Any Home Theater Experts out there?

[Mister B]

Are there any home theater/audio experts out there? I have a basic Sony 5.1 home theater receiver that I bought as part of a home theater kit probably at least 5 years ago or more and I also have a Sony 300 disc CD changer. My house that I bought a little over a year ago has speakers in the ceiling in 3 different rooms (kitchen, family room, and hallway) and i would like to connect everything together so that i can control the music throughout the house. Is there a way that I could connect those 3 ceiling speakers to my receiver and then be able to turn each ceiling speaker on or off individually or be able to turn all of the ceiling speakers on including my home theater speakers at the same time? With the Sony receiver that I have now I can not connect any additional speakers to it because there is only one set of speaker outputs in the back, which are currently connected to my home theater speakers (Front left and right, Surround left and right, Center and Sub). I did not know if there was another piece of equipment that I could buy that would allow me to connect the ceiling speakers to the receiver and then control everything independently or not. I’ve done some searching on the net, but I do not know what I am looking for or if it even exists.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks guys.

[Mikejl]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

I don't believe you will be able to do it with your current receiver. You need a receiver that can handle more than "zone".

With my old 7.1 Onkyo TXSR800 I can use my 5.1 HT speakers and with the remaining 2 speaker connections set up as a "remote zone" and run both independently at the same time.

Unfortunately, I haven't kept current with Home Theater the last few years. But I am pretty sure you will need to start with buying a new receiver. I'm sure one of the other members will provide more help shortly.

Mike

[Mister B]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

I don't believe you will be able to do it with your current receiver.

That's what I was afraid of.

If that is the case, I wonder if there is a way to connect my 300 disc CD changer up to 2 separate receivers? Right now I actually have 2 receivers. My 5.1 home theater receiver, which is what my CD changer is currently hooked up to. Plus I also have a simple 2 channel stereo receiver in the basement that is currently hooked up to my ceiling speakers. Any way to hook my 300 disc CD changer to both receivers? Then I would be able to choose if I wanted to listen to my CD's through my home theater receiver, or listen to my CD's through my other receiver that is hooked up to my house ceiling speakers.

[OrangeCrush]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

You should be able to get some A/B switches that will allow you to put your amp output into the back and then select which set of speakers you want to listen to. You should also be able to get more than just A/B. I think you can have several options. I'd consult a home entertainment installer.

[ronniejay]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

Crutchfield, a seller on the internet has audio advisors, especially on stuff they sell (or have sold). They may help you for free (with a suggestion to something they have). Look them up and call their 800 number.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

Crutchfield, a seller on the internet has audio advisors, especially on stuff they sell (or have sold). They may help you for free (with a suggestion to something they have). Look them up and call their 800 number.

Maybe they have a discussion forum?

[Mister B]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

Crutchfield, a seller on the internet has audio advisors, especially on stuff they sell (or have sold). They may help you for free (with a suggestion to something they have). Look them up and call their 800 number.

Maybe they have a discussion forum?

Thanks,

I will have to check that out.

[Malo83]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

This might be what you need.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_190SS6/Niles-SS-6.html?search=Niles+VENDORID190&searchdisplay=Niles&tp=2997

http://community.crutchfield.com/forums/default.aspx

[RogueGypsy]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

The 6 channel switcher that Malo linked to, is exactly what you need.

Unless: you have a 'B' channel on your Sony receiver, then you can use the 4 channel switcher that Niles makes.

There are many ways you can control those extra speakers. With those switch boxes, you can turn them on or off individually. Niles also makes a switcher/volume control box that would allow you to control volume to the individual speakers as well.

Using what you have (2 receivers) you can do the same thing and gain some volume in the system as well as volume control over those additional speakers. Just run a pair of RCA cables from the 'tape' or 'vcr' output on the Sony to any 'input' on the other receiver (if you have A&B channels on the other receiver). You stated there are '3' ceiling speakers, if there are '3' and not '3' pairs, and your other receiver has A&B channels, you won't need another switcher.



HTH,

Brock



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[Mister B]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

Using what you have (2 receivers) you can do the same thing and gain some volume in the system as well as volume control over those additional speakers. Just run a pair of RCA cables from the 'tape' or 'vcr' output on the Sony to any 'input' on the other receiver (if you have A&B channels on the other receiver). You stated there are '3' ceiling speakers, if there are '3' and not '3' pairs, and your other receiver has A&B channels, you won't need another switcher.

Thanks Brock,

That does exactly what I want. I just brought the 2 channel receiver up from the basement to test it out. I hooked up a pair of short RCA cables from the tape output on my Sony receiver and plugged the other end into the CD input of the 2 channel receiver and then connected up some spare speakers I had laying around just to test it out. It works great! Plus I can turn the speakers off individually with the A & B channels on the 2 channel receiver as well as having additional volume control.

Now all I need to do is buy a longer pair of RCA cables and I will be set.

Thanks again Brock.

Thanks to everyone else for their suggestions as well.

[RogueGypsy]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

Glad I could help, enjoy the new sound.



Brock



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[OrangeCrush]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

I wouldn't run a powered receiver (amp) into another powered receiver (amp). You'll burn it up. You can input a slave (passive) into a master (active). But not an active into an active. It will work for a little while, but not long. If you have two seperate receivers (amps), you'll need to set it up as two seperate systems.

[Mister B]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

I wouldn't run a powered receiver (amp) into another powered receiver (amp). You'll burn it up. You can input a slave (passive) into a master (active). But not an active into an active. It will work for a little while, but not long. If you have two seperate receivers (amps), you'll need to set it up as two seperate systems.

The MD/Tape Output that I used is a preamp output, so it should not be amplified. I was reading some articles on Crutchfield's website about different ways to set up a multiroom system and one of the options was to hook 2 receivers together via RCA cables from the Preamp output on one receiver to the input on the other receiver, like i did. So if I understand it correctly I should be ok.

Thanks.

[kenmac]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

This is the site you want avforums.com

[RogueGypsy]

Re: Any Home Theater Experts out there?

I designed and built theater systems, whole house systems and office audio systems for a little over 10 years, car audio for 3 of those years. I can assure you, running an RCA from the tape-out of one receiver into any input (other than phono) on another receiver will work just fine. That is exactly what pre-amp outputs are designed for, transferring a line level signal from one device to another.

If you were to do this with an amp pre-out on a reciever to an input on another reciever, then you stand a chance of frying the input on the end receiver. That is due to the line level increase attenuated by the volume control knob. Even then, the volume would have to be at or near peak output for very long periods of time to affect the input device. Tape pre-outs are not attenuated by the volume control, so remain unaffected.

I currently have a NAD reciever feeding off of the tape-out on my Denon theater reciever to power and enable individual control over the outdoor speakers surrounding my patio. That's been running for over 3 years now.

As Mike Phillips is so fond of saying, there is a lot of misinformation out there in Cyber world. I'll stick with my real world experience and the testimony of 100's of systems still up and running after 20 years.




HTH,

Brock


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