[teddyhef]

Hi all,


I'm new to the audio game, so I apologize in advance if my terminology is off.


I'm attempting to develop a simple wiring plan for our new home in order to provide audio in a basement entertainment room, an open first floor living room/kitchen and possibly our backyard.


The home is relatively small, with our basement entertainment room being 15' x 15' and the first floor approx. 15' x 44'. The ceiling height in the basement is approx. 8' while the first floor is about 11'.


This will be my first decent home theater system and I just want to have a basic speaker setup upstairs, mainly for listening to music. Our builder is wiring the entire house for Cat5 and Cat6, but is hesitant to wire for speakers.


Currently the only piece of the puzzle I have is a Denon 3312 receiver. I'm thinking to initially run a 5.1 setup in the basement (looking at Aperion for speakers), then create two zones upstairs, one for the first floor and one for outside. Eventually I would like to use the preamp feature to power the additional zones, but for the moment I want to just get the initial wiring in place.


I would like to use in-ceiling speakers on the first floor, but I'm unsure whether the space needs only two speakers (one in the kitchen and one in the living room) or four. Also, I would like to install simple volume knobs to control the upstairs speakers. If the kitchen and living room speakers are in the same "Zone" could separate volume controls be used?


Any suggestions of placement and products would be very welcome. I'm eager to learn more.


Thanks!

 

[teddyhef]

Hi all,


So here are the specifics of my current "simplified" wiring plan.


2 pairs of Polk Audio RC60i on the first floor (4 total). Each pair would be connected to:

AudioSource AE100VC Impedance Matching Volume Control (2 total)


I've already had 16/2 pulled for the speakers and 16/4 pulled from the volume control to the area where our receiver will be.


My main question is would I need a speaker selector or some additional device to terminate the connections from the speakers to the receiver? Since the receiver has output for two zones (150w per channel), could I potentially wire the volume controls directly into the receiver?


Any suggestions, installation, equipment or otherwise, are welcome.


Thanks!

 

[jautor]

Since you've got the speakers impedance-matched, you can just connect them to your Zone2 amp output in parallel. Do check the impedance of the two pairs in parallel with an ohmmeter to ensure everything is correct. Should read 4-8 ohms to be safe (and check the ohm range rating on your amp as well).


Jeff