Got speakers in home ceiling...need a stereo

[xd9x19]

We bought a pre-existing home that had a set of 8" speakers in four different rooms. On the wall of each room is a volume control knob that apparently controls all the speakers. A cabinet in the den has all the wires ready to hook up to a receiver, but I have no idea what type of receiver to buy or how much power I'll need.

My wife doesn't care to blow the windows out, but would like to be able to play music throughout the house. I've looked at various receivers and none of them have the connections for 4 sets of speakers. Since the speakers are small, can I just wire 2 sets into a receiver with 2 channels (A/B)?

One set of speakers is maybe 35 feet from the receiver, another set about 25 ft from the receiver and the other two pairs are no more than 15 feet as they are in the rooms adjacent to the wall where the receiver would be located.

Would something like this (JVC RX-D3015) work.

[breakfastchef]

In addition to an integrated amplifier, you may want to look at a speaker selector like Amazon.com: Monster Cable SS4 Multi-Speaker Selector: Electronics.

[shovelhd]

I install commercial projection systems and home theaters as part of a small business.

I would not use an A/V receiver for this application. You will be paying for a lot of video circuitry that will not be used. You are better off using a good stereo receiver.

That said, you can do this cheap, or you can do this fancy. The cheapest, simplest way is to use a stereo receiver and either a speaker selector switch or, what I prefer, a padded selector that lets you adjust the volume at each output. Sima makes a nice 4 pair model that's rated at 150WRMS per channel for under $200. SSW4HP. Another option, if you are willing to cut open your walls and un wires, is to use a wall-mount volume control in each room that has impedance matching. Xantech makes a nice one for under $50 each. You can combine up to 8 of them. XVC100/XVCD100 (Decora).

For a receiver, on the consumer end I use Harman-Kardon exclusively. The 3385 and 3485 are solid units. I've even put them in controlled commercial installations. They are rock solid, very powerful, and run cool enough to put them into a closed closet without harm. They come with an iPod A/V plug which has become very popular.

The fancy way is to go with a multi-room bussed system, where you have a receiver (or collection of components and a mixer), and small room amplifiers and wall-mounted touch controls.

From there you can go with full blown whole-house A/V systems with RF touchscreens, with integrated lighting, window treatment, and security controls. The sky is the limit.

PM me if you need more help.