Rotel 1048 and multi-room question

[scottkathi@comc]

I've got 7 sets of speakers throughout my house (including 1 set outdoor). They are a combination of 4, 6 and 8-ohm. They are powered by an old Denon DRA-750 180 watt receiver, running through a Niles 6-speaker selector (I've got 2 sets of speakers going through one of the 6 slots on the selector.) Apparently this speaker selector does something to the power (impedance matching?) so that my receiver can handle all the different ohms.

I'm adding another outdoor set of speakers and was trying to find a better way to distribute the sound. I called one retailer and they suggested I get the Rotel 1048 and get rid of the Niles speaker selector. He said that the Rotel could handle the different ohms just fine.

He said that we could connect two sets of speakers to each of the 4 speaker connecters on the Rotel and we'd be fine. Is that OK to set it up this way?

My other thought was to get a 8-speaker selector with impedance matching, but my understanding is that the power delivered to your speakers is cut way back when you have impedance matching.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks, Scott

[Kevin D]

If you had four pairs of speakers the 1048 could handle it fine. Having eight 8-ohm speakers would be ok (4ohm total to the each channel). It's having different ohm loads together that causes problems. You would have to creatively mix and max zones based on the ohm load and then some would be wired parallel while others in series.

It would get real confusing real fast. Plus I would want the ability to turn them on and off per zone. The 8-out switcher is going to be your best bet. Yes they do kill a little power, but anything divided by 8 isn't going to be much power per speaker any way. If you're concerned about getting enough power and total sound quality, get two 1048's..

Kevin D.