New setup for existing ceiling speakers

[lornib]

Hi,
We have just moved into a house which has ceiling speaker - 4 in the living room, 4 in the kitchen/diner.
There is a QED speaker switch.
We will be adding a cd player and a turntable.
With the speaker switch, it seems we can have music in one, or both zones at the same time, (though both would be at the same volume), since it automatically puts the zones in series to protect the amp.
We are thinking of getting the Vibelink and the Wiim Ultra.
First question is, if we want to have different music in each zone, would we just get rid of the switch and get a second amp, and how would it connect to the Vibelink/Ultra setup.
Second question is, should we just get the Vibelink and two Pro Plus amps (instead of the Ultra) to start with. Could we still listen to the cd player and turntable in each room?
Third question is, would the amps both need a physical connection to the Vibelink?
Fourth question is, if we then want music in other rooms, would it be possible with Bluetooth speakers? Would that need yet another amp?
Thanks for your help.

 

[Mr Ee]

Welcome.

Let's just clarify.a few things first!

Were you thinking of an ultra and vibelink 'cos the ultra has a phono input for the turntable?
Do you have a turntable in mind already? Does it only have phono out, or does it have line out too?

Wiim product names can be a bit confusing. When you say 'two Pro Plus amps', what do you actually mean?
Wiim have a Pro Plus, which is a streamer, and an Amp Pro, which is a combined streamer / amp.
"amps both need a physical connection to the Vibelink" makes no sense (sorry!) as you wouldn't connect amps to a vibelink amp.


Q1) Different music in different zones does require two sources. You could have, for example, an ultra + vibelink for one zone and one of the wiim amps (an Amp Pro or Amp Ultra) for the other zone. They could be used completely independently from each other, or grouped in the wiim app so that, for example, the turntable would play in both.
You mentioned that the speakers are wired in series. If they were split into two separate sets of 4, one set to an amp and one to the vibelink, then they could very likely be wired in parallel if you wanted. Both amps are rated to approx 2.7ohms irrc, and speakers are often nominally rated at 8ohms, so two pairs is nominally 4ohms. Worth checking the speakers if you can.

Q2) See my questions!

Q3) See my questions!

Q4) Music in others rooms meaning the same music as is already playing in one or both of the living room and kitchen?
Fundamentally, no, as the ultra will be outputting to the vibelink and the amp will be outputting to speakers.
You could get a Wiim Sound, which could be linked to your other wiims for the same music if wanted.
You could use a bluetooth speaker with an aux input and get a mini, pro or pro plus and use their aux output.

 

[lornib]

Hi Mr Ee,
Thanks for your reply.
Yes, we were going for the ultra and vibe because of the phono input, but don't have one in mind yet.

I did get confused about the Pro Plus amps, but I guess an alternative to the Vibelink/Ultra combo would be two Wiim Amp Pros to do the two zones.

Currently, the speakers are in parallel into the speaker switch. When 2 rooms are selected, the switch changes the setup from parallel to series.
Without the switch, we would then do as you suggest, and have an additional amp for the second room.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your knowledge. I have spoken to several Richer Sounds guys over the last few days and they all gave me different advice, leading to much confusion.

 

[Mr Ee]

. I have spoken to several Richer Sounds guys over the last few days and they all gave me different advice, leading to much confusion.

I just hope I haven't added to that confusion!
Yes, two Wiim Amp Pros would work as long as the turntable has a line out, or you get a separate phone preamp, if the additional stuff an ultra provides isn't required.
imo the ultra/vibelink combo sounds somewhat better than an amp pro, but then again, with no intent to be disparaging, it may make very little difference with in ceiling speakers.

 

[lornib]

No, you have definitely clarified things.
We're still fancying the Vibelink/Ultra combo, with the option of adding another amp later.
So, one more question for now is about linking them the Vibelink and the Ultra. The RS guy wanted to sell me a coax cable for £50. Are the cables that come with the units not good enough quality?
Thanks Mr Ee.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

No, you have definitely clarified things.
We're still fancying the Vibelink/Ultra combo, with the option of adding another amp later.
So, one more question for now is about linking them the Vibelink and the Ultra. The RS guy wanted to sell me a coax cable for £50. Are the cables that come with the units not good enough quality?
Thanks Mr Ee.

The Ultra isn't supplied with a coaxial cable, but does come with an optical cable, and a twin RCA cable. I certainly wouldn't pay more than £10 for a coaxial cable, although you will no doubt get recommendations for expensive cables from other forum users.

 

[Mr Ee]

The RS guy wanted to sell me a coax cable for £50. Are the cables that come with the units not good enough quality?

Unless you have a reason to use coax over optical, use the supplied optical cable.
If you really feel like trying cables later on, go for it. But remember the £10 limit

One thing I'm pretty sure you will want is a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable between the ultra trigger out and viblink trigger in.
Can be either mono or stereo. Doesn't need to be fancy, it's to turn the vibelink on/off when using the ultra.
I bought mine from the equivalent of B&Q for about 2 quid.

We're still fancying the Vibelink/Ultra combo, with the option of adding another amp later.

For me, the vibelnk is surprisingly good. Drives all my speakers very nicely when using its optical input.
But you could certainly hook the ultra up to two amps, e.g. vibelink via optical for ceiling speakers and via rca or coax to a different amp / speakers.
Only one output is active at a time though, so it'd be either / or, not both.

 

[lornib]

Ok, so what setup is capable of letting the rooms play different things?

 

[Doublej]

Ok, so what setup is capable of letting the rooms play different things?

Pro installers would use a multi-zone audio switcher and a multichannel amplifier. Any input (CD, phono, music streamer) can be directed to one or more outputs. Here is an example where the switcher and amplifiers are in the same chassis.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=10761

In this type of setup you would then use one or more WiiM streamers as input to the multi-zone switcher. You would need multi WiiM streamers if you want a different music streams in each room at the same time.