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Quality Zone Switching

Zed

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2020
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Hey all. I've reached a dead end in my own research, and hoping you can fill in the gap. Thanks in advance for your ideas!

Current Situation:
* Two rooms, with a set of stereo (no HT) speakers in each. The rooms are in close proximity to each other, and wiring for all speakers terminates in Room 1.
* All four channels are driven by a Fisher 500C receiver, with a speaker selector knob, such that I can listen to music in room 1, 2 or both. I do not have, nor need, separate music playing in each room concurrently. Having both rooms using the same source concurrently works fine.
* Sources are MM turntable, and Roon (via Hifiberry + Schiit Modi Multibit)

Changes I'd Like to Make:
* Replace Fisher with separates.
* Power amp with 4 x ~180W @ 8 ohm all channels driven. Targeting ncore NC252MP, built by Buckeye.
* TBD preamp, ideally with speaker switch
* TBD phono preamp (currently handled by Fisher)
* Nice to have: Consolidate roon functions to preamp unit
* Nice to have: Consolidate phono stage to preamp unit

The Challenge:
* Clean Speaker Switching. While it's possible to get a zone preamp like a Parasound, performance is shown to be just "good enough". I'm looking for happy-to-golfing panther quality, for around $1K - $2K used. Switching between speakers on the hypex amp side, would require buying 2 x 2CH amps, and powering them on/off (from the back no less!) based on desired zone(s). I'd prefer to find a more seamless route, using a single 4CH unit if possible. Besides dedicated switches that cost $1,300, I have not seen anything that I'd feel comfortable with signal-wise.

* Open to a receiver or integrated that meets requirements: 4 x ~180W, speaker switching, happy-to-golfing panther.

* Budget for Power Amp + Preamp + Phono Pre is ~ $3K. If going with separates, the ncore amp portion will eat $1K, leaving ~2K for the rest.

* Consolidation, less weight, and smaller footprint would be nice to haves.

Thanks again for your advice, and any creative ideas you may have.
 
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