Attaching multiple speakers to Sonos ZP

[mcai3db3]

Lurked around these forums for many important electronic decisions, but this time I thought I'd use the knowledge base on here to make sure I don't blow anything up in my house.

Here's the situation:

Currently I have a Sonos ZP120 in my loft, it feeds two in-ceiling speakers. The speakers being fed are a pair of BluCube In-Ceiling 8.0" Speakers. They are defined as 4/8ohm switchable.

I am now looking to put an additional Stereo speaker in my bathroom. I know I'll have to buy a switch and the speaker to achieve this. I think I will get a BluCube In-ceiling 6.5" single-stereo speaker which is defined as 8ohm per channel.

I have to work out how I want to switch the speakers on/off between the 2 rooms. We have the switch option OR the volume control option...

SWITCH: To switch them I think I would get a Qed WM15 Two-way speaker switch. This is a parallel switch. The switch spec says "Using 8 ohm speakers the minimum load presented to the amplifier will be 4 ohms". Would this work? The reason people seem to doubt this approach is simply because it means that the volume wouldn't be changeable per room, thus one of the rooms could be ridiculously loud.

VOLUME: A QED WM14 switch in the bathroom and one in the hallway should deal with the volume of each set of speakers seperately. My questions on this one would be: When the volume is completely down, is it silent (as if the speaker is off) or would there be a minute sound? I'd need it to basically act as an off switch. Also, I'd be spending £140 on switches, it seems far too much. Also, would this work?? I imagine the setup would be speaker -> volume switch -> back of sonos, with both speakers being attached using a banana plug (or just shoved in).

Any other advice would be well appreciated. I'm a complete novice on this one.

Thanks for all your help in advance.

 

[neilball]

Sonos will be quite happy driving a 4 ohm load so either of your solutions will be fine. The QED stuff may feel expensive but it does exactly what it says.

 

[Filbert]

Either option will work. And yes if you turn down the volume completely, the speaker will be silent. You will effectively be driving 6 speakers off a single ZP120, so expect a drop in volume level when all are being driven. As mentioned the QED switches / volume controls are worth it, and will ensure a load balance between the speakers. Give me a shout if/when you want to buy either the QED switches or volume controls.