11 speaker whole home audio question(s)

[Rustycage]

Hello! This place seems to be a wealth of good information and so I am hoping I can find some answers and thank anyone in advance for the help! I am setting up a "whole home audio" setup for an elderly couple that does not really care about ear blistering power or audiophile clarity, but I would like to provide them the best solutions within their design and budget constraints. I am attaching a picture that shows where the pre-wired locations for the speakers are, (I ran the wires in the ceiling before it was sheetrocked, and ran them all to the AV cabinet in the location shown.)
I am currently considering placing cube speakers ( http://www.amazon.com/JA-Audio-Mini-Cube-Speakers/dp/B000FBV8X2) in the four locations surrounding the couch in the room with the AV cabinet, and using some Polk audio atrium 4's in all of the other locations that just have a single speaker per room, including the exterior deck locations.
What I don't know is what receiver / switch combination I will need to be able to run and adjust these locations independently... I don't know whether a receiver with the multiple "zone" functionality is what I need, or whether I just need a switch that allows me to turn certain locations off and on, and adjust volume... I also have to keep in mind that this is an elderly couple so it needs to be as simple as possible.. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[americanaudiophile]

Small cube type speakers are all designed to be used with subwoofers. I would suggest that since you wired for in-ceiling why not use in-ceiling speakers. Much better looking than little boxes sticking out and will have better sound quality. They also make this type of speaker as a single stereo speaker (has 4 terminals for left and right). Check out Sonance and Paradigm speakers to get some ideas. You can use an outdoor single stereo speaker for the deck.
For electronics it depends on how much control they need. If you want each zone to have its own volume control then the old school way to do this is to have a volume control (usually in wall) for each room and a impedance matching speaker selector box with enough outputs to cover the number of zones. They can only play one source in all the zones. If you use a 2 zone receiver you can split them up but will need 2 impedance matching speaker selectors and the volume controls. They would have to know how to select source and volume for each zone and then use the individual volume controls as well. The receiver control app will give them some control but not for each zone. Can get a bit complicated.
I am going to suggest that the best way to do this for each zone to have amp channels and a Sonos Connect. They can control it with any smartphone or tablet and it would be easy to use. They would get access to a tremendous amount of internet radio & music services. People love being able to easily access so much free music without a computer. The control app is free so they can have it on as many computers or devices as they want.
www.sonos.com
www.sonance.com
www.paradigm.com
http/www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-ma1240a-multi-zone-12-channel-amplifier--300-815