Amplifier for 4 pairs of speakers (one pair for each room)

2011

Hi, I am looking for an amplifier that can take at least 4 inputs, either phono leads or optical. 
This must be able to supply stereo to 4 pairs of speakers. Each speaker pair will be in a different room of a house. I will also need to be able to switch on or off any or all rooms. If possible it would be great to be able to have different rooms at different volumes at the same time. 

I understand that the amp must be matched to the speaker's impedance value. I will find out the impedance value of the speakers asap. 

Any assistance appreciated. 
Thanks! 

Richersounds.ie: Dave

Hi there, thanks for the post.

Unfortunately we don't have a single amplifier that will provide these features.

The majority of stereo amplifiers only allow 2 pairs of speakers running at the same time.

Are you in a budget ? and have you looked at Sonos as it offers excellent flexibility and each zone has it's own volume and source ?

Are there any cables pre-wired for this ?

Sorry for all the questions. 

ATB



Dave

2011

Thanks for the reply. It does not have to be a single unit. I am open to suggestions. Unsure of the budget, but not likely to exceed €400. Could possibly live with a single volume control. I am not familiar with  Sonos. 
Any other suggestions? Perhaps some sort of splitter & 2 amps?
Can cable it any way you suggest.

Richersounds.ie: Dave

Hi there.

You could do this with 2 amplifiers.

We just recently had a customer who did exactly the same thing.

We sold him 2 x Denon PMA720 amplifiers which can run 2 pairs of speakers per amp.

He then put a little volume control in which allowed him to change the volume just using a manual switch.

The output from the CD player etc was then split and put into both amplifiers.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/amplifiers-receivers/denon/pma720ae/deno-pma720-sil

The only issue is that this will blow the budget.

Let me know what you think.


Many thanks



Dave

2011

What do I use to split the output from the CD player with?
Amps look great, but I require a cheaper option. Any suggestions?
Thanks

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

2011 wrote: »

What do I use to split the output from the CD player with?
Amps look great, but I require a cheaper option. Any suggestions?
Thanks

Hi 2011,

I've seen a phono splitter before that I reckon would do the job.  Trying to track it down again.  When Dave is back I'll see if he had a particular one in mind.

Only other amp that would work without going into silly money would be the Marantz PM5004 currently priced at £157.00.  Check the link below for more info:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/amplifiers-receivers/marantz/pm5004/mara-pm5004-blk

Let me know what you think.

Chris

Pete67

There is a way to do this, but you would not be able to control the room volume independently. Assuming all the speakers are of similar construction with an impedance of 8 ohms, if you group the speakers for each channel into two pairs of two speakers connected in series, and connect one pair to the 'A' speaker terminals, and the second pair to the 'B' speaker terminals then the load on the amp will be 16 Ohms when using either A or B speakers, and it will drop to 8 Ohms when using both A and B together. The Denon amp suggested will drive a speaker load from 4 to 16 ohms no problem.

Same approach works with 4 ohm speakers, the load will be 8 ohms with only 2 speakers driven, and 4 ohms with 4 driven (per channel), still an acceptable load for the Denon amp.

However if you just connected 4 speakers in parallel, the resulting load impedance will be too low (2 Ohms with 8 ohm speakers, only 1 ohm with 4 ohm speakers) and the amplifier will be overloaded.

If you could find 16 Ohm speakers you could just connect all 4 in parallel, the resulting load will be 4 ohms, which the amp can handle. 

Link here probably explains it better than I did.

Richersounds.ie: John

Unfortunately for €400 I'm not aware of a system that will allow you to run 4 pairs of speakers, each switchable AND each with an independent volume control - for sure Pete67's suggestion above is 100% and will work no problem with a Denon PMA720, but there wont be any separate switching of each pair ( there is only A & B switching) and there wont be any volume control.

If you wanted local Volume / switching you would have to use something like the QED WM14 ( but they are a bit expensive!)

Sorry we cannot be more helpful - the power of the amp isnt the issue - it's the control element that has us stumped at the budget,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew

2011

Thanks for the replays! I will go away and think.