# Can I use one home theater receiver for 2 tvs/speakers



## HDJeff (Sep 24, 2012)

I need to buy a home theater system. I want tv and surround speakers in two rooms. I would like to be able to have both systems running simultaneously or individually. 

Is there a way to do this? What kind of equipment would I need?

Thanks

:help:


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Jeff,
Many AVR's offer Multizone Capability with the upper tier AVR's offering as many as 4 Zones. Finally, you can even use HDMI for Zones. In addition to an AVR, you will need Speakers and Source Components.
What kind of budget do you have for this?
Cheers,
JJ


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

Would you get full 5 channel surround for zone 2+ or just stereo?


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## koyaan (Mar 2, 2010)

Beware, most AVRs only offer stereo for the second zone and will only drive zone two speakers if you reconfigure your rear channel outputs to drive them. Most AVRs do offer lowlevel outputs for at least 2 channels in zone 2 that operate independently from your main zone, but then you need a way to drive speakers in zone 2.


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## jaddie (Jan 16, 2008)

Andre said:


> Would you get full 5 channel surround for zone 2+ or just stereo?


In most cases you get stereo in zone 2, but...and this is a biggie... how an AVR deals with zones is highly specific to the AVR. Mostly I see the additional zone functions are riddled with limitations that you may not know about until you try it, or read the entire manual very, very carefully. For example, some AVRs won't output audio to another zone unless it came from an analog input. Now there's a gotcha! The issue is documented but buried in the manual. 

When you are selecting an AVR for multi-zone work, download the manual and carefully read and understand what it will and won't do. 

I've gotten around AVR's limitation by using an external HDMI matrix which provides full HDMI routing to multiple destinations. But...there are cheap ones that sometimes work, sometimes don't, and expensive ones that do work, but pretty much nothing in the middle yet. Hopefully we'll see more HDMI matrix product at some point that deals with handling EDID and handshaking properly at low cost.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

If there is an AV reciever that does 2 zone surround and be able to send different sources to each zone I think it would be so expensive that it would be cheaper to buy a reciever for each zone. and HDMI split the sources if you didn't want to get more then one.


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## jaddie (Jan 16, 2008)

Andre said:


> If there is an AV reciever that does 2 zone surround and be able to send different sources to each zone I think it would be so expensive that it would be cheaper to buy a reciever for each zone. and HDMI split the sources if you didn't want to get more then one.


You may not realize than an HDMI split of a source is a bad idea because of the huge glitch you can get when a destination is connected or disconnected. For example, if your BD player is split to two receivers, that will be fine until you turn one receiver off, then the BD will often shut down its video because theres a device out there that isn't a display any more. To make this kind of thing work, you need a really well engineered HDMI splitter that essentially fakes the EDID chat so what happens on one output doesn't affect the other, about a $75 item. Add one for every source, add the cabling too, and you quickly see from the budget that the HDMI matrix switcher is probably better and lower cost. It's one HDMI cable to the second room, not one per source, and a good matrix switcher handles the HDMI re-negotiation issues for you.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

I stand corrected. 4x2 matrix switch vice splitter.


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## lanayapiper (Oct 6, 2012)

koyaan said:


> Beware, most AVRs only offer stereo for the second zone and will only drive zone two speakers if you reconfigure your rear channel outputs to drive them. Most AVRs do offer lowlevel outputs for at least 2 channels in zone 2 that operate independently from your main zone, but then you need a way to drive speakers in zone 2.


Better buy a receiver for each zone. If you don't want to get more than one, HDMI split the sources. Probably in the next few years, an AV receiver which has 2 zones surround that is capable to send different sources to each zone will become available.


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## magic (May 23, 2011)

I believe the 
Marantz 7007
Allow you to do this it has 3 hdmi out


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