Wayne,
How on earth can you build a code reader for a 959, but you can't figure out your home audio system?

Btw, I am fully capable of doing neither of these things.

I have a 6 channel amp labeled "The Architect - Model 700" from AudioControl that powers the system at my house. I have no idea what sort of quality it is but it sounds fine and has half a dozen equalization bands for each channel.

I am not familiar with SONOS but I am suspicious of any audio system that is wireless. If the speakers in your new house are wired back to a central point, I'd use an amp similar to what I have a ditch the SONOS gear. I have ours fed with inputs from FM, a CD changer and a digital cable box for the 30 or 40 channels we get from the cable company. Works fine and you can select different sources or different volumes in any of the rooms.

JR

Wireless controllers in each "zone" that control input could be added inline prior to each speaker system......

HOw about this? Marantz 8x140W. Kinda spendy.

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/82455

Niles Audio? 12x30W. Less spendy. Exactly what you're looking for, though.

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=324450&i=190SI1230&tp=7330

220, 221, what ever it takes.

It depends on where the spekaers lines end (all in the same area or not).

I have used Audiosource, Niles and others all of which sound OK and have high temp resistance (since these are usually installed in closets or hidden cabinets).

You can also get some of the old Marantz monoblocks which are designed to be installed in each location or as I had before a Lexicon multichannel ($$$) if you want better sound (frankly with in ceiling speakers driven from a compressed digital source IMHO its not worth it to get a higher end amp).

What about a powered speaker selector. Each speaker output has a separate volume control.
It takes the load off the amp and gives you separate volume for each set.

used Sunfire amp

or.... the very best thing is to put each speaker on its own individual amp - not exactly cheap when you re buying quality amps....

used Sunfire amp

or.... the very best thing is to put each speaker on its own individual amp - not exactly cheap when you re buying quality amps....

I've read your needs carefully. So you really only need the signal from the sonos amplified? The funny thing is you can find a 100watt receiver, which should be good to power the ceiling speakers (outdoor and ceiling speakers need a lot of power to make good sound because of there inefficient design) for much less then a straight amplifier. Although I was going to go with a sonos set up, I ended up buying receivers for the area's I needed with Ipod connections. I could easily buy three Onkyo stereo 100 watt receivers on Ebay for less then 1/2 of what a mulit speaker receiver cost. As long as you can control the volume with the Sonos, they will work. I've seen the Onkyo 8522 for around $100/each at times on Ebay, even at Amazon.

That's what I do using (Sunfire's designer) Bob Carver amps. My system would scoff at most "built in amplifiers" (i.e. recievers of any configuration) as it needs LOTS of power, so I use an older SONY E9000ES pre-amp (LOTs of digital inputs (optical and coaxial), with a great DAC converter), use two mono amps for my front towers (1000 watts each), a stereo amp (400 watts) for the rear towers, and a stereo amp (200 watts) for the bedroom speakers. I run everything through a Monster power center to achieve "one touch" power off, and one remote "can" control it all. I have 1300 cds loaded up ready for selection. Your situation is a bit different, but imo, a pre-amp and seperate amps give you the most flexibility and scalability. I found "receivers" of any configuration to be lacking for my needs years ago...separates all the way for me.

Wayne,

What SONOS components are you using? I was looking at it a little, and are you using those ZONE PLAYER 80s or 100s or what? Might help us help you if we know what you're working with.

From reading your initial post I'm kind of guessing you have the 'powered' zone player 100.

How many speakers are in each room?

It's possible that (especially if there's more than TWO in each room) that the speakers are of a high (likely 16ohms) impedance, which might make them seem not quite loud enough if wired incorrectly. If there's 4 or 6 or (whatever) speakers in each 'zone' and you're using that zone player 100 maybe you're just not hitting the speakers correctly . You could wire 2 16ohm speakers in parallel and get 8 ohms, which the zone player is rated for. You could probably parallel 3 16 ohm speakers and you'd get (uhh . . . .. somewhere more than four but less than 8ohms.) Which it would -probably- be fine with as well.

That Onkyo amp looks great for the money, actually. And you could install it somewhere where you never even have to touch it. That's great.

I'm still interested in what the impedance of each one of those ceiling speakers is. Remember if it's 16 ohms you're really only utilizing about half of the available power you're sending to it. But double the power certainly doesn't double the volume. kinda like double the horsepower doesn't double the speed. :)

Other possible options:
http://www.knollsystems.com/prod-amp-gs12.html
http://www.knollsystems.com/prod-amp-mr1250vvf.html
http://www.knollsystems.com/prod-amp-mvp64.html

Look no-nonsense, and decently built (torroidal transformer, etc.).

Here's one on fleabay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170232114355

or maybe:
http://www.russound.com/r1250mc.htm


Or, you could always go the studio/industrial route with a rack-mount stack of Crown amps or the like...

Wayne, did you use the SONOS connected to the ONKYO inputs during this test, or did you just use the FM tuner or something when you were doing this?

Or, have you used your existing ONKYO amps in conjunction with the SONOS before? Like in your office or family room where you say you have existing amps?? If not, I would suggest you try this first before buying additional amps and setting the system up this way...

I am not that familiar with the setup of the SONOS, but the reciever (the ONKYO) is likely to expect a 'line level' voltage at the inputs, and not a 'speaker level' voltage, which is on the order of 10x the voltage of a line level input... This could adversely effect the quality of sound you get from the system, or at the very least, your ability to discretely adjust the volume.

If you have already done this, feel free to ignore my comments... SmileWavy