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(CDJay) writes:

Hi,

I've set up speakers in a number of rooms in my house plus my deck,
all plugged into one receiver. I know it's not best

"Not' the best" is quite an understatement! How many speakers do you
have connected? Are they all connected in parallel or series? What
are their impedances?

to have so many speakers on one receiver, but the flow of the house
-- and it's age -- prevented me from using different sources of
music or wiring through the walls and setting up a command
center. However, although I get sound to all speakers, the volume
differs greatly between the rooms.

The volume differs based on the relative impedance and efficiency of
the speakers.

I have a Pioneer VSX-D5095 receiver. On the A Speakers, I've
connected a 3-way splitter from Radio Shack that actually goes to
four sets of speakers. On the B Speakers, I've connected two sets
of speakers outside on my deck. None of the speakers are anything
special, just small satellite speakers.

If I play the A speakers only, the sound is fairly consistent,
although the speakers in the bathroom are too loud comparatively.
(I'm thinking I could use an in-line volume control on these speakers
to step down their volume.)

Correct--an "L pad" would do. Rat shack sells em.

However, if I add the B speakers, the volume needed to make the deck
a good listening level makes the indoor speakers much too loud.

The deck speakers must be even less efficient, or there's significant
resistance in the speaker wires out there.

As I was typing this, I realized I could put in-line volume controls
on all my indoor speakers and step them down. (Am I correct that
the in-line volume controls can only make the volume less, that they
can't increase the initial volume?) Or are there in-line
amplifiers/repeaters for speakers?

What you're looking for here is a device that takes a speaker level
in, pads it down, and reamplifies it. I'm not aware of any home gear
that does this, as it's not really a good way to do it. Better to run
a line level signal and amplify it with a plain ole audio amplifier.

I'm assuming that something that could just be placed into the
middle of the speaker wires would be convenient but, if not, I still
have my amplifiers plus a couple of unused receivers from when I
used to DJ.

Ah ha! You have spare amplifiers running around. That's good.

Would it be possible to somehow run the output for Speaker B through
a second amplifier/receiver and then adjust all volumes according?

I see two options:
1) dump the speaker switch box. Run line level out of your
main receiver to some proximity of your speaker area...and
drive those speakers off those spare receivers. This gives
you independent volume control.

2) If you're committed to this "booster" idea using existing
speaker wiring look for a padding device that will pad down
speaker levels to preamp levels. Feed the output of that
dohicky to the spare receiver.

Option 1 requires buying and running signal level wiring (RCA's).
Distance and noise may be a problem. I'm not sure if balanced runs
are available in consumer audio (they're de rigeur in pro sound
reinforcement though). Option 2 solves the wiring problem, but has
you seeking a piece of gear I don't know a source of...but I do
believe exists.

At any rate, you really need to look carefully at how you are loading
the speaker outputs of your main receiver to ensure you aren't driving
it at some crazy low impedance that'll lead inevitably to an early
demise of your power amp section due to thermal distress.

Best Regards,
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Todd H
\ / | http://www.toddh.net/
X Promoting good netiquette | http://triplethreatband.com/
/ \ http://www.toddh.net/netiquette/ | "4 lines suffice."

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