mode and then turning the speakers back on when using it in HT without the amp on.

Dennis Gardner

You are asking a lot from one unit. There is no inherent reason that it won't do what you are trying, but you do need to realize that if you are watching a movie in surround mode, the sound going to the kitchen will only be the content on the mains channels, most vocals will not be included and the kitchen will always be active when the main room is being used unless you physically move the unit out and unplug the speakers.

If I was going to set up a unit like this, I would run the external amp off from the preamp outs so that I could simply turn them on/off with the amp, but I know that you have added the amp for better main speaker sound.

As I stated before, what you are doing is okay, just a little complex. Why not look into a networked system like Sonos for a whole house system since you seem to be a prime candidate for what they offer. Their specialty is multi-room connectivity.

jeremymarcinko

It will work, but isn't recommended.

tonyb

Why not just get a simple speaker selector switch instead of taxing the receiver ?

whgarrett1394

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was making this too complicated.

Dennis.....i was thinking that I would have to watch shows in stereo only to be able to listen in the kitchen.

Tonyb.....I am planning on getting a switcher. The Niles ssvc-4 w/ volume control.

At first I didn't think the second zone used with switcher would work because my blu ray is hooked up via hdmi and the multi zone can't be a digital source, but I forgot that I am planning on getting the oppo 103 and hooking it up via multi channel analog so it will work just fine......eventually.

Thanks again. Problem solved.

tonyb

It can work fine now with a speaker selector switch. That way you can play off of zone 1 in the Kitchen, utilizing all your digital connections on the receiver .