Home Audio/Theatre experts!!
 

I recently purchased a house with several sets of in-wall speakers. There are a pair of Polk AB700's in the kitchen and some less expensive looking optimus speakers in the office. There will soon be another set of speakers for the outdoor patio but I haven't purchased those yet.

My question is, how can I wire all this up? I have a basic home theatre receiver now but I don't think that is going to cut it. The unit often goes into "Protect" mode when running the speakers in the kitchen. Besides that problem there aren't enough connectors in the back for Home theatre speakers and the in wall speakers around the house. What do I need to get in order for all this to connect up together? The previous owner used some cheap looking switch boxes but they only have 2 inputs. Do they make any switch boxes with enough inputs for all the equipment I want to run thru the house?

Most of the new equipment these days have tons of inputs. Before I spent any money on switeches, I'd bite the bullet and pick up a new receiver. At least you could have one for the outdoor stuff and the good one for the home theater.

What make/model is your receiver? Does it have A/B speakers on the front channels? If so, I would recommend purchasing a speaker switch box that has amp protection circuitry (presents a stable 8 Ohm load to the amp, regardless of the impedance of the speaker(s) switched on). Then hook the B channel speaker outs from your receiver to the switcher in, and the various remote speakers to the switcher outs. Whenever you want to listen to your system in the theater room, just turn off the B channel. Whenever you want to listen remotely, just turn on the B channel on your receiver and the desired remote speakers at the switcher. A cheapo switcher is available at Best Buy.

It's a Sony Home theatre in a box receiver. A couple of years old. It has A/B speakers on the front channels. Right now there is a cheap looking switcher connected to the speakers. It probably doesn't have the amp protection circuitry on it. That is probably why it goes to protect mode. What am I in danger of frying; my receiver, speakers or both?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there are several problems.

One, that receiver wont cut it for driving multiple pairs of speakers.

Two the switch boxes may or may not be adequate, the reason you are getting the protection error is that the load is too great.

You can take a look at this link for some other speaker selector options but no matter what you do you will need some real amplifier power to drive them.

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....ctGroup_ID=560