Multi-zone using existing wiring and speakers

[AugyIA]

I have an old 6 zone Niles whole home system and want to upgrade. The existing system has quality speaker pairs in each room, all hard wired with speaker wire pairs and Cat-5 cabling with all of it home run to a central location (where the Niles amp resides). My goal is to upgrade to a more modern system that is connected and I'd like to stream Spotify (typically) to each zone from an app. We don't typically stream music to more than one or two rooms at a time...very seldom do we want to stream the same thing to multiple zones so that isn't a real need for us.

What would you recommend doing? It seems I have a few routes I could take...mostly around whether I keep the Niles amp and use Wiim to stream to it....or, forego the Niles amp and get Wiim devices with amps built in (one for each zone). I'm not sure if there are other options or which would be the most logical route to take. Any advice would be immensely helpful! Thank you.

 

[RockstarATL]

Hello.
I also have the same question.
I picked up a used Niles 6 zone amp and was thinking about using WiiM Pro to connect to the Niles amplifier to play Spotify streaming music. I am not sure if it's worth buying 6 WiiM Amp ($300 x6 = $1,800) vs. buying 1 WiiM Pro ($150) to achieve the same. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[dtc]

The Niles amps (Si-1230 maybe) are very good quality. They allow for a common input or for each zone to have its own input. That is quite flexible, although it does not let you select which zones to connect to a given source on the fly. However, if you don't need different sources in different rooms simultaneously and on the fly, it is still a very good solution.

One question is what sources are you currently using? You could possibly just add one Wiim Pro/Pro Plus as an input to your existing preamp and use that just for streaming. That would easily duplicate your current system but add streaming capabilities. Otherwise, you will need to figure out how to connect those sources to a Wiim system and that would depend on what sources you have.

6 Wiim amps give you great flexibility at the cost of 1) price, 2) lots of boxes and power cords and cables, 3) complexity of operation. It would allow you to use any mix of sources in any combination of rooms. You would do that by linking the Wiim units from within the amp as needed. Again, how to handle your current sources needs to be consider.

6 Wiim Pro/Pro Plus feeding the 6 zones of the Niles amp gives you the same flexibility at a lower cost, but with the same issue of power cords and cables and current sources.

I would suggest getting one Pro Pro or Pro Plus and connecting it to your current preamp, if possible. If you then decided that there war certain rooms you might want to be playing separate sources at the same time, you could add in another Pro/Pro Plus for that room and link/unlink it as needed. If your preamp has a DAC in it that you like, then the Pro would be fine. The Pro Plus has a better DAC and might be an option if you want to provide analog to your preamp.

 

[AugyIA]

Thanks for the input. I got antsy and ordered a Wiim Mini which I am using to stream to the Niles amp. It is working fine and sounds much better than the WR320 wifi streaming device I had used previously. The Niles amp is good but the keypads that select source and volume are starting to fail and replacements are expensive and can only be obtained as used. Since I only have 2 of those keypads today, I'm kind of stuck. I also ordered a Wiim Amp and plan to use it to drive one of the zones that is currently supplied by the Niles...the thinking is that if I like the Wiim ecosystem enough, I may just ditch the Niles or relegate it to seldom-used zones (using the two keypads I have for it) and put 2 or 3 Wiim Amps in place to run the zones we use most often.

 

[AugyIA]

I should note that, for our use, the only source we really use is Spotify or Tidal...we only use the whole home speakers to stream music and typically only to two of the 6 zones that are currently connected to the Niles.

 

[dtc]

I was thinking you just had the amp with wall volume controls not their old keypad system. I understand wanting to replace those. One issue is how to set volume levels without the keypads. Many systems in those days had wall mounted volume controls, but if you do not have them they would be a pain to install.

So here is some more thoughts.

If each zone on the amp have an RCA input and you can run it that way without the in-wall controllers, you could connect a Pro/Pro Plus to each zone and then manage all of them from the app. You could select what music to play and and link the streamers as needed to play in rooms simultaneously as needed. The separate streamers can control the volume in each zone and, if desired, select different music in each zone. To play the same everywhere, you just link all the streamers together in the app. 6 Pros would be about $900 and 6 Pro Pluses would be about $1,300.

If you need to replace the amp, you might consider just getting another 6 zone amp like the Niles SI-1230 and connect 6 Pro/Pro Pluses, one to each zone. HTD (Home Theater Direct) also makes a 12 channel amp with individual volume controls which you could use to balance rooms but probably not to control the volume on the fly.

6 Pros and 1 SI-1230 comes would cost about $1,600 and with Pro Pluses it would be more like $2,000. 6 Wiim amps would be about $1,800 and 6 Amp Plus would be about $2,300. So, the costs are not all that much different.

One consideration is how much power 6 Wiim amps would draw compared to one 12 zone amp. I cannot find the power requirements for the Wiim amp or Wiim streamers.

