Post by bborzell on Sept 14, 2019 16:34:27 GMT -5
Since I first got my XMC-1, I have used it in a dedicated media room for home theater as well as stereo listening. When we built our house, I spent a couple of days crawling through the frame work running wire for whole house audio. Along the way, I picked up 5 stereo speaker sets and a couple of single speakers with stereo inputs for 2 of the bathrooms. Zone 2 for me is pretty much every room in the house that is not the media room with the back porch added to the mix.
Up until yesterday, I have run the Zone 2 out from the XMC-1 into a 12 channel amp for distribution throughout the house and back porch with no complaints other than the realization that none of the Zone 2 speakers came close to reproducing the range of audio that I got out of the media room speakers.
I have had an NHT MA-1A mono amp and SW2 sub sitting in a corner doing nothing and decided it might be worthwhile sticking it out in the great room where it would add to the range of at least the stereo set in the GR ceiling. Since I had no interest in crawling around the attic fishing speaker wire around, I decided to look into a way to run a wireless transmitter/receiver unit.
I found three such units (including one made by Emotiva), but after talking to tech support from each of the companies, I was left with a rather cool response from all but one. Both Emo and SVS thought that hooking up a splitter from the Zone 2 outs, running one L/R set to the sub transmitter and the other on to the multi channel amp could be problematic. Both suggested that lacking a sub out for Zone 2 could create a signal loss issue.
The tech support guy from OSD saw no such problem and suggested that if there were any signal degradation, it would be not perceptible to the human ear.
As I sit here in the great room listening to Oregon playing the tight bass lines from Leather Cat, I can verify that the OSD guy was right. And, the bass finds its way into my wife’s sewing room with the door left open.
I find it interesting that there is apparently not enough demand for full range sound on Zone 2 to warrant a Zone 2 sub out given my impression that many homes that utilize whole house audio do so with in wall speakers that cannot get into the 20 Hz range.
Up until yesterday, I have run the Zone 2 out from the XMC-1 into a 12 channel amp for distribution throughout the house and back porch with no complaints other than the realization that none of the Zone 2 speakers came close to reproducing the range of audio that I got out of the media room speakers.
I have had an NHT MA-1A mono amp and SW2 sub sitting in a corner doing nothing and decided it might be worthwhile sticking it out in the great room where it would add to the range of at least the stereo set in the GR ceiling. Since I had no interest in crawling around the attic fishing speaker wire around, I decided to look into a way to run a wireless transmitter/receiver unit.
I found three such units (including one made by Emotiva), but after talking to tech support from each of the companies, I was left with a rather cool response from all but one. Both Emo and SVS thought that hooking up a splitter from the Zone 2 outs, running one L/R set to the sub transmitter and the other on to the multi channel amp could be problematic. Both suggested that lacking a sub out for Zone 2 could create a signal loss issue.
The tech support guy from OSD saw no such problem and suggested that if there were any signal degradation, it would be not perceptible to the human ear.
As I sit here in the great room listening to Oregon playing the tight bass lines from Leather Cat, I can verify that the OSD guy was right. And, the bass finds its way into my wife’s sewing room with the door left open.
I find it interesting that there is apparently not enough demand for full range sound on Zone 2 to warrant a Zone 2 sub out given my impression that many homes that utilize whole house audio do so with in wall speakers that cannot get into the 20 Hz range.
