Realistic High Power Remote Speaker Switch

[marsworth75]

We have just moved in to a house that has wired speakers in 4 of its rooms. These speakers are connected to a Realistic High Power Remote Speaker Switch. There are 2 wires, which look like speaker wire coming out of the box to connect to a receiver or whatever? I am totally new to this type of thing. How can I connect a radio, ipod, satellite box etc. to the house speakers. Any help would be appreciated but be warned I am a definite newbie to this so please explain in very simple english.
Thanks for any help and advice

 

[jayn_j]

These are designed to allow you to connect up to 4 sets of speakers to one amplifier. Each can be turned on and off at the center, so you can have all 4 on at once. Be advised though that when you connect multiple speakers, the impedance drops at the receiver. If you are using 8 ohm speakers and you turn on all 4 sets, the impedance the receiver sees would be 8/4=2 ohms. Most reasonable amplifiers are designed to work at 4-16 ohms impedance, so I would be careful using all 4 at once. You would probably be OK, but keep the volume down when all 4 are in use.

Sorry about getting technical with the impedance stuff. Bottom line is to use the speakers one at a time, or keep the overall volume down. Also use an amplifier that has around 100W per channel capacity.

There should be speaker wires going to the speakers in each room, likely 2 sets for stereo. There should also be 2 pairs of wires going to a place for your amplifier. Connect the amplifier and any source material (such as an ipod, CD player, etc) to this location, and you should be set to go.

 

[marsworth75]

First thanks for the reply. Secondly what kind of amplifier do I need. See I told you I was a newbie. I'm also not an audiophile so I would be looking for something inexpensive and functional. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Again thanks for your response, the info really helps.

 

[jayn_j]

In order to answer this, I need a little more information. Are you looking to simply distribute music throughout the house, or are you looking to distribute music in addition to having something that works for video/home theater needs? Is this switch in a convenient location? Is there room to place traditional components?

If you are just looking for distributing audio and you have the space, any stereo receiver will do. Couple it with a CD player and an ipod adapter and you are set. Equipment that is a couple of years old can be had almost free from craigslist, or you could look at this new unit: Amazon.com: Onkyo TX-8255 Stereo Receiver: Electronics

If the switch is built into a small dedicated space, look toward whole audio systems that work with ipod. Something like this:
Amazon.com: Sonos CONNECT:AMP Wireless Streaming Music System with Amplifier for Speakers (ZonePlayer120): Electronics

If you need to integrate this with a home theater setup, you should look at a 5.1 or 7.1 receiver from Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo or Pioneer. Look for a 7.1 one that has a second zone capability. You can then feed audio to the house while still having a 5.1 theater playing at the same time.

Fortunately/unfortunately, there are a lot of options out there.

 

[John Kotches]

Another consideration might be to use a "pro" amp available from some place like Guitar Center combined with the line level outputs from a receiver. You can pick up a pro-amp which is rated to drive down to a 2-ohm load for about $300. This would allow you to drive all speakers simultaneously.

This Crown amp for example.