Home Theater Forum and Systems banner

16 speakers

Tags
16
2K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Savi2010 
#1 · (Edited)
I have 16 polk atrium4 speakers. I have 2 ss4vc niles speaker selectors with vc. Could I run 1 set of 8 on the main zone and the second on the zone 2 of a 7.1 receiver. no receiver yet just need to know what I need. The speakers are for background music only if that matters. The system was hooked up at a restauant at one point but not sure how.Thanks
 
#2 ·
why dont you simply hook the speakers up to each of the powered 7 outputs of the receiver and run "all channel stereo" mode.
 
#4 ·
In a way you will be able to control them individually as you can use the trim levels in the receivers menu.
 
#6 ·
You cant run more than 2 speakers per channel or you will damage the receivers amps.
 
#11 ·
I did something similar to what you want (i did 10 speakers)... I used 2 5.1 receivers with one DVD player. I made a "Y" connector for the DVD player so I could feed 2 receivers at the same time and then put a impedance matching volume control in each zone. Then I set the volume control in each room to max... I then raised the volume of the receiver until I had a volume level that was the max I would want in any zone. Once this was done I went to each zone and dialed the volume down to a level that was desired in that zone.

I am assuming that you want the same source to all zones. For 16 speakers you might want to try a 12 channel power amp and one receiver with pre out connections.
 
#8 ·
The niles switcher has impedance protection that adds resistors in line. If you want independent volume control you will need to either do what Tony suggested or use impedance matching volume controls. In either case the niles switchers are not really needed if you can trim the channels independently. All they get you is the switching and additional resistance.
 
#10 ·
Do you have access to the wire runs at this time?

If so, have you looked into getting volume controls in your individual locations? If you do this then a simple 16ch distribution amp is a best practice (niles/russound).

You could also look into "abus" as multiple zone solution.

Sonos is another option but much more expensive.

The issue with utilizing that many speakers with some kind of speaker selector on a 6ohm stable stereo pair (I'm assuming you're using zone2 out on an AVR or just a simple stereo receiver) is that even with impedance matching you'll be burning off waist heat and under-powering your speakers. This will add distortion and create a situation that could damage your speakers; at the same time the amp is also working too hard and will risk damage from over heating.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top