another home audio question

[Bill V]

OK, here's another home audio question, related to the installation I'm working on that I've been asking questions about in another thread...



My wife now hit me with a new request--While I'm doing all this, can I install speakers in the master bathroom as well? They'd have the same audio source as whatever is on in the bedroom, but would ideally have their own volume control in the bathroom, so that you can have the volume down/off in the bathroom while it's turned up in the bedroom, or vice versa.



My preliminary thought is to get a receiver with A/B/A+B speaker switching capabilities. I think that most 7.1 systems have that capability. If you choose not to use surround back capabilities, you just wire in another set of front speakers into those slots and change the receiver settings to treat them as "Front B" speakers. So I would run speaker wire from there to an in-wall volume control unit like the link below, and then from that control to the speakers.



But--for receivers with "Front B" speakers, what is the level of sound being sent out? I thought I had heard or read once that those are at a constant level, unaffected by the receiver's volume control, and thus the sound in the bathroom (if the receiver is on) is only controlled by the in-wall volume control. If this is true, then that seems to be the perfect solution. However, I can't find any confirmation of that anywhere. And if "Front B" speaker volumes are controlled by the receiver's master control, then this solution doesn't work, as if you turn the volume down on the speakers in the bedroom, you'll automatically be turning the volume down in the bathroom as well.



Do any of you know how "Front B" speakers typically work, or whether I'm approaching this in completely the wrong way or not???



Thanks!



Bill

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

If you want, email me and I'll give you my phone # and go over a few things. Too long for me to type.



Gary D.

 

[Frank Vannostrand]

the sound that would come out would be the left and right part of the either 5.1 or 7.1 , so the sound would not be full sound. i have this wired the same way and i am simply saving up for a new receiver. the receiver you want to get would be a multi source / multi zone , this way you can be listening to whatever on zone 1 (living room) and listening to something totally different on zone 2 (bed room) zone 2 would still need a volume control and of course it would have to be impedience matching. example of a decent receiver

 

[swshawaii]

Bill- If you don't need to independently listen to another source from your main receiver, use the "B" speaker switch.

Assuming you've run speaker wires to the bathroom. To control volume, use an "L Pad" volume attenuator, if necessary. (Volume control)

Make sure the speakers have an impedance of 8 ohms or higher.

Extra rooms, (zones) usually require additional equipment, and expense. (Amplifiers, etc.)