Onkyo TX-SR506

[breathcontrol]

I am considering purchasing this receiver to upgrade my "out of the box" HT system. I plan to use it to run my 5.1 HT speakers plus 3 paris of ceiling speakers that run through a Jamo distribution box (currently running on an under-powered, old Pioneer receiver). I'm wondering if the zone 2 power supply will be strong enough to run 6 speakers simultaneously through the Jamo box. Specs say it has 75 watts per channel. Comments/suggestions? I am a novice.

Much appreciated.

[tonyvdb]

Welcome to the Shack,

By running 6 speakers are you saying 3 on the left and 3 on the right channel? Your load would be down to two Ohms if each speaker is rated at 8ohms. This is not good at all and can cause damage to the receivers amp section. There is no receiver out there in your price range that can handle such a load your best option is to have a dedicated amp for each set of speakers (3 two channel amps) located in each area.

[breathcontrol]

Thanks for the note.

Here's my current set up. Yamaha receiver (Out of the box HT) running my 5.1 HT system. Old Pioneer low end receiver running 3 pairs of speakers (each pair in a different room) distributed with a Jamo JSS4-VC2 2x4 Speaker Selector - Volume Control, Two Sources, 4 Speaker Pair Output. I like the current set up in that I can have a movie playing on the HT and music on the other speakers in other rooms. Part of my problelm now is that the old Pioneer does not have enough power to run all 3 paris of speakers simultaneously. I can only run 2 pari if I want to avoid the receiver cutting out.

I'd like to upgrade to a single receiver that can run the 5.1 HT as well as the 3 paris of speakers. I assumed I could use a single receiver with 2 zones and utilize the Jamo on the 2nd zone to distribute the 3 speakers. Or upgrade the Pioneer receiver to something stronger that would run all 3 pairs of speakers without cutting out.

I simply do not know enough about the technology to know if this is feasible or what direction to take. I am on a budget, and want to get the best I can within my budget. If I can do this with a single receiver in the $400 range, I'd be set.

Thoughts?

[tonyvdb]

The reason your current receiver is cutting out is because of the 2 Ohm load it has nothing to do with power (Watts) as they are different things but work together. Most amplifiers in receivers can run only one speaker on each channel.
What you can do is buy a new Onkyo 506 and use that as you main receiver and to power the first set of speakers in the second room, use the Yamaha and send the signal to the third room to power that pair. and use the Pioneer to run the last set of speakers. The Onkyo 506 or for that matter any receiver in that price range will trip out if you try to run all 6 speakers on the one zone.

Is the Jamo a speaker switch only or does it have an amplifier in it as well?

[breathcontrol]

This is beginning to make sense. Makes me wonder why the guy who set it up this way did so.

The Jamo has no power - switch only. I don't have the room for 3 receivers. I have all this, plus other equipment sitting in a corner tv stand with my flatscreen. I'm limited in space as I have a window on one side and a hallway on the other.

At least I am beginning to understand how this works. That in and of itself will help guide me.

I appreciate the feedback - very helpful.

[tonyvdb]

My Guess is that the previous owner only used one room at a time with his setup or he had a seperat multi channel amplifire to power them all.
Do you have any way of running two rca cables to each of the three other rooms in the house?

[arclight]

Try purchasing an impedance matching speaker switching device.

partsexpress would be a good place to start or do a google search. Some of these can control up to six different zones.

[salvasol]

Hope is not to late and you already spend some money in new receivers ...

I don't think the Jamo box is the problem (most have impedance matching, I use a pair of Radio Shack speaker selector with a Sony STR-DE510; I use A+B speakers ... and I'm running seven pair :raped: for the whole house) ... most likely there is a short circuit somewhere that is overloading the receiver (maybe wires are touching each other) or the Jamo box has failed and is not working perfectly