Multi-Zone Amplifier


All,

 

I currently have an older AudioSource two zone amplifier driving one speaker in the kitchen and another for the patio. The source for the amp is my main 2-channel setup with the AudioSource fed off the RCA outputs on the preamp.

 

The things I like about this setup is that I can turn on or off speaker A and B independently or have both on, and the amp has its own volume control. That said, I've been thinking about upgrading it to a better amplifier. Does anyone have any two zone amplifier recommendations?

  • Would like to be able to turn on or off the two zones independently
  • Have its own volume control
  • Ideally have the ability to control volume wirelessly
christianb5s4

Why not simply get a speaker selector switch that can handle two or three zones?  That gives you the flexibility of choosing any amplifier, regardless of it supporting two zones. 

That is all a two zone amplifier is, a switch on the output that can switch two pair of speakers on or off.

Most of the ones I have seen handle 4 zones.

 

Parasound sells a multizone amp and many AV receivers offer multi-room features  as you describe.

I guess I forgot to mention that I have an Arcam AV40, but that's strictly being used for the AV side of things. For the zones, all I'd play is music and would ideally like it to come from the main 2 channel setup as it currently is.

 

I did see the parasound options and might dig into those deeper (with the added bonus of being somewhat related to my main JC5).

 

@spatialking do you have a recommendation on a selector by chance? 

Well, I don't have one I have used so I can't recommend one from that perspective.  The one two I do have are home brews.   You can look at these and get an idea of what is out there.  Remember, switching is post amplifier, so they are always passive units.