I'm not into all the high-tech stuff, but I found this (quite active!) bbs here and figured y'all would know the answer to my question:
I'm going to buy a new sound system for A/V & home stereo use. I want to be able to hook up several pair of speakers (via a switchbox I guess) to it so that I can provide music in all the main rooms of the house, say up to four or five. This is for space-saving and convenience reasons. (in the SF Bay Area you gotta be rich to afford the kind of space you really want )
I'm not an audiophile, and so I don't need awesome sounding stuff, and I'm not expecting to spend tons of money (receiver < 1k, speakers < $300pr, etc.). I mostly listen to rock, with a little of everything else including talk radio. I'm not particularly concerned with simultaneous multi-source capabilities either, since I see it pretty unlikely that we'll need to listen to radio and watch HT at the same time. If I had to pick a HT/music balance, I'd say it is 30/70.
Can I do this, and what kind of concerns should I look out for? Such as (based on my really limited knowledge)...
1) Should I get speakers & receiver with > 8ohms to make sure they are most efficient seeing as there will be a lot of speakers?
2) Is there anything specific I should know about worry about WPC RMS or peak with this kind of many-speaker configuration? Any kind of guideline someone can give me?
3) How do I identify a receiver that has the right power configuration to do this? Like does it need to say something specific about separate power for the HT and stereo outputs?
If anyone has suggestions for particular components I'd wouldn't mind hearing them as well. Thanks in advance!