How do I power 7 pairs of 8 ohm speakers ?

Question

I have 7 pairs of 8 ohm (8") speakers in and around my house. They are each wired into Niles VCS 100 volume controls. All the speaker wires then converge into a closet in my house where I have a Crown CE 2000...all the wires are wire-nutted together and go into the L & R channels on the Amp.

A CD player is running into the amp. It worked fine for about 8 years for household parties and such, but it looks like the amp went....Something tells me this isn't the best situation....anyone have a suggestion on what to get as a replacement ? I didn't put this in, it came with my house and I don't feel like fiddling around with opening walls and stuff.

Any help is appreciated !
Thanks.

Answer 1

You do not need a speaker impedance matching unit if each room has that Niles volume control. Is has a special "impedance multiplier" coil on each control that allows you to run up to 8 pairs of speakers from a normal stereo amp:



http://www.nilesaudio.com/product.php?prodID=VCS100&recordID=High%20Power%20Stereo%20Volume%20Controls&categoryID=Volume%20Controls&catcdID=6&prdcdID=FG00961



All you need to do is buy a new amp. If it ran for eight years, you probably can get another eight years or more out of a new amp.



By the way...if you are looking for a rock solid amp for not much money:



http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-EP2000-Professional-Accelerated-Technology/dp/B001W3BM24/ref=sr_1_2?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1305905173&sr=1-2

Answer 2

Well whoever wired it up didn't exactly so a stellar job but it could have been worse. The CE2000 is a sound reinforcement amp and way overkill for such a use. It is also stable into 2 Ohm loads which is the load that four 8 Ohms speakers per side will present. You state that "it looks like the amp went." What leads you to believe this? I assume that you aren't getting any sound out of it. It has fault indicators on the front panel. I've used this amp with very demanding applications and have never had a problem with it. Crowns are built very ruggedly. However if it wasn't set right that will damage it. It is only stable into 2 Ohm loads in stereo mode. In bridged mode it is not and if all the speakers were wired together in a mono, parallel configuration the resulting 1 Ohm load will certainly do it in. If nothing else, I'd try going over the settings, making sure it is set to stereo, connecting one speaker per side, pressing the reset button and running it. It's possible that is has put itself into protect mode. Another thing occurs to me. You state that it was connected to a CD player. Directly? Without any kind of pre amplifier? That's not really a good idea either. In any case, if you find that this amp is still working right it is worth in the neighborhood of $200 to $300 on the used market and quite frankly I wouldn't mind having one to go with my CE 1000 for a rather large subwoofer project that I have in the works.

Aside from that, what you need to run all those speakers the right way is a multi-zone receiver. Yamaha, Denon and Onkyo make these and other quality manufacturers do as well. A quick web search will bring up many different models. Such a receiver will allow for a lot more flexibility than a simple CD player /power amp setup. You will be able to adjust each zone for volume and tone by using the menu settings and some may have adjustments on the front panel or the remote for easier access. That way you could get rid of those volume control units that may have been causing problems as well.

Answer 3

Your existing amp is the biggest clue. How many outputs does it have? If it just has one left and one right, then your existing speakers will all go to those two terminals, just do the same with your new amp. If your old amp has a/b outputs or remote speaker outputs, just follow the way it is currently set up, but make sure you buy an amp with similar outputs. In other words the only speaker connections you need to get right are those that go into the amp, as wherever they go to will not need altering.

If you're still confused, edit and give us the make and model no. of your existing amp.

Answer 4

They're called impedance matching speaker distribution panels. On our side, they sell for about $150. http://www.smarthome.com/8267/Audioplex-Technology-MJ-1-8-Speaker-Distribution-Panel/p.aspx



EDIT: Oops, good catch Daniel. Perhaps I should read the question THEN the manual, eh?

Answer 5

You need another speaker zone distribution amplifier



Here is one example for a 6-zone system



http://www.buy.com/prod/xantech-xss26100w-6-zone-speaker-selector-speaker-amplifier-compatible/q/sellerid/15717887/loc/111/210721950.html



No need to open walls, just connect the speakers