[Kaizen28]

Hi All


While I'm certainly not a demanding audiophile I'm sensitive to the robustness and ease-of-use of a system. AS such I'd erally welcome anyone's feedback on what I propse below.


What I want to do is use the two zone feature of something like a Denon 1907 AVR to approximate a multi-zone deployment. The AVR will drive a 5.1 speaker deployment (Main Zone) as well as feed an IR speaker selector from Xantech to allow me to choose which rooms will play a given audio stream.


I'm really new to all this so I still don't understand if I need an additional AMP to drive the four speaker pairs in Zone 2 or if the AVR is sufficient to do this and have I missed something obvious?


ANY thoughts are appreciated!


Thanks in advance.

 

[Rupert]

Hi,


You would need an impedance-matching speaker selector like this:

http://www.nilesaudio.com/product.ph...rdcdID=FG01039



Some receivers do allow you to assign unused amplifier channels to Zone 2, but in your case, a separate power amp is recommended to drive four sets of speakers. An amp designed for Zone 2 use will work best, because they have features like auto-power on, etc:


Here's an example:

http://www.amazon.com/AudioSource-Am...&s=electronics



Also, two of these amps would work without a speaker selector to drive four sets of typical speakers.

 

[Kaizen28]

Hi Rupert


Oddly, the link to Niles Audio doesn't work for me but I think I know what you're referring to. The speaker selector that has caught my eye is the one below as the selection is done via IR:

http://www.smarthome.com/8152.html


I understand your design option about using two separate AMPs to drive the four speak pairs but can these be controlled via IR too?


Thanks for the advice!

 

[Rupert]

I fixed the link:

http://www.nilesaudio.com/product.ph...rdcdID=FG01039


The amplifier typically has auto signal-sensing, so you don't need to worry about turning them on and off.

 

[Kaizen28]

Hi


The third cup of coffee of the day has kicked in and I see I'm missing your point as well as explaining myself badly.


I now understand what you mean about the AMPs sensing the signals but what I want to do is dynamically control which speaker pairs are used without physically pressing the buttons on the speaker selector which I'd prefer to hide away.


This is why I'm looking into the Xantech box.

 

[Kaizen28]

Hi


Can someone explain a speaker selector to me...


If I connecting four speaker pairs, does each pair need an independent amplifier?


Thanks again

 

[Rupert]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaizen28 /forum/post/0


Hi


Can someone explain a speaker selector to me...


If I connecting four speaker pairs, does each pair need an independent amplifier?

No. A typical speaker selector will match impedance and make the amp think that only one set of speakers are connected. This prevents damage to the amp.