Question Need advice: best multi room wired amp for home audio system

nmk

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Hi there,

This will be my first adventure in the home audio space and I wanted to get advice from experienced forum members of what the best kit I should go for in order to achieve my desired setup. In a nutshell, I know what I want to achieve but I don't know what pieces of equipment is available with the desired features I am after.

What I'm trying to achieve

I have a house with 2 'zones' (zone 1 is a kitchen / living room, zone 2 is bedroom) that will have built-in ceiling speakers flush with the ceiling. "Why not go for wireless sonos" I might hear you say - that's because I love the look of ceiling mounted ones, they are clear and clutter free plus look great.

Now, once I have ceiling speakers from both zones wired into an AMP, I get stuck around which AMP is suitable for my needs. My intention is to plug a flatscreen TV into an AMP via HDMI cables for the speakers in zone 1, but I also want to be able to simultaneously stream music (e.g. from an iPhone or iPod) in zones 2 that would be totally different to the TV output from the living room. Is there an AMP that will let me do this?

I had seen the Sonos system that lets you play different music in different rooms / zones, but they don't seem compatible with built-in wired ceiling speakers.

Any advice of tips would be great. Thanks in advance.
 
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I had seen the Sonos system that lets you play different music in different rooms / zones, but they don't seem compatible with built-in wired ceiling speakers.
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A Sonos connect amp works with your own speakers, although Sonos (out of the box) doesn't work with Airplay if that matters to you.
 
A Sonos connect amp works with your own speakers, although Sonos (out of the box) doesn't work with Airplay if that matters to you.

Hi there - which Sonos amp is that? Also, just to clarify will it allow me to hard wire the 10 or so speakers I'm planning to put into the ceiling?
Thanks so much your help on this btw. Didn't realise Sonos could be an option.
 
Its just called a 'Sonos Connect:Amp' gives 2 x 55w connections for speakers. Its a 2 channel amp and not a replacement for full blown AV amp, although you can also get a 'Sonos Connect' to add Sonos compatibility to any non Sonos amp.
 
Its just called a 'Sonos Connect:Amp' gives 2 x 55w connections for speakers. Its a 2 channel amp and not a replacement for full blown AV amp, although you can also get a 'Sonos Connect' to add Sonos compatibility to any non Sonos amp.

Hmmm...I was hoping to have x 5 ceiling speakers in the kitchen diner and x4 ceiling speakers in the bedroom. Is there another option or product that might be suitable? I'm really shocked by the apparent gap in the market. I can't be the first person seeking such a solution. Thanks in advance for your help.
 
I can't be the first person seeking such a solution.

Music is usually stereo and in some cases surround so solutions are for them. If resistances permit it you should be possible to connect two speakers to one line so you can connect four speakers into stereo receiver, two to right channel and two to left. Surround speakers have five channels but I don't know if they have mode where music plays from every speaker.

Although Sonos is household name in multiroom it doesn't integrate to home theatre as well as AV receivers so depending on what you want a multiroom system from AV receiver manufacturer may be better option. Yamaha for example has AV and stereo receivers that connect to its multiroom system.

But I think that best option right now would be that you contact an AV dealer, tell him what you have and what you want and then let him tell what you need to buy to get what you want. There are couple options in there forums for you to contact
 
Hmmm...I was hoping to have x 5 ceiling speakers in the kitchen diner and x4 ceiling speakers in the bedroom. Is there another option or product that might be suitable? I'm really shocked by the apparent gap in the market. I can't be the first person seeking such a solution. Thanks in advance for your help.
Depending on the size of your house you may be better with a 100v stereo amplifier, that way you wont need massive sized speaker cable running and you could even fit volume controls to the walls in each room.
 
You're an obvious case for Yamaha's MusicCast option.
Their AVR's can run 5, 7 or 9 speakers in stereo, 5.1, 7.1, 9.1 etc OR all channel stereo (that you'll probably want to run in the kitchen/diner area).
At the same time, you can buy a WXA50 - this is a 55W x 2.1 amplifier that ties into the MusicCast system.

Basically, each amp turns up as a separate room on your mobile devices app.
If you use the 'zones' on an AVR, they also turn up as a separate room.
Each room gets its own name and custom picture etc.

For a 5 channel setup in the kitchen / diner : run a 5 channel amp like a RXV481
Then add a WXA50 in the bedroom... or two.
They're stable down to 4 ohms, so you could run 4 x in-ceilings on one WXA50 if your speakers are 8ohms. Or run 2 x WXA50's if you want different volume through out the bedroom.

You can stream all sources (HDMI / optical / radio / USB / coax etc) plus you'll get bluetooth, WiFi, DLNA, internet radio, Spotify, Airplay audio, Duke etc etc... and the network audio from zone to zone will be autonomous (whereas it's not on home theatre receivers).
All sources can be shared (apart from Airplay, as that's restricted by Apple) and it's easy to use.

MusicCast WXA-50 - Wireless Streaming Amplifiers - Yamaha - UK and Ireland

Sonos can do everything you want EXCEPT for power 5 speakers.
They do offer a wireless subwoofer if you're after bass for reggae / dance / dubstep etc.
 

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