I realise I’m probably old before my years, and I should appreciate the value of true multi-room audio slightly more. However, I remember my parents had an old-style speaker switch on their no-name music centre which fed a set of speakers in the kitchen. And the setup worked…
At the moment I’ve a SuperUniti in my sitting room powering a pair of P3ESRs. I was considering getting a power amplifier (model to be decided) hooked up to the SU’s preamp out so that I can extend what’s playing into the kitchen for non-critical listening. I was just wondering if anyone else tried a similar setup and how you found it?
It can be done but the problem is that you have to have both sets of speakers playing, and at the same volume. If you are in the kitchen and want to change the volume you have to go to the other room. We have a mu-so Qb in the kitchen which works well. You can play the same music or something different.
If I want to use the multiroom function of my two systems, it’s because I’m moving around the house, working on it, cleaning, or whatever, so I’m not that bothered about sound quality in that situation. I prefer to use a network connection (using wires that are already in place) rather than running long interconnects or speaker cables, which in our house, would not be easy. Maybe a Muso or QB in your kitchen would be enough?
I renovated a few years ago now, but I put in internet and speaker cable specifically for multi room. It is useful when cleaning, cooking and entertaining. I use satellite Unitiqutes, but I miss the ability to tune the radio in each (why was the radio tuning display removed?) to match the NAT01.
Our kitchen is close enough to the living room that we just play music in the living room and it sounds good in the kitchen. I do have a second system (Qute2), but it’s two floors above.
I have an NDX downstairs as a main system, with a Nova in the lounge upstairs. I use QBs in the kitchen, my bedroom and on the landing (the landing largely used when wandering around the house when there is cricket commentary on).
In one of my systems, the Superuniti is my main system and the kitchen and bedroom have Muso QB’s.
It all plays nicely together and I can control the volume on each independently.
I have 5 zones, listening room, living room, home theatre, kitchen, and garage/back yard. All except the kitchen can run in sync via Roon. I generally only run zone at time, but it’s nice to be able to have a few going at the same time when needed.
Pre-Out is a no go — you need Line Out or Tape Out (i.e. fixed level) to wire to a remote amp, which is what I prefer for the quality of the results. If you use a multi-room amp, you need a Volume attenuator in each room, usually mounted in-wall. Definitely the way to go, if you want to play any analog sources, and want everything to sound in sync,
If you could live with a Uniti 1 or 2, they have the required Out, unlike the SU, surprisingly. Otherwise the SN1 and most NACs can do this.
I have thought about the same plan more than 20 years ago but didn’t attempt to implement it. In the end, I ended up having separate amplification to drive another set of speakers in the “second zone”. It’s a lot more simple to set up the system this way and small integrated amps don’t cost much money these days especially when looking in the used market (although I have a pre/power driving the speakers in the 2nd bedroom system)
If the kitchen isn’t too far away from the living room, you can just turn up the volume a little higher so that the sound will extend to the kitchen.
Before multi-room and wireless streaming, I used to run a long interconnect from tape out on my Linn Majik to an Arcam Alpha 5 amp in the kitchen with a IR remote relay.
I agree with you, Nigel. Controlling volume in two zones from one pot is never optimal, and probably not the best nor the intended use of Pre Out — better into a sub-woofer.
I currently run three remote zones of pretty good ceiling speakers from Tape Out to an AV Pre, then to a 12-channel NAD distribution amp. The speaker wires from the NAD stop at a volume attenuator in each zone, on the way to the speakers.
The AV pre Tape Outs serve a Qute2 system and a B&O system, which has three zones of its own.
I would add that the worst of my remote zones still show off some benefits of better sources at the center of the system, making the extra pains taken all the more worthwhile.
Low expectations can get in the way of getting all of the value out if your effort and investment. Don’t throw away the easy wins.
I often have the radio on in three zones (kitchen study and lounge). If SWMBO is in bed music / radio will be on too. Since sorting out the wiring I rarely use multi room for music.
One thing that bugs me is that I can’t tune the Unitiqutes to the exact frequency that the NAT01 is one. That was a firmware downgrade for me.
