Multi-room amp/receiver?

Well, not exactly a fire hazard, but unless there's an impedance-matching device between the amp and all those speakers, you're going to damage/destroy that receiver in short order. Are there volume control knobs in the rooms (which can be impedance-matching)?

There are lots of ways you can go, depending on what you'd like to have, and of course, the budget. If you just bought a new house, I assume you're all out of spare money. How do you want to use this setup: what sources, do you need different things playing in different rooms at the same time, etc. ?

With that receiver and a speaker selector (with impedance matching), you can hook up all the speakers, and select which rooms you want turned on/off. There are selectors that can be remote controlled and allow for volume adjustments per room. Just note that driving all of those speakers from one receiver may not produce adequate volume, especially for the outdoor zones. This is a good one with remote control: http://www.atonhome.com/DLA6Room.html

Moving up would be a multi-channel amp to drive each room separately, which gives you individual control and more power. See HTD.com and others...

Above that is "whole house audio" systems that allow for different sources to be played in different zones simultaneously.

Whatever route you choose (and nothing wrong with starting simple and growing over time), my advice is to make sure you can control the setup remotely. I found that my multi-room and outdoor speakers didn't get used very often as I had to go to the receiver to get things started - then used an RF remote to control from that point. That's much easier to do remotely now with an iPod app and a Sonos or something similar to provide music selection.

Do some searches through this forum for whole house audio and you'll get some ideas.

Jeff

Unscrew one from the wall to get the make/model and post that info so you can check for sure. They're likely impedance-matching, but some of the "cheap" ones don't do a good job of it (like - not at all)...


Yes, turning off unused zones helps.


So you're going to use the receiver upstairs for speakers for your HDTV setup downstairs? (1) How are you going to control it (2) what sources, and (3) do you want a surround setup for your HDTV?

The A/B speaker terminals are just a built-in speaker selector for the L/R channels. If you want a receiver to run both a surround/HDTV setup *and* the whole-house speakers, get a receiver that has "Zone 2" support. You use the receiver's amp for the surround setup, and typically an inexpensive external amp to run the Zone 2 speakers. That way they are independently controlled (separate power, source selection and volume control), and you don't have conflicts trying to use a 5-channel setup and a 2-channel setup at the same time.m

Jeff

Post a picture of "guts" side. An impedance-matching control will have some coils and a jumper/DIP switch setting (like 1x/2x/4x) to choose the impedance.

You can also check the nominal resistance at the receiver end. If the wires are all connected together, measure the resistance with a volt/ohm meter (ohms) - you should see something in the range of 4-8ohms. Each individual pair should be showing like 16 ohms (if set up correctly).


Ok, that makes more sense - the "downstairs" speakers are in-ceiling ones for whole house audio, separate from the surround setup. That's typical and not a bad setup at all. I had to go look up the Integra model, and now see that it's a stereo receiver really designed for the use it's doing currently. It's not a surround receiver, so leave it in place. The fact that the previous owner had this particular model set up gives good evidence that the speaker setup (impedance-wise) is likely correct.

So yes, for your HDTV setup, any surround receiver will be fine, and it's completely separate...

Jeff