Speaker wiring??

[Rosstaylor]

I want to wire 6 speakers in 2 rooms (3 in each room). I want to use a speaker selector so I can have the speakers on in either room or both. I was planning on using a standard stereo power amp but don't know if this many speakers will overload the amp? I also don't understand ohmage and whether I need to wire the speakers in series or parallel. I haven't bought any kit yet so could someone help and basically tell me what ohmage the speakers and amp output would need to be and which way to wire them up for this to work. Many Thanks.

[romko]

firstly is there any particular reason why you want THREE speakers per room? that will give a VERY ropey stereo soundstage!

most amps drive 2x 4 to 8 ohm speakers and will overload if more are added than it was designed to drive. Some kind of AV receiver used in home cinema would probably be able to handle more sets of speakers and have inbuilt switching. Richer sounds may have this kind of stuff.

[Kozmic Blues]

Have you thought about buying one of these-

http://www.simplysonos.co.uk/

[Rosstaylor]

Thanks for your comments. But I've thought long and hard about exactly what I want and I'm pretty sure it's not impossible to do. I'm not bothered about an ideal stereo soundstage, I just want all areas covered with enough sound and to be able to switch the 2 rooms on and off independently. I'm sure this can be done without spending a fortune on a state of the art multiroom system.I just need someone who knows to explain the ohmage rules and how wiring in series or parallel effects the ohmage so I can select the correct amp and speakers so's not to overload the amp.

[Kozmic Blues]

Probable not much help but have a look at this article.

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/ISEO-rgbtcsp d/learningcenter/home/multiroom_power.html

[romko]

Without details of the equipment you plan to use, it's difficult to suggest anything too specific.

Lets assume the amp is a normal hi fi, 8 ohms, which accepts one pair of speakers only. As an example, two eight ohm speakers (and most are these days) wired in parallel is 4 ohms. You'd get more volume, but really risk damaging the amp and speakers due to the larger amount of current passing through them.

The same 2 speakers in series would be 16 ohms . The formula is: 1/R1 + 1/R2 = 1/RT .

As a general rule, don't lower the load impedence by wiring multiple speakers in parallel to the amp, as if the impedence of the load decreases enough, the amp would 'view ' it as almost a short! OTOH, Wiring speakers in series increases the impedance (in ohms) of the load, and decreases the current through the speakers. Unfortunately it also decreases the amount of output audio power in most cases, since power is inversely proportional to impedance for a given voltage. So heads you win tails you lose kind of situation.

the ideal solution would as I said look for an AV amp which can already handle various sets of speakers safely. Buy the best cable you can (as a minimun, 2 core mains cable thickness) to run them to the two rooms, so you don't lose too much signal.

hope this helps!

[neg213]

I did something similair (in 2 rooms) but didn't bother considering or working out ohmage, just bought some switches, a box to house them, and some speaker wire from Maplins. Worked fine, could switch any speaker off or on!