Thanks, Bob. I had not thought about the damping factor. But you are right, the whole-house system is more about background music and casual listening. I have a separate system set up for active listening where performance is the goal. A follow up question -- the speaker selector box I have is the Rotel RSS-900. It has impedence protection circuitry built into it. Which do you think does the most sonic harm: using the Rotel Speaker Selector with additional "stuff" in the signal path, or compromising the amp's damping ability by hooking up the speakers in parallel?
Do I need to use a speaker selector?
I have two audio systems. My question is directed to my secondary system, which consists of a pair of B&W 805 speakers (8 ohm, nominal) and a "whole-house" speaker system comprised of 7 pairs of speakers, each connected to a Niles Impedence Magnifying Volume control. The whole-house speaker system is supposed to present an 8 ohm load to the amplifier. I am purchasing a PS Audio GCA 250 to drive the B&Ws and the whole-house system. Here's the question: do I need to use a speaker selector box, or can I hook the B&Ws and the whole-house speaker wires directly to the amp? If I connect direct to the amp, the load it will see may go as low as 4 ohm, nominal. PS Audio claims that the GCA 250 can handle a load with impedence less than 1.5. Am I missing something, or can I skip the speaker selector box and wire directly to the amp? Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.