# Multi-Zone Setup



## lucky53s (Mar 20, 2012)

I am setting up my house with a 5.1 system in the living room and want to use zone 2 output to run 4 or 5 sets of speakers in other rooms. The guy I had run the wires led me to believe I could use a regular speaker selector and just connect the speakers directly from the selector since zone 2 is powered. Hopefully someone here can help shed some light on the dark areas of my plan.

I am going to be using an Onkyo 709 (not recalled, luckily). My zones will be in the office (5.25 inch), bedroom (6.5 inch), living/dining room (6.5 inch) and outside (don't have those yet but nothing huge). The receiver is pretty centrally located, the longest run will probably be around 50-60 feet.

Do I have to run every speaker through an impedance balance/volume control or can I run them directly from the speaker selector if it has volume control for each individual zone? 

Do I need an amplified speaker selector?

If I do need an amp outside of the powered zone 2, can you run am amp to a speaker selector that you already have or is my only option something like the Dayton MA1240?

I am primarily setting this up for some casual music to be played throughout the house so it's not too loud by the stereo and too quiet in other rooms. I'm sure more information is needed, I will be happy to provide whatever you need.


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## wgmontgomery (Jun 9, 2011)

Since your AVR has powered zone 2 capability, you should be fine with an _impedance protected _speaker selector with volume controls. Just run the zone 2 speaker outs to the selector and then hook-up the speaker wires for each of the other rooms. If you already have separate volume controls in place for each room, all that you need is a speaker selector with impedance protection.

I hope that this answers your question; please let us know if you need more help. Good luck and good tunes!


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## lucky53s (Mar 20, 2012)

How can I estimate the power that will get to each speaker. For casual listening I should only need 5 watts or so, correct? We listen to mostly country and classic rock with some occasional pop, but nothing with heavy bass and not at high volume.


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## wgmontgomery (Jun 9, 2011)

lucky53s said:


> How can I estimate the power that will get to each speaker. For casual listening I should only need 5 watts or so, correct? We listen to mostly country and classic rock with some occasional pop, but nothing with heavy bass and not at high volume.


Without actually measuring the output I don't really see how you could. You _could_ use the sensitivity of the speaker (usually expressed like this example: 90dB/1 watt) and an SPL meter to get an idea, but with the speaker selectors and volume controls in-line not ALL of the power is actually being used to drive the speaker. At least a small percent is being lost as heat (energy is never really _lost_; it only changes form).

Since these speakers will be used for "casual" background music, I don't think that it's a big concern unless the speakers are very inefficient. When listening to music at a "normal" volume level the amp usually only uses a few watts as you properly surmised. Loud passages and bass heavy music will affect this, but as long as you are not driving the amp into clipping (you should hear distortion) it really shouldn't matter.


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