Speaker Selector Recommendation ?

[zooba72]

Hello Everyone - I'm hoping someone can provide some suggestions on how I can drive three sets of front speakers from a single amp. This is not a surround sound system - I have a few different rooms in my basement and have three sets of speaker wire run back to central location where my amp is located. Right now I'm using a Carver TFM-15 and SAE pre-amp - but I only have an A an B channel. In order to get the third speaker set working I was considering using the Adcom GFS, but after reading the reviews, I wanted see if there is a better solution.

Dumb question - I have a couple of other receivers that are 7.1 - Would it be possible to use the surround speaker outputs as front speakers ? Would I lose sound quality. Thank you

 

[Justgotohm]

When needed I use Jamo JSS6-HP's. They can handle 6 pairs of speakers and two separate amplifier inputs. These seems to have a better build quality than even assumingly higher end brands.

 

[KevinJS]

If your 7.1 receivers have multi-zone capability you can use them to drive multiple speakers. You might not be able to send all of your sources to the additional zones. Often, multi zone capability is limited to analogue sources.

Alternatively, you could use any "7 channel stereo" setting and place the speakers where you want. The stereo signal sent to each pair of speakers will be exactly the same, and there shouldn't be any loss of quality, because that's what your receiver is designed to do.

 

[zooba72]

Thank you ! Great information.

 

[bigx5murf]

If your 7.1 receivers have multi-zone capability you can use them to drive multiple speakers. You might not be able to send all of your sources to the additional zones. Often, multi zone capability is limited to analogue sources.

Alternatively, you could use any "7 channel stereo" setting and place the speakers where you want. The stereo signal sent to each pair of speakers will be exactly the same, and there shouldn't be any loss of quality, because that's what your receiver is designed to do.

I do this with an Anthem home theater pre/power combo. I use the 3 zones to feed and control 3 pairs of speakers. The main down side for me is only zone 1 will have subwoofer integration.

 

[nfafan]

Avoid the cheap Monoprice sold on amazon, it works as an ABC switch but connectors are horrible spring clips.

 

[toxcrusadr]

Often the surround channels of an HT receiver have less power output than the mains, but other than that, you should be OK to use them.

If you use 1 amp/receiver though, you may want an impedance compensating switch box so you don't run too many in parallel and overload the amp. Of course if you only plan to use 1 or 2 sets at a time and you can remember not to turn on all 3, you can do it with a simple switch box.

 

[MCM_Fan]

When needed I use Jamo JSS6-HP's. They can handle 6 pairs of speakers and two separate amplifier inputs. These seems to have a better build quality than even assumingly higher end brands.
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Those Jamos look really nice. I love that they have real binding posts.

I have two speaker selectors - a vintage Niles SPS-1 and an Adcom GFS-3. Both are well built and have protection circuitry to protect your amp from low impedance loads. Both are set up to use bare wire. The Niles has clamp down screw terminals and the Adcom has twist clamp locks.

I see speaker selectors fairly regularly at Goodwill. They are usually the basic Nile's x4 and x6 selectors, but Niles has also made some models with independent volume control knobs for each pair of speakers. This is a nice feature if you want to match the levels of speakers with different efficiencies.

The basic Niles speaker selectors tend to go for $4 - $6 each at Goodwill. So, this can be a cheap way for the OP to get what he needs, but I do recommend one of the units with protection circuitry for running more than two sets of speakers in parallel.