Surround & Throughout House?

[Steve Blackwell]

We're building a house and I'd appreciate any suggestions to help with
my goals:

I want to purchase a system to use as the "main" system for the house
*most* of the time. I would like to use this system as the surround
system for the TV that we will watch most of the time also. I have
wired my house for five (5) pair of additional speakers (wall or
ceilings) throughout, and wired for volume controls on each.

I won't neccesarily need to run all five-six pair at the same time,
but it would be nice.

Will it be possible to run five to six pair at the same time?
I'm guessing I'll need to use some type on speaker selector box for
this many outputs?

I have not purchased speakers yet, either.

I do currently own an older Harman Kardon 35/w per channel receiver
that I can use somewhere.

One of the rooms where I have a pair wired for will eventually be a
gameroom/theater kinda room, where I plan to.... spend as much as
possible one day while yet avoiding divorce.

I think I can get away with about $500 on this "main"
receiver/surround/amp and remain married. Ideas on
receiver/speakers/controls????

Thanks in advance,
Steve in Louisiana

[Kalman Rubinson]

You are probably better off using a line-level distribution amp on the
stereo/line outputs of your main receiver to run to local amps in each
room. I doubt that any low-priced receiver will be happy with more
than a pair of speaker loads on its output.

Kal

On 6 Mar 2004 16:50:19 -0800, (Steve Blackwell)
wrote:

>We're building a house and I'd appreciate any suggestions to help with
>my goals:
>
>I want to purchase a system to use as the "main" system for the house
>*most* of the time. I would like to use this system as the surround
>system for the TV that we will watch most of the time also. I have
>wired my house for five (5) pair of additional speakers (wall or
>ceilings) throughout, and wired for volume controls on each.
>
>I won't neccesarily need to run all five-six pair at the same time,
>but it would be nice.
>
>Will it be possible to run five to six pair at the same time?
>I'm guessing I'll need to use some type on speaker selector box for
>this many outputs?
>
>I have not purchased speakers yet, either.
>
>I do currently own an older Harman Kardon 35/w per channel receiver
>that I can use somewhere.
>
>One of the rooms where I have a pair wired for will eventually be a
>gameroom/theater kinda room, where I plan to.... spend as much as
>possible one day while yet avoiding divorce.
>
>I think I can get away with about $500 on this "main"
>receiver/surround/amp and remain married. Ideas on
>receiver/speakers/controls????
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Steve in Louisiana

[ReEfErMaDnEsS]

check this out.....or along these lines

http://www.bestpriceaudiovideo.com/products/product_detail.asp?Inventory=2537&Show=D

multi room /multi source let the wife watch a chick flick while you watch
a horror movie elsewhere


there are also options for speaker selectors that can run multiple pairs

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3082183427&category=14994

this will allow you to run multiple pairs simultaneously from a single
amp....

as far as in wall speakers....ubid.com always has deals

http://www.ubid.com/cat/get_cat_page.asp?CatID=3879&PgNum=1
the phoenix gold are nice. my brother in law just install a pair as
surrounds.....very nice



"Steve Blackwell" > wrote in message
om...
> We're building a house and I'd appreciate any suggestions to help with
> my goals:
>
> I want to purchase a system to use as the "main" system for the house
> *most* of the time. I would like to use this system as the surround
> system for the TV that we will watch most of the time also. I have
> wired my house for five (5) pair of additional speakers (wall or
> ceilings) throughout, and wired for volume controls on each.
>
> I won't neccesarily need to run all five-six pair at the same time,
> but it would be nice.
>
> Will it be possible to run five to six pair at the same time?
> I'm guessing I'll need to use some type on speaker selector box for
> this many outputs?
>
> I have not purchased speakers yet, either.
>
> I do currently own an older Harman Kardon 35/w per channel receiver
> that I can use somewhere.
>
> One of the rooms where I have a pair wired for will eventually be a
> gameroom/theater kinda room, where I plan to.... spend as much as
> possible one day while yet avoiding divorce.
>
> I think I can get away with about $500 on this "main"
> receiver/surround/amp and remain married. Ideas on
> receiver/speakers/controls????
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Steve in Louisiana

[Kalman Rubinson]

" Sub Room Pre-Amp Outputs allows you to enjoy 5.1 surround in the
main room and 2 channel stereo in the sub room with the addition of an
outboard amp."

As I said, you really need additional amps to have satisfactory
multiroom setups.

