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Speaker Switching Box Suggestions

Hi folks. I'm trying to help a friend who wants to have four separate pairs of speakers working in four different rooms of his house. He wants to be able to select which speakers will play at any given time--from one pair in the main listening room to all four when he is having a party or whatever. He also would like to be able to adjust the volume of each pair independently. I'm trying to build a system in the main room that will turn him on to two channel audio so I need something that will not degrade the sound. Any suggestions? Which companies make something suitable (Niles, Adcom, ?) and which model would be best for me to use. Thanks for the help and if anyone has the right product they want to sell, please feel free to contact me to discuss.
128x128dodgealum
reubent
7,050 posts
 
Dodgealum,

What electronics are you considering for the main 2-channel system? If you can build a system that has independant amplification for the main 2-channel room and seperate amplification for the other zones, it should eliminate the problems that Porziob mentioned.

I can think of 2 ways to do this:

One would be to use seperates (pre-amp/amps) for the electronics. If you used a pre-amp with 2 sets of outputs, one could be connected to an amp driving the main rig and one output could be connected to an amp driving the multi-room/zone amp.

Otherwise you could use an HT receiver that has a second zone amplifier or zone output built into it. The second zone could be connected to the multi-zone controller driving the other rooms.

I'm no expert on multi-room/whole-house audio, but I know you will need a centralized multi-room controller/zone amp and individual volume controllers in each of the room.

TIC
dodgealum's avatar
dodgealum OP
1,406 posts
 
Thanks for the input. I'm looking at an Adcom 545II and a 565 preamp. Reubent, if I understand correctly I would need to verify that the 565 has two outputs and then get a separate 545 to run the three pairs of remote speakers (how can I independently control the volume on these?) and then the other 545 would drive the main system. Still need more help if anyone can assist.
reubent
7,050 posts
 
Dodge,

You are probably correct (or partially correct). If the preamp has 2 outputs, send one to the amp driving the speakers in the main room. Send the other to either a seperate amp (as you suggested) or to a multi zone amp (as used by whole-house audio installers).

With the first scenario, you would use some kind of speaker switch box that would probably exhibit some sonic degredation. The whole house amp is designed to not have this problem.

I would check into some whole-house sound equipment and maybe talk to an installer before throwing any money at this project.

Enjoy,

TIC
dodgealum's avatar
dodgealum OP
1,406 posts
 
Thanks, Reubent. Any suggestions for companies that make "whole house" amplifiers?
reubent
7,050 posts
 
Dodgealum,

Russound, NuVo, Niles are some whole house audio companies. I'm no expert, so you might want to repost your message with a title like "Whole House Audio" or something similar. I know there are some dealers on this site that sell whole house stuff and they may respond if you phrase the question differently.

Enjoy,

TIC
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