I am putting together a new system.  I am considering the Onkyo 807 receiver.  I want to run speakers in 2 rooms (7.1 in the family room, but just 2.1 in the kitchen).  The receiver can do that -- but Onkyo tells me I need a pre-amp (or an amp?) to drive the speakers in the second room.  What brands of amp/pre-amp should I look at?  And is there a way to control the volume of the second room speakers easily?

Thanks!

Indeed, you would need an extra power amp for the 2nd room, not a preamp. Which amp you should look at will depend on how important that kitchen sound will be, but at minimum you could get a basic 2-channel amp like the one you see here:

http://www.russound.com/r235ls.htm

Volume control will be entirely up to you; you can let the receiver control the volume, or add an in-line/wall plate volume control or other similar device if you wish. These are also available from Russound, Niles Audio, etc. and can probably even be found at your local Home Depot or Lowes.

- Oliver

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Oliver Amnuayphol
Home Theater/Audio Guru
Aperion Audio

Thanks, and ouch.  I hadn't factored that into my budget and didn't expect it would be so pricey.  I had assumed the receiver would take care of the second room since it covers three zones.  Live and learn.  But I very much appreciate the direction you gave. 

Happy_Macomb:

Thanks, and ouch.  I hadn't factored that into my budget and didn't expect it would be so pricey.  I had assumed the receiver would take care of the second room since it covers three zones.  Live and learn.  But I very much appreciate the direction you gave. 

Hey Happy.  I suggest checking out the Emotiva UPA-2.  It's $300 (same price as I was quoted on the Russound when I just called) but has more than three times the power.  Here's the link: http://emotiva.com/upa2.shtm.  And be sure that your Onkyo really doesn't power the second zone.  The Russound rep I spoke with said there are a couple different Onkyos with model 807 and if it's a newer one, it should be able to power the second zone.

-Nick

Hello Malcomb,

I was looking to do something similar.  I have two patio speakers I wanted as a powered zone for the Onkyo TX-NR807.

I downloaded the TX-NR807 owners manual from the onkyousa.com website.

I think the manual says you can have a 7.1 in the family room and define a second powered zone as two stereo speakers in your kitchen.

As long as you are not using the kitchen speakers you have a 7.1 system in your family room.

If you are using the kitchen speakers then you only have a 5.1 system in the family room.

You could watch a movie in the family room and listen to the radio in the kitchen.  The remote controls volume for both zones.

When you are no longer using the kitchen speakers you have your 7.1 system back in your family room.

If you want to avoid losing the use of two speakers in your 7.1 system when using the kitchen speakers, then get an Onkyo TX-NR1007 that has 9.2 channels.

I was confused when you said you wanted 2.1 in the kitchen.  I hope this helps, Good luck, ORF

Thanks Orf and Nick.  Nick, I'd rather not pay an extra $300 to power the kitchen if possible.  Onkyo tech support told me quite casually that I could just get an inexpensive gizmo at RadioShack, but I gather their tech support leaves something to be desired.  I'd really prefer to have one integrated piece of equipment.

 

Orf,  I'm impressed that you could get your hands on the manual -- it took me a while to get it to download without freezing.  But as to the substance of your comment, I didn't realize I could divert any of the main speaker channels to a second zone if I wanted to play music from a different source -- I thought I would have to use the official second zone if I wanted to play sound from a different source.  If I can ever get the download to work I'll definitely follow-up on that.

 

This seems to explain fairly well what I hadn't understood:  http://hometheater.about.com/od/audiocomponents/a/multizoneinfo.htm 

 

Are there any mid-range speakers (under $1000 or thereabouts) with a powered second zone that doesn't take away from the main zone?  I am getting the feeling that what I thought every mid-range receiver would offer is a rarity -- though Nick indicated it was available in the 807.  I guess I need to read the manual (and Orf, thank you for addressing this as well).

One thing to take note of is that if you want to use the internal amps for the 2nd zone speakers, this will have to take the place of the surround back channels on the Onkyo 807--the terminals for internally powered, 2nd zone channels are the same terminals as the surround back channels. So technically 5.1 and zone two at the same time with different sources or 7.1 in the main room is possible; but since it sounds like your zone two will be a different set of speakers than your surround back speakers, you would either have to physically switch the wires on the back of the Onkyo or purchase a manual selector box to switch between the speakers. You can however put those different zone speakers on the zone 3 terminals of the Onkyo (and keep your rear surround channels hooked up full time), but then you'd have 3.1 in the main room with simultaneous zone 3/different source. At least, that's how I understood it from their manual.

 

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Oliver Amnuayphol
Home Theater/Audio Guru
Aperion Audio

Thanks Oliver.  If the 807's zone 2 terminals are the same as the rear speaker terminals, does that mean I have a problem with simultaneously running my 7.1 arrangement in the main room and two additional speakers in the kitchen even if I buy a separate amplifier?  I definitely want 7.1 in the main room; the kitchen is just icing.  And I definitely don't want to be rewiring each time I turn on the kitchen speakers or using switch boxes if I can avoid it.

Hello again Malcomb,

 After reading the manual again, I agree with Oliver that using a powered zone 2 is not an ideal solution for you since you would have to hook up the kitchen speakers to the rear surround connections.  Zone three would also be bad for you since I think you would have to hook up the kitchen speakers to the side surround connections.

When I read the manual the first time I was thinking of my own planned 7.1 system that will have front height speakers for plIIz instead of rear surround speakers.  I'm not positive, but I think using the 807's powered zone two would work good for me.  I would have my 7.1 in my family room when not using the patio speakers and have all my family room speakers except the height speakers working when I was using my patio speakers.  I don't suppose you would want to move your rear surround speakers and make them front height speakers?

I'm sorry my advice was not more helpful, but what can you expect from an ORF

Happy_Macomb:

Thanks Oliver.  If the 807's zone 2 terminals are the same as the rear speaker terminals, does that mean I have a problem with simultaneously running my 7.1 arrangement in the main room and two additional speakers in the kitchen even if I buy a separate amplifier?  I definitely want 7.1 in the main room; the kitchen is just icing.  And I definitely don't want to be rewiring each time I turn on the kitchen speakers or using switch boxes if I can avoid it.

If you use a separate amp for zone 2/kitchen you will not have any problems--you can run both 7.1 and the kitchen at the same time. Here's how the manual says to do it:

• Use an RCA audio cable to connect the AV receiver’s

ZONE 2 PRE OUT L/R jacks to an analog audio input

on your Zone 2 amp.

• Connect your Zone 2 speakers to the speaker terminals

on your Zone 2 amp.

 

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Oliver Amnuayphol
Home Theater/Audio Guru
Aperion Audio

Thanks Oliver and Orf.  I so much appreciate your input.  I was completely in the dark about what the receiver would (and would not) do.  Your advice has been extremely helpful.

 

Now I just need to wait for the price to drop a bit!