2. home-theater
  3. 129123-36302

New Two Zone System - I'm out of my League

Hello,

I've read a ton of the Home Theater posts and everyone is super knowledgeable and helpful.  I'm kindly asking for everyone's advice.

I have always been a two-channel (amp, pre-amp, tower speakers) person.  My wife and I are remodeling our main floor and now the two towers have to go - I'm sure you can guess why!


Zone 1:  In the living room I will have two in-wall speakers - left/right speakers on the sides of the TV and a powered subwoofer.  Unless you suggest otherwise, I'd like to use my existing Parasound amp and pre-amp separates to power the two in-walls and send an audio signal to the powered subwoofer (using "loop output" on the amp).  These speakers will mainly be used for TV watching, and occasional music playing.  I have no interest in anything more than this 2.1 set-up.


Zone 2:  In the kitchen on the same floor as the living room I will have two in-ceiling speakers.  These speakers will play music.  I was thinking I would power these speakers with an integrated amp.


Most times - it will be the TV audio playing through the in walls in Zone 1 and music playing through the in-ceilings in Zone 2 (simultaneously).  This is easily accomplished with the set-up I described above (I believe).  My question / confusion is this - I'd ideally like the option to play music from the same source in the two zones at the same time (same music playing through all four speakers in the two rooms).  Can you please tell me the easiest / best way to accomplish this flexibility?


Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Matt

mminor

Showing 3 responses by elevick

elevick
2,636 posts
 
Matt,
They do make 2 channel multi room receivers that will handle this.  The problem is that you want to use your parasound preamp.

Here is what I would do:  
Buy a Yamaha, Denon or Onkyo multi room receiver.
Use the Parasound as a source as well as any other sources you may wish.
The multi-room receiver can usually send different signals to 2 or 3 rooms.
In each room you will want an IR repeater and probably a volume control.  Niles works great.  My Denon actually came with 2 remotes for this purpose.
You will now maintain the quality system in Zone 1 but will be able to merge it with Zone 2 if you like.  Check Crutchfield for ideas.

I have a Denon 3 zone with amps an IR repeaters in zones all over my house.  Adding bluetooth was great.  My phone plays wireless in any room I wish.
elevick
2,636 posts
 
Hey, if we are bashing Sirius (which deserves bashing), I'd go with Tidal.
elevick
2,636 posts
 
I ran my phone with Tidal through a B1 to a Chord Hugo and it was amazing!  
The IR repeater should go in the most logical place to point your remote.  If you don't want extra holes, run it with the speaker wire and hide it behind the grill.  Personally, I wanted a volume control with my IR.  Niles units are great.
More to discover