Whole Home Audio, Nuvo + Monoprice, Need Amp/Volume Knob Suggestions.

[Nifield]

Hey all, so I'm running a Nuvo Grand Concerto with an expander for 16 zones, and I'm needing some help with a couple things.

I have a bar/rec room area with 12 in ceiling speakers and then 2 floor speaker locations, and 1 floor sub woofer location, wired for both active or passive sub. All of these i want to have on 1 zone, and each set of ceiling speakers have their speaker wire looped through a VC location on the wall before returning to the rack.

Now, i HAVE the grand concerto, ( http://www.smarthome.com/8270GMS/NuVo-Technologies-Grand-Concerto-6-Source-8-Zone-System-NV-I8GMS/p.aspx )

and i HAVE 12 of the 60w Nominal monoprice 6.5" in ceiling speakers #4103 ( http://www.smarthome.com/8270GMS/NuVo-Technologies-Grand-Concerto-6-Source-8-Zone-System-NV-I8GMS/p.aspx )

I plan to only broadcast Mono on these speakers, and plan to have them attached to an unamplified zone on the nuvo. this brings me to my question:

I need suggestions for the Volume Controls, and also an external Amp that will amplify the nuvo signal to the 12 ceiling speakers, 2 floor tower speakers, and 1 sub woofer.

I also need a suggestion for another amp for the other nuvo unamplified zone in which i have 8 speakers connected with 4 volume controls.


I had a friend that suggested using the following VCs/tower speakers/amp, but i'd like to know if anyone has any other suggestions that are comparable quality for maybe a more reasonable price, as well what is your opinion on what he has suggested here?

1.) Amplifier - QSC CX302 http://www.qscaudio.com/products/amps/cx/cx2/cx2.htm

2.) In terms of Speakers for your floorstanding speakers will be the key for when you want it loud! Definitive Technologies are good value.

http://www.definitivetech.com/products/floor-standing-speakers/

3.) Volume Controls - Transformer free for better sound and silent switching
Don't let the cheap price fool you, these are great VC's
http://www.knollsystems.com/prod-vs100pm.html


Thanks for any input you all can offer.

Reilly

 

[Neurorad]

I'd reword your post, and send it to QSC for their input, on this bid you're putting together for your 'client'. Remove the 'Monoprice' and include the resistance rating (4 ohm, 8 ohm, whatever they are). Keep it short.

I don't know how the subwoofer would be wired, with that QSC amp. You need some kind of crossover in the mix.

I think 70V speakers might have been a better choice, but I don't know much about 70V systems.

I don't know how feasible it will be to control 7 speaker pairs, and a sw, with a VC. You may need a different control option.

 

[jautor]

You can used the variable output from the NuVo un-amplified zone to control volume overall. Since you are using different speaker types within the same zone (and the placement of that many speakers may require some relative adjustments), I'd suggest a speaker selector with volume control on-board, instead of "exposing" all the knobs out in the room. Then run a NuVo keypad to control "master volume" for that zone - and the adjustments are made once to balance the various pairs (hopefully set once and forgotten).

Many zone amps have loop line outputs you can use to send to the subwoofer. I have two pairs and a subwoofer on one of my NuVo zones, currently using an external amp, which will soon move to 3 pairs (using a powered zone for one, and the other two from an external amp, all on the same zone).

You shouldn't need a crossover for an active sub, as it should have the low-pass filter and the level adjustments.

Hope that helps,

Jeff

 

[Neurorad]

Wow, Jeff. That clears up subs very well! I didn't know some amps have that 'loop line output'. What brands of subs have you used with Nuvo? Did you use Nuvo zone amps?

I'm actually leaning toward a 3.1 (maybe 5.1 in the future) setup, for a TV location, so I'll likely use an AVR instead there, but I have other zones that may also benefit from a sw.

 

[jautor]

Wow, Jeff. That clears up subs very well! I didn't know some amps have that 'loop line output'. What brands of subs have you used with Nuvo? Did you use Nuvo zone amps?

I've got a couple of AudioSource amps (AMP-100 is my usual super-inexpensive recommendation for zone amps), and a NuVo 2-zone that I got cheap. The AudioSource amps have a line output to mirror the input. The NuVo amps don't... But if you use a passive sub, the subwoofer amp will likely have the loop output, too. Either direction will work...

Jeff