Connecting two rooms into one amp

[Vue2AStill]

Hello everybody,
I am new to the forum and needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to find such an organized forum relevant to the Indian context. I am finalizing the wiring diagram for a compact house that is coming up for me and thought I will seek the advice of experts like you guys. I have a lounge (14' x 11') on the first floor and a living (16'9" x 14') right below it, but it is an open design and so they share the same high ceiling. I was trying to see if I can achieve the following:

1. Have a pair of good floor standers (FS) in the lounge, for music. Lounge is on the 1st floor.
2. These two FS supported by reasonably priced surround speakers and a sub-woofer to complete it into an HT system.
3. Have two small (cube ?) speakers connected to the same amp, with the speakers wall mounted in the living below, so that I can take advantage of the sub-woofer in the lounge above, as they have a common high roof and the low frequncies will be all-permeating.

This will allow me to optimise on cost, i.e. reuse the amp and the sub-woofer.
Is this possible?

What is the configuration you recommend, if I were to say my budget is Rs.1 Lakh.
What is the configuration, if my budget is only Rs.75,000?

I will buy an HD LCD screen separately.

My typical usage of the system: mainly music (anything that is pleasant to my ear: country, rock, instrumental, western classical, Indian classical, ghazals, film music etc.). Occasionally, 5.1 movies, perhaps once in 2 weeks. I cannot claim that my ear can make out subtle differences unlike some of you out here, but I do appreciate a sharp stereo image and faithful sound stage recreation.

Thank you for your time and views in advance.

Cheers,
Vue

 

[ajinkya]

3. Have two small (cube ?) speakers connected to the same amp, with the speakers wall mounted in the living below, so that I can take advantage of the sub-woofer in the lounge above, as they have a common high roof and the low frequncies will be all-permeating.
Cheers,Vue

Vue,
This may not be true. Depending on the thickness of the ceiling and the acoustic properties of the material making it up, the bass may not be heard in the living room.
For 1L, why don't you spend on the lounge first and get a great setup? Then you can upgrade to new speakers in the living room as budget permits. Design the wiring so that the living room has a pair of double wires for the speakers as and when you get them. Also make sure you buy an amp/AVR that has the facility for 2 zone output i.e it can power an extra pair of speakers in stereo mode, in addition to the 5/7.1 speakers in the main lounge.
Most Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo AVRs come with this feature. Not sure about Cambridge Audio.

In case you want to install speakers in the living room now itself, then look for the Genie I/II sub-sat package that is economical and serves well as a secondary room system. You also have the option of going for in-ceiling speakers from Wharfedale, Polk and PSB. But these may cost more than you're willing to spend at this point.

 

[vj_box]

Hey Vue! welcome to the forum,
You can always connect two set of speakers to the receivers that you buy nowadays.They provide you A/B inputs.Say A for the HT setup and B for the Stereo setup,so you can connect FS and Surround speakers to the A terminal and a pair of Bookshelves to the B.
Only thing you have to make sure is that your receiver should be good enough to power em.
Try the Polkaudio,wharfedale,kef,klipsch,monitor audio etc for good FS and BS speakers.

Vj

 

[surfatwork]

if you are doing what vj_box has suggested, do ensure that the total impedance of the speakers you connect is more than the minimum impedance required by the amp - else your amp will likely cut out at the output.
in most cases, connecting both A&B speaker sets is akin to connecting them in parallel.
and while it is true that bass is supposed to be non-directional, in reality it depends on the crossover frequency of the sub. I would expect this crossover frequency to be fairly low since you have floorstanders and hence the bass to be reasonably non-directional, but dont expect the image reproduction to be very good in the living room below.

 

[afj]

vue
i would agree with vj box on the set up. i dont think youre really going to make use of the sub in the ground floor. instead of satellites put in a pair of bookshelves over there

in most cases, connecting both A&B speaker sets is akin to connecting them in parallel.

is that true - i didnt think it was but i stand under correction

 

[surfatwork]

here is a simple explanation by a chap from Polk Audio.
Home Toys Article - Speaker Impedance, Your Amplifier And You.

 

[afj]

thanks for the info surf. i assume it would still be an 8 ohm load if youre driving either A or B and not both together

 

[Sumit]

Hey Vue!!

