Powering nine home speakers

jj91709,

     Do you have a 7 channel Onkyo amp or receiver? 

     Do you just want music that can be played louder through the 9 speakers in your room?

    Are these speakers stand alone regular speakers or are they mounted in the wall or ceiling?

    What is your budget?

   Tim

    

     Okay. 

     You can connect the left and right front outputs on your receiver to a separate multi-channel amp.  This allows you to connect some speakers to the speaker outputs on the Onkyo receiver and the remaining to the multi-ch amp's speaker outputs. Whatever source you select on the receiver will play through all speakers.

     You didn't state your budget and there are many types of multi-ch amps with a wide variety of channels (3 channels plus), a wide variety of watts per channel and a wide range of prices.  I'd recommend matching the watts per ch on your multi-ch amp to the watts per ch on your receiver.  If all your speakers are all the same brand and model, this means they'll all have the same efficiency rating (listed as decibels at 1 watt).   This means each speaker will be producing the same volume output at any setting your receiver's volume knob is set at.  

     Just google "multi-channel home audio amps" if you'd like to see the various amps available.
Tim

     

 

jj91709,

     I think it's important you realize something that has not been stated on this thread thus far.  Listening to music through 9 ceiling mounted speakers is the least enjoyable method I, and probably most members on this forum, can think of .
     Your audio system configuration is fine if your goal is background music but falls far short of the high quality music reproduction systems that most members here use or are striving to create.
     I'm assuming you're fairly new to this site and may not be familiar with how to configure a system so that a 3 dimensional illusion is created which credibly portrays the performers as being in the room.  
     My intention is not to demean but to convey that there are much better methods to enjoy recorded music that I believe almost all music lovers would choose once they personally experienced the difference between a background music system and a properly configured stereo system.
     The members here are generally very knowledgeable and willing to assist those with less experience and knowledge (a minimal number of 'audio snobs').  
     I'm sure you'd receive good advice either way, but I think you need to decide if just louder background music or a more involving audio system is your preference.

Tim

     Okay, understood.  Then, you plan to run and listen to your music in mono, right?
     Seems like it'd be hard to perceive any of the benefits of stereo sound with 9 in-ceiling speakers.  I guess you could try by running one side of the room  as the 'left' channel and the other half or so of the speakers as 'right' channel speakers. However, I have no experience in doing this and the results are unknown to me.  For example, people would likely predominately just hear the sound from the speaker they're closest to which could be a left or right configured speaker.  So, it seems most of a scattered group of people in the room would be listening to just a right or left channel of the music and this perspective would change as they moved around within the room. 
    Off the top of my head, running all speakers in mono may be the best solution.

Tim 

     jj91709,

     Unfortunately, you seem to have no desire or interest in a good quality music reproduction system for your room and, as a result, I find I've lost interest in your system, myself.
    Just hire a company that installs background music systems in restaurants and businesses and be be done with it.  You'll be listening to Yanni 24/7 via glorious mono in no time.

Later,
 Tim