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Charlie Unregistered guest | I recently purchased a new construction condo that was pre-wired for whole house audio (and surround sound in two rooms) covering five pairs of speakers. My goal is to stream MP3's throughout the house for grilling outside, romantic evenings, parties, tunes while I am in the shower, etc. and I trying to piece together an appropriate audio system. I am planning to use my existing 12 year old Luxman R-341 receiver (2 x 35W) for power but am resigned to the fact that I will need MORE power and am not sure what direction go. Allow me to present my set-up so far: 1. Speakers --For the four inside rooms I bought four pair of in-ceiling speakers --> JBL SP6C which are 80 watts at 8 ohms. I got them for $140/pr online. I hope these will serve my purpose. --I still need to buy a pair for outside. I have a small (300 sq. ft.) private outdoor terrace that is partially below grade, and therefore is partially enclosed with concrete walls. I am considering a pair of "fake rock" speakers or wall mounted. (my fiancee thinks the rock speakers are "cute". Who knew? She did agree to marry me however, so I guess it makes sense.) All of the speakers are pre-wired with 14 gauge "bundled" wire (a single white plastic wire), with no run longer than 30 to 35 ft. All five pair home-run to an a/v closet. 2. Computer/Digital Audio Receiver --I picked up a Sony Vaio desktop at Best Buy that has 160 gig hard drive and hold all my MP3's. I have a linksys 801/G wireless router thingy. --I also grabbed a Creative Soundblaster wireless digital audio receiver that will pick up (wirelessly) the streaming audio MP3 files from the computer/jukebox. This cool little device lets me access ALL of my mp3 library from anywhere in the house/outside via a RF remote that has a cool-looking LCD display. Got it for $200 online. It will plug it into the Luxman as if it were a CD player. 3. Amplifier/Receiver (here is my Question!) --My Luxman receiver is over 12 years old and has low power (2 x 35 Watts). But it SO clean sounding! I had it hooked up to some large Klipsch speakers and it powered them flawlessly. I was not disappointed. I had the best sounding system in my fraternity. Anyway, as this will be a distributed audio system, I thought I could recycle this older amp by adding a power amp and then adding an impedance matching speaker selector ( I was looking at a Sonance or a Niles six-speaker unit). Therefore, going this route, I will need to add more power via a new power amp and a speaker selector. --I saw somewhere a review of a Niles SI-1230 12 channel amplifier and I thought that maybe I need one of these babies. I would not need a speaker selector and would be able to selectively give more power to the outside pair of speakers. Excellent solution. There is only one problem, it is like $1,800 So, any thoughts on how to best power my five pair of speakers? Keeping in mind: -I am playing mostly lower quality music (MP3's) -5 pair of speakers, (4 inside, 1 outside) -I would like to re-use the Luxman Thanks- For your help I will invite you over for a few cold ones -Charlie |
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Bronze Member Username: RickypearsonPost Number: 13 Registered: May-04 | ALright man took me a while to read all you said there, Well to start off make sure when your running the wire through out the house its all one wire and that you dont have to Attach to toghter, that might lead to problems more down thwe road. First off if your going to be connecting the Multi Channel Recevier to Your Computer to Recive The Mp3's then your going to Need a (R-232) Connection I belive its called and that is what you would use the hook the Computer up to the Reciver. Also i dont knwo off hand and Specific Receivers to Hold the the http://www.home-technology-store.com/detail.aspx?ID=946 Look at that site there, there a neat Gadget that hooks up to and Exsiting receiver And will allow 16 Speakers to hook up. Well i hope that helps some, Write back with any other Questions |
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Bronze Member Username: NcavmanN.C. Post Number: 76 Registered: Dec-03 | PC to receiver using RCA connection or SPDIF. Since your receiver is 12 years old I am sure it does not have digital connections so just run a 1/8" stereo to male RCA connection from the lineout connection of the soundcard in the PC to an open tape/aux input on the receiver. Then use a good impedance matching speaker selector (or IM-type volume controls) and you are all set. If you end up needing more power down the road you can always add an amp. If your JBL's are fairly efficient and this is for less-than-party volumes, it will be fine. ps. you can search around and find nice sounding in-walls for a lot less. Just know that every in-wall or in-ceiling will sound different in every installed appication due to room sizes, rear baffling, and construction materials used. |