Multizone Receivers

[Uninformed]

I have an older Denon AVR 7.1 (8+ yrs old) and 6 indoor speakers (sub, center channel, 2 fwd and 2 rear). I just installed speakers outside and am having trouble assigning the amplifiers to the correct speakers. I am thinking of just purchasing another receiver for the outdoor speakers. Let me know if I am being silly for setting it up that way. Also, I am hoping that I can use my DVD/CD player and use the HDMI output for one receiver and component cables for the other receiver. Am I going to run into problems with such a setup? This stuff use to be a lot easier. I thought the hard part was going to be running the cables through the masonry and stuff. Arghh.

 

[MilkmanDan]

That should work. I'm running pretty much the same setup with Sony stuff for the same reason - it was either have rear surrounds or second room. Thankfully I kept my old receiver after getting the 6.1 unit.

You should also check your Denon to see if it has an audio out, you could possibly directly wire it to the second receiver so that it will play whatever the current input is. If you want different audio for your outdoor speakers, running secondary outputs from your DVD player should suffice.

 

[Luke Duke]

My ~3 yr old Denon 7.1 speaker lets me use 2 of the rear speakers as a 2nd zone. That gives me true 5.1 in side and 2 channel stereo outside. I don't know if yours allows the same thing.