1098 and zone2 via IR

[eddyg]

Hi,

I'm still having issues with my Zone 2. My setup has the 1098 and source equipment at the back of the front room, I use a xantech IR relay network to connect them all to an IR receiver at the front of the front room. The same IR network also connects to the other rooms in the house.

The Rotel interprets the IR message as the main zone if received via the "Ext" IR input and Zone 2 if received on the "Zone 2" IR input.

However I only have one IR network that is for main zone and Zone 2 (otherwise how will Zone 2 control the same source inputs, e.g. DVD players) so do I plug it into "Ext" or "Zone 2"?

If I plug the IR network into "Ext" then when I select a source in my bedroom the main zone turns on and I get sound in the main room.

If I plug the IR network into "Zone 2" then I can't control the main zone.

The only solution appears to have two seperate IR networks, which is silly, that means that the DVD player would have to have two IR transmitters attached to the front.

I must be missing something, if anyone can assist it would be appreciated, the Rotel manuals are shocking, I think they need to employ some decent technical writers, or take some tips from Yamaha, whose manuals are pretty good.

With my old Yamaha receiver the existing setup worked well, the Yamaha had discreet IR messages for messages from Zone 2 vs the main zone.

Cheers, Edward.

[Andrew Pratt]

Edward what you need is a multi zone switching block like those shown on this page here. You should then be able to plug the main zone into one input and zone two into the other.

[eddyg]

Thanks Andrew, that should do it. I connect all the source equipment to the "Common" output, the "Zone 1" output to the 1098 "Ext" input, and the "Zone 2" output to the 1098 "Zone 2" input. And then have the IR receiver in zone 1 connected to the "Zone 1" IR input and all the other receivers in other rooms connected to "Zone 2" IR input.

Good stuff.

Cheers, Edward.