I am using a 7.1 setup in my HT and a stereo pair (wall mounted Martin Rowlands in my pool room) in the adjoining room. I am using the same AVR to power both.

Don't worry about using the sub in Zone 2. It is not worth the effort. Still if you are hell bent on using the sub> Then I would suggest using an additional sub. Connect it to your AVR using a 'Y' connector -one end for each sub. Also, you need to find out if your AVR allows sub to work with Zone2.

Also, I recall from your post that the ceiling is double height. You need to think about acoustics in this case.
The lobby in my house is approx 30' X 20' X 20' and I use a CRT 29" there. Man, I tell you you can't here a damn thing. No wonder it is deserted most of the times!!!!!
Think about getting acoustics done. Spend less on the equipment and save money to work on acoustics. It shall give you more bang for your buck! I assure you.
If budget is tight then think about used stuff. You can find good stuff on the forum.

Sumit.

 

[afj]

vue
imo drop the idea of using the sub in both zones. its just not going to work. if you want stereo in the next room go for stereo speakers. it'll beat 2 sats and a sub anyday

 

[Vue2AStill]

Thanks bud, Sumit.
While I will take some time to buy the entire reproduction chain:
Disc player + AV Receiver + LR Speakers + Surround spkrs + Subwoofer + Flat panel display, I want to gift something to the family before Diwali.

I want to start with a decent budget DVD/Audio CD player, since I already have a TV and a basic stereo system. So I will now confine myself to the question:
Marantz DV 4001 or Cambridge Audio 540D v2?
I wish they also had USB (thumb drive) connectivity, but they don't.

Please help me here guys, I don't want to go wrong with the audio/video source. But this is my budget, under Rs.15,000 for this component. I will then wait patiently for the BluRay players to drop in price !

I really appreciate the posts so far to help me out, it was great joining this forum. Just to give you an idea of what other components I have in mind:
- Denon 1909 AV receiver or an equivalent alternative
- Either Wharfedale 9.5 or KEF iQ5 floor standers
- 32" LCD or a 37" LCD (Panasonic) at best, possibly 1080p.

Also, I request your quick views, as I need to make this DVD-player purchase tomorrow (25th Oct, Saturday) at 5:00 p.m. Please advise me right now only on the DVD player.

Thanks a lot,
- Vue

 

[venkatcr]

Vue:

Here is a quick comparison of the main features of the two products.

Marantz 4001

• Disc types : DivX, DVD-V, SVCD, DVD-R/RW, CD,MP3, WMA, JPEG and Div-X discs
• HDMI Output: Scaling to 480p, 576p, 480i, 1080i, 720p
• D/A Converters: DAC IC AK4385 (AK4385)
• Video DAC: Video DAC 108 MHz/12-bit
• Frequency Response: 4 Hz - 44 kHz (DVD fs 96kHz)
• Signal to Noise Ratio: 110dB
• THD: 0.003%

CA 540D

• Disc Types: CD (CD-DA), DVD-V, CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DivX, MP4
• HDMI output: Scaling/deinterlacing to 480p, 576p, 720i/p, 1080i
• D/A Converters: Crystal/Cirrus Logic CS4382 8-channel (5.1 + 2 channel stereo) 24 bit (CS4362/82)
• Video DAC: 12-bit/54MHz
• Frequency Response: 5Hz - 20kHz ± 0.2dB
• Signal to Noise Ratio: < -103dB
• THD (unweighted): < 0.002% @ 1kHz < 0.008% @ 20Hz - 20kHz

Though the frequency range and Video DAC specs of the Marantz are better, the products are evenly specified. The CA, because of its stereo legacy, and the Cirrus Logic DAC, may be able to process sound better. And up to 1080i processing, the CA will also perform well. If sound processing is important, you should look at the CA 540D.

Cheers

 

[Vue2AStill]

Thank you very much, Venkat, for your precise comparison. It helped me a lot and I went ahead and bought the Cambridge Audio 540D. Simply because, I listen to more of music (almost daily) but the movie is restricted to once in two weeks. I bought it for Rs.15,000 in Chennai.

Thanks a lot.

-Vue

 

[Vue2AStill]

Friends,
I have posted a new thread with a more precise query here:
http://www.hifivision.com/what-shou...-audio-br5-vs-wharfedale-9-5-a.html#post25632

Please go through and help.
Thank you.

- Vue