I don't know anything at all about stereo equipment. For the last decade, I've listened to music via a laptop and the radio through my alarm clock. So, what I need might be really, really simple. I moved into a new house that has one room outfitted for a surround sound television experience, with speakers installed in the ceiling and walls. One end has all the cables to hook up the TV. But, I'm going to use this room for the dining room and don't want any TV in there at all. So, I figured I should hook up some kind of stereo equipment instead so I can use this speaker set-up for music. My one constraint is that the wall where all these speaker wires route to is also along a natural pathway between two entrances, so putting in something right there that will take a lot of space out into the room would be problematic, so I was thinking of something I can mount flat on that wall, perhaps. So, what do I need?
I would route the wires to a different room. You can have the "stereo" (like an AVR) in the other room and then use your dining room with the pre exisiting speaker (which probably suck anyways) as your second zone. A zone just means the "stereo" is sending the output to a different set of speakers. This way you don't have some tacky equipment int he dining room and you can control the receiver with your phone remotely.
Yup, I have 3 separate zones in the ceilings in different area's of my home that I had custom installed that run through my Tuner. Zone 1 den (where the receiver is), zone 2 bedroom and zone 3 bathroom. I play my Sono's from my phone through the receiver and find the zone's through my universal remote. I also had to have switches put in on the walls though for volume control.
Well, I don't know how good the speakers are, but the rest of the renovation they've done was to pretty high standards. More importantly, though, I don't have very demanding needs for quality -- I just want it to play some damn music. As for zones, that's probably already getting too complicated. I do have a TV and I use the speakers that are built into the TV. I don't need anything else for that. We can get by without an immersive experience for Dora the Explorer.
It is the best solution and the money/time spent on it improves other aspects of your entertainment devices. The alternative is to buy some substandard stereo without Bluetooth, HDMI switching, sat radio, AirPlay or Pandora etc. Not to mention remote volume control (I can control the volume of my AVR from my phone, not sure why Longhornfan can't), Spotify, HTC connect.......
You don't necessarily have to put something out in the hall or that takes up space. There could be a closet or a hidden space to which you can re-route the cables for the speakers. Also, there are components out there that can receive the audio remotely from another source (in the living room, where you have the TV, from the kitchen, etc.). All you need is the receiver of the audio signal near these speakers and no need to reroute the cables. Think about that room... are you sure you want to put the dining room in there when the natural design called for it being the surround sound place? If I'm not mistaken, dining rooms have a window to the street or to the outside. Surround sound rooms don't have the same layout.
It is just a feature they are doing on houses to add value or perceived value. No surround sound layout calls for ceiling speakers.
On the other side of that wall is a hallway closet. I could potentially run the wires into there and put a device I could operate remotely. Thanks for that. As for why it's like this in the first place -- its a 60 year old house. They did a good reno job, but I think they were working within the confines of what they had. It doesn't look like it was ever an ideal home theatre set-up, but not bad -- especially by my low standards. So, what kind of device can I put in the closet?
You just need a receiver if you already have the speakers. What kind depends on your budget and expectations. Here are some entry level recievers Of course there are much more expensive ones out there, but these are probably a good place to start.
question: whats the best place to sell used stereo equipment/> I have some (1) psb stratus bronze towers (2) psb c5 center channel (3)velodyne sub with a passive and active drivers I'd like to sell..