I recently bought a Pioneer VSX-1121-K. Great price, and as a iPhone/iPad user, I love the home media integration and the iPhone remote control app.
One thing I can't figure out, though, is the best way to drive outside speakers.
With my old Sony receiver I used the "Speaker B" terminals and direct wire the outside speakers to the amplifier. This worked, but the volume mismatch between inside and outside was annoying -- it usually meant no music inside, as it would be too loud inside to be just right outside. My solution to that problem was a cheap garage sale tuner/amp connected to line out jacks on the Sony. This gave me independent volume/amplification for the outside speakers and I could run inside/outside speakers at the same time without any problems.
On the Pioneer, the only way I can get audio from a digital source is to direct-wire the speakers using the "Speaker B" setup option. The volume mismatch is less than the Sony receiver, but I'm sure will still be a problem for my "turn it down" wife.
What's frustrated me is that I don't appear to get ANY line level audio out of the pre-amp outputs, and I only get analog source audio when using the Zone 2 line output. Audio from HDMI and optical sources doesn't make it to zone 2 analog at all. The manual and the multiple jacks for different channel pre-amp outputs would lead me to believe the pre-amp outputs supply audio for all sources (digital and non-digital).
Right now I'm toying with other, less optimal options I'd hope I wouldn't need to resort to (ie, my AppleTV will drive HDMI and optical audio outputs simultaneously -- run the optical output from that into the second amp wired to the outside speakers, leave the Pioneer on the HDMI input for this device -- same audio to two amps).
One thing I can't figure out, though, is the best way to drive outside speakers.
With my old Sony receiver I used the "Speaker B" terminals and direct wire the outside speakers to the amplifier. This worked, but the volume mismatch between inside and outside was annoying -- it usually meant no music inside, as it would be too loud inside to be just right outside. My solution to that problem was a cheap garage sale tuner/amp connected to line out jacks on the Sony. This gave me independent volume/amplification for the outside speakers and I could run inside/outside speakers at the same time without any problems.
On the Pioneer, the only way I can get audio from a digital source is to direct-wire the speakers using the "Speaker B" setup option. The volume mismatch is less than the Sony receiver, but I'm sure will still be a problem for my "turn it down" wife.
What's frustrated me is that I don't appear to get ANY line level audio out of the pre-amp outputs, and I only get analog source audio when using the Zone 2 line output. Audio from HDMI and optical sources doesn't make it to zone 2 analog at all. The manual and the multiple jacks for different channel pre-amp outputs would lead me to believe the pre-amp outputs supply audio for all sources (digital and non-digital).
Right now I'm toying with other, less optimal options I'd hope I wouldn't need to resort to (ie, my AppleTV will drive HDMI and optical audio outputs simultaneously -- run the optical output from that into the second amp wired to the outside speakers, leave the Pioneer on the HDMI input for this device -- same audio to two amps).
