Switching between built-in speakers in two rooms

[Corazones]

I have fitted ceiling speakers to two rooms in a new extension, and their leads terminate in an outlet next to a Denon CD/tuner/amplifier. The results are excellent - better than I could ever have hoped for.

However, I have to switch between the two rooms by physically swapping the speaker leads into the amp, which is tedious, so I'm looking for an alternative system.

There are cheap switch boxes which are unprotected (i.e. they don't adjust the load when both speakers are connected), and other dearer ones which are - but then the impedance is only controlled within 4 and 16 ohms. As the amp will only handle a minimum of 6 ohms impedance, surely that won't offer much advantage over an unprotected box, which would also connect the two pairs of 8 ohm speakers in parallel at an effective 4 ohms (and overload the amp)?

In any case I don't think I will ever want to have both sets of speakers on at once. So what if I use a cheap switch, but unsolder the wire to the central position of the rocker switch, so that only one set can be used at any time? Would this be as simple as I imagine, or is there a snag?

Or can anyone suggest any other system for connecting one pair at a time, such as a home-made box containing a row of sockets? If so what components would I need?

Many thanks,
Alec.

 

[Paul348]

Not to sure about the ohm stuff TBH but i use these to switch between speakers / audio sources

http://www.cyberselect.co.uk/audio/wall-mounted-controls

I have a TV in the bath room and a Sonos Amp running into a stereo single speaker mounted in the ceiling. I use QED WM19 to switch between Sonos and TV

Hope this helps

Edit these also might help if you don't want to wall mount
http://www.cyberselect.co.uk/audio/speaker-switches

 

[Corazones]

Thanks for those links. Interesting... they switch speakers in series (through one and then into t'other) so that the amp isn't overloaded. I suppose I could do this through my existing cabling by running the signals to-and-fro - but, as the two pairs of speakers aren't identical, the volume is likely to vary between rooms.

Has anyone ever tried this?

 

[Mw Roofline]

Hi corazones I have to do the same, manually switching between the rooms. Let me know if you find a solution. Yes I was also surprised with the sound. Before screeding the floor I ran some extra cables into the corner of the room for a sub which I eventually bought two years later. Yesterday! Sub being delivered tomorrow hopefully it will sound great.

 

[SimonH2]

I did some cabling for a local outfit a while ago - sparky had put the cabling in, they asked us to do the networking, WiFi, etc, and while I was there asked me to do a few other odds and sods including installing the speakers in the cafe.
The speakers were identical, and in practice I doubt if they ever use just one pair, but the switch they had put the speakers in series when both were in use. It's trivial to do with a double pole, double throw, centre off switch.

For each channel, connect :
Amplifier + to switch a and amp - to switch b.
Speaker A with + to switch a and - to switch common.
Speaker B with + to switch common and - to switch b.
Do this separately, the right channel on one switch pole, and the left channel on the other pole.

You can see that with the switch in the central (off) position the speakers are in series and the switch terminals are really just connecting point. Flick the switch one way or other and it shorts out that pair of speakers leaving just the other pair in use.


An alternative, which would be overkill, would involve impedance matching arrangements, L-pads etc - easiest when using a 100V (or 70V) line system. Fine for a PA system, overkill for just two sets of speakers !


Or, you could use separate amplifiers for the separate speakers. Again probably overkill - but would give you independent volume control, and is most convenient if the main system has a pre-fade line level output (ie a line level output of whatever it's playing, but taken before it's output volume control).

 

[Corazones]

Hi corazones I have to do the same, manually switching between the rooms. Let me know if you find a solution. Yes I was also surprised with the sound. Before screeding the floor I ran some extra cables into the corner of the room for a sub which I eventually bought two years later. Yesterday! Sub being delivered tomorrow hopefully it will sound great.

Hi Roofline,
I think you will also find the subsequent reply by SimonH2 helpful; good luck with completing your installation, I hope you enjoy using it. Personally, I don't think I will ever want both rooms on at the same time (the "rooms" are in fact open-plan), so I've ordered a straightforward switch from SJD which looks a little better than the very cheapest type.
Alec.