I am just about ready to wire up my basement for 7.1(only going to use 5.1) in the HT and 3 other zones, bedroom/office, family room and outside. Looking at purchasing an Onkyo 806. I am completely new to this and have tried researching different setups and have come to asking these questions. What do I need to use to distribute audio to the other zones. The other 3 zones for simplicity will play the same audio, but I would like to play something separate in the ht at the same time. I would like to have volume control in each zone without having to got back to a speaker selector. Thanks for the advice.

Anyone on this. Wondering if I should use a speaker selector or an additional amp

I have the Onkyo 505 and have run into a problem with the remote speakers. I was going to run it from my HTPC(currently set up with SP/dif for HT), and really have no other way to get an input to it reasonably. However it must have an antilog input for the B speakers. Windows does not allow for a second, antilog connection, without messing up the 5.1 setup; so, I can find no way to use my B set.

As for the 3 sets you are planning, check the manual. I bet you have some similar limit. The DAC is the problem. How many does it have? I can set up a connection to an iPod or CD player but it would not be convenient for me. If you can you are good to go.

You may just need a source for each set. Volume, I don't know.