Recently moved in to a new home that has pre wired speakers in a few rooms. Though I don't know anything about audio, I'd love to have a gizmo that could group all of these speakers into zones...I guess I'm looking for something with multiple inputs and grouped outputs?
i.e. play the TV audio in the living room, play the CD player in every bedroom, play my iPod on all external speakers, etc.

I have a nice strand of wires that terminate in the living room. Looks a little something like this:
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b139/calteg/MuddyBuddy09036.jpg

What marvel of technology am I looking for exactly? help!!!

Funny...I just posted this exact same question 10 mins ago. Hopefully we'll get some advice.

Sweet, I'll piggyback off of solodelux's thread. Mods can close this if they wish.

That just all 14/4 speaker wire or similar....No coax? No Cat5e or Cat6? No HDMI?

Didn't know you could send audio signals over HDMI or coax. There are several Cat5 drops throughout the house, but those are serving their intended purpose.

an impedance protected speaker selector switch may be what you are looking for. The one shown is a switch only, there are also models with volume control, but at a higher price.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-608%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&FTR=300-608&CFID=3491145&CFTOKEN=18170998