Good luck with your experiments.

 

[spoidyjan]

I’m also exploring ways to modernize my multi-zone audio system. I like the idea of using Wiim devices, but I’m curious—how does the sound quality of the Wiim Mini compare to the Pro or Pro Plus when used with the Niles amp?

 

[AugyIA]

I’m also exploring ways to modernize my multi-zone audio system. I like the idea of using Wiim devices, but I’m curious—how does the sound quality of the Wiim Mini compare to the Pro or Pro Plus when used with the Niles amp?

I should know this weekend and will give you my impressions. I can say the Wiim Mini sounds significantly better streaming music through my Niles amp compared to what I was using previously, a WR320 WiFi streaming device.

 

[AugyIA]

I was thinking you just had the amp with wall volume controls not their old keypad system. I understand wanting to replace those. One issue is how to set volume levels without the keypads. Many systems in those days had wall mounted volume controls, but if you do not have them they would be a pain to install.

So here is some more thoughts.

If each zone on the amp have an RCA input and you can run it that way without the in-wall controllers, you could connect a Pro/Pro Plus to each zone and then manage all of them from the app. You could select what music to play and and link the streamers as needed to play in rooms simultaneously as needed. The separate streamers can control the volume in each zone and, if desired, select different music in each zone. To play the same everywhere, you just link all the streamers together in the app. 6 Pros would be about $900 and 6 Pro Pluses would be about $1,300.

If you need to replace the amp, you might consider just getting another 6 zone amp like the Niles SI-1230 and connect 6 Pro/Pro Pluses, one to each zone. HTD (Home Theater Direct) also makes a 12 channel amp with individual volume controls which you could use to balance rooms but probably not to control the volume on the fly.

6 Pros and 1 SI-1230 comes would cost about $1,600 and with Pro Pluses it would be more like $2,000. 6 Wiim amps would be about $1,800 and 6 Amp Plus would be about $2,300. So, the costs are not all that much different.

One consideration is how much power 6 Wiim amps would draw compared to one 12 zone amp. I cannot find the power requirements for the Wiim amp or Wiim streamers.

Good luck with your experiments.

Thanks for the input. That is generally what I was thinking were my options. I really only need 3 zones, maybe 4. I think my main hurdle with using the Niles for my amp is that I believe it requires a keypad to turn on a particular zone. I only have 2 keypads and have no desire to buy a 20 year old used keypad for $100. Also, I'd prefer to avoid buying another multi-zone amp and if I really only want 3 or 4 zones, I think getting the Wiim amp or amp pro...one for each zone...will be the most cost effective solution. I have a Wiim Amp that I plan to install this weekend and see how I like it. If all goes well, that will end up on one of my lesser used zones and I'll probably get the Wiim Amp Pro for the other 2 zones that I use a lot more. Lastly, I'll move my Wiim Mini to a Yamaha AV receiver that I use to power a pair of outdoor speakers on my patio. I would end up with 4 or 5 "zones" all run within the Wiim "ecosystem". That's what I'm thinking at this point, anyway.

 

[dtc]

Thanks for the input. That is generally what I was thinking were my options. I really only need 3 zones, maybe 4. I think my main hurdle with using the Niles for my amp is that I believe it requires a keypad to turn on a particular zone. I only have 2 keypads and have no desire to buy a 20 year old used keypad for $100. Also, I'd prefer to avoid buying another multi-zone amp and if I really only want 3 or 4 zones, I think getting the Wiim amp or amp pro...one for each zone...will be the most cost effective solution. I have a Wiim Amp that I plan to install this weekend and see how I like it. If all goes well, that will end up on one of my lesser used zones and I'll probably get the Wiim Amp Pro for the other 2 zones that I use a lot more. Lastly, I'll move my Wiim Mini to a Yamaha AV receiver that I use to power a pair of outdoor speakers on my patio. I would end up with 4 or 5 "zones" all run within the Wiim "ecosystem". That's what I'm thinking at this point, anyway.

That sounds good. The only thing I would check is how many Wiim Amps you can plug into a 15 amp outlet? From this tread, it looks like 5 full output amps might tax a 15 amp circuit, but you are not likely to ever use that much. 4 looks fine. (320 watts is 2.7 amps, so 5 Wiim Amps could draw as much as 13 amps, and breakers often pop at 13 or so amps.) But your our ears will probably pop before the breaker, if you have any speakers left.

Good luck. You should like that system.

S

Thread 'The Power Consumption of WiiM amp'

Jun 18, 2024

How much power consumption when operating the WiiM amp? (not standby power)
(Given the appropriate volume and environment) has anyone measured it?

And I'm curious that is it possible to use the WiiM amp by standing it on the side? like tv set-top box or wifi machine.

• Simon (Axiscon)
• Replies: 8
• Forum: General thoughts for WiiM