Home Theater Receivers and the Multi-Zone Feature

Other Factors to Consider Using a Home Theater Receiver in Multi-Zone Setups

The concept of plugging in to and controlling all of your constituents with one Home Theater receiver is a great expediency, but when it comes to Multi-Zone there are still extra factors to take into consideration.

1. Except your Receiver comes with a secondary Remote Control for use in a Second or Third Zone, you will have to go to the receiver in your main room to switch sources to supply to the second or third zone. Check out a photo of the type of primary and secondary remote controls supplied with some Home Theater Receivers. Photo (c) Robert Silva, Licensed to About.com.

2. Even if a secondary remote control is provided for Second and/or Third zone use, you will still have to install remote control extenders in the Second or Third Zone rooms in order to use the remote in those rooms to control the source you want to access from the main receiver.

3. Whether you are using the Home Theater Receiver to power your Second and/or Third Zone speakers or using the Preamp outputs of the Receiver to provide an extra amplifier in the Second or Third zone, you still have to have either speaker wires, or audio/video cables, running from the primary Receiver to the Second or Third Zone locations.

The Home Theater receiver is being called on to do more and more, from easy connection to audio and video sources, to accessing satellite and Internet radio, to connecting iPods, and to give access to audio and video sources in more than one location.

Also, although this article explains Multi-Zone potential with reference to Home Theater receivers, there is also an increasing number of Two-Channel Stereo Receivers that also integrate Multi-Zone capability, either using added built-in two-channel amplifiers or preamp outputs that allow a source to be accessed using an additional amplifier in one more location.

For a closer look at Multi-zone setup options, check out:

A. Setup Using the Multi-Zone Preamp Outputs of a Receiver in conjunction with an External Amplifier in a Second Zone.

B. Setup Using a Receiver's Internal Amplifiers and Second Zone Speaker Connections to Power a Second Zone.

Photo Diagrams From Yamaha RX-V861 User Manual - (c) Yamaha Eletronics Coporation, Used by Permission.

Final Take

For full particulars on how a specific Home Theater or Stereo Receiver implements its own Multi-Zone capabilities, you should consult the user manual for that Receiver. Most user manuals can be downloaded directly from the manufacturer's website.

Finally, it is important to reminder that Home Theater or Stereo Receivers that have Multi-Zone capability are specified to be used when only a second and/or third location for music listening to video viewing is required. If you desire to install an extensive whole-house audio or audio/video system, then you need to consult a professional home theater or multi-room system installer to assess your needs and provide exact equipment suggestions (such as audio or audio/video server(s), distribution amplifiers, wiring, etc...) that will achieve your goal.