Kal


On Sun, 07 Mar 2004 04:35:09 GMT, "ReEfErMaDnEsS"
> wrote:

>check this out.....or along these lines
>
>http://www.bestpriceaudiovideo.com/products/product_detail.asp?Inventory=2537&Show=D
>
>multi room /multi source let the wife watch a chick flick while you watch
>a horror movie elsewhere
>
>
>there are also options for speaker selectors that can run multiple pairs
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3082183427&category=14994
>
>this will allow you to run multiple pairs simultaneously from a single
>amp....
>
>as far as in wall speakers....ubid.com always has deals
>
>http://www.ubid.com/cat/get_cat_page.asp?CatID=3879&PgNum=1
>the phoenix gold are nice. my brother in law just install a pair as
>surrounds.....very nice
>
>
>
>"Steve Blackwell" > wrote in message
om...
>> We're building a house and I'd appreciate any suggestions to help with
>> my goals:
>>
>> I want to purchase a system to use as the "main" system for the house
>> *most* of the time. I would like to use this system as the surround
>> system for the TV that we will watch most of the time also. I have
>> wired my house for five (5) pair of additional speakers (wall or
>> ceilings) throughout, and wired for volume controls on each.
>>
>> I won't neccesarily need to run all five-six pair at the same time,
>> but it would be nice.
>>
>> Will it be possible to run five to six pair at the same time?
>> I'm guessing I'll need to use some type on speaker selector box for
>> this many outputs?
>>
>> I have not purchased speakers yet, either.
>>
>> I do currently own an older Harman Kardon 35/w per channel receiver
>> that I can use somewhere.
>>
>> One of the rooms where I have a pair wired for will eventually be a
>> gameroom/theater kinda room, where I plan to.... spend as much as
>> possible one day while yet avoiding divorce.
>>
>> I think I can get away with about $500 on this "main"
>> receiver/surround/amp and remain married. Ideas on
>> receiver/speakers/controls????
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Steve in Louisiana
>

[Steve Blackwell]

Thanks Kal and Reefer,

Kal: "As I said, you really need additional amps to have satisfactory
> multiroom setups."

I've heard mention of additional amps... examples please??

Thanks,
Steve

[Kalman Rubinson]

On 7 Mar 2004 12:13:56 -0800, (Steve Blackwell)
wrote:

>Thanks Kal and Reefer,
>
>Kal: "As I said, you really need additional amps to have satisfactory
>> multiroom setups."
>
>I've heard mention of additional amps... examples please??

Depends on your needs. But take a look at the Parasound Z-amp
and associated materials. The Z-amp is a very small power amp
input gain controls and can be set to be triggered by an external
signal or by the program material.

Unfortunately, your budget may need to be expanded.

Kal

[Steve Blackwell]

Kal advises that I will need multiple amps for multiple rooms... (and
I thank him for responding)...

I visited one of the local shops yesterday and the salesperson advised
there, that I could do multi-rooms (up to 5 pair in my case, probably
in wall), using an amp with two zones (he was ready to sell me a
Denon, 90wpc), with a speaker selector box.

He advised that the selector box would maintain the impedence to the
amp at 8 ohms, and was available with or without volume control for
each set.

I advised him that I had pre-wired for volume controls, and he said
that the volume controls that he sold would maintain the the impedence
on the amp therefore I would not need the selector box. He said that
I would wire them daisy-chain (in a series?).

What do you think? Can I power 2-5 pair of speakers adequetely and
safely from one 2 or 3 zone amp using volume controls, wired to zone 2
and/or 3?

For what it's worth, I'm leaning toward the Yamaha RX-V1400, (110 wpc
at 8 ohms) (today, anyway.)

Thanks in advance for your response,
Steve

[Kalman Rubinson]

Well, if the box has resistors and wiring to maintain the load on the
amp, it will prevent the amp from blowing up and allow you to have
some sound in all the rooms. Just do not count on having, in all/most
of the rooms simultaneously, the quality you would get in one.

Kal


On 14 Mar 2004 11:45:25 -0800, (Steve Blackwell)
wrote:

>Kal advises that I will need multiple amps for multiple rooms... (and
>I thank him for responding)...
>
>I visited one of the local shops yesterday and the salesperson advised
>there, that I could do multi-rooms (up to 5 pair in my case, probably
>in wall), using an amp with two zones (he was ready to sell me a
>Denon, 90wpc), with a speaker selector box.
>
>He advised that the selector box would maintain the impedence to the
>amp at 8 ohms, and was available with or without volume control for
>each set.
>
>I advised him that I had pre-wired for volume controls, and he said
>that the volume controls that he sold would maintain the the impedence
>on the amp therefore I would not need the selector box. He said that
>I would wire them daisy-chain (in a series?).
>
>What do you think? Can I power 2-5 pair of speakers adequetely and
>safely from one 2 or 3 zone amp using volume controls, wired to zone 2
>and/or 3?
>
>For what it's worth, I'm leaning toward the Yamaha RX-V1400, (110 wpc
>at 8 ohms) (today, anyway.)
>
>Thanks in advance for your response,
>Steve