I need home amp advice

[texwmson]

I purchased a custom home with ceiling-mounted speakers throughout, but there's no amp. I need to understand how powerful an amp I need to power the system. The system is standalone apart from our home theater, and will not be connected to it as the speakers are all in the wrong place. Here's what I currently have in place -

Seven (7) pairs of speakers with volume controls by pair. Accurian 6.5" stereo Ceiling speakers, part number AIC-4121. Rated at 60 Watts RMS, 120 Watts Max, with 8 ohms impedance. Pretend I know what that stuff means so I look smarter. =]

The volume controls are set up to control individual pairs, so effectively I have seven zones in the house. The volume controls are Russound ALTx-2 models. The instruction manual says "Make sure the amplifier has 20 watts per channel for each pair of speakers to be connected." Don't know if that's a minimum or a maximum, but I suspect it's mins.

My plan is to use the amp to power music sent from mobile phones and devices wirelessly through my wireless LAN. I can get the signal to the amp by hardwiring it to an Apple Airport, but integrated wifi in an amp (do they make such things?) would be sweet.

I don't usually power all seven zones at the same time, but I suppose it'd be nice to be able to do so. Not a big show-stopper if it doesn't.

I don't need to send multiple sources to different zones, either. What I'm thinking is a 2-channel amp that powers all the speakers in the house from one source. Is that possible?

So I think I need a 2-channel amp with at least 140 Watts per channel, but no more than 420 watts per channel. But I actually have no clue if that's correct or not.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

[jsmithepa]

So I think I need a 2-channel amp with at least 140 Watts per channel, but no more than 420 watts per channel. But I actually have no clue if that's correct or not.

Wrong even before hitting first base.

"Per channel" means per-speaker. You gonna pump 420 into 60/120? obviously not. For 60/120 speakers, an amp with around 100 watt per channel is fine. It doesn't need to be exact. The 20 watt is the MINIMUM, so you have some leeway.

These speakers are for intercom/musak and really not intended for say a man-cave home-theater room but I suppose if you ever want to do it, can server as surrounds (rear).

So channel=speaker. So if you have 7 pairs, you need a 14-channels multi-zone amplifier, assuming you wish to control everything from a central location AND they are all wired to a central closet. If you don't need intercom capability and controlling individual room is OK, can buy a stereo amplifier for each room with bluetooth capability for your wireless portables to use when entering a room, again depending where is the other end of that wire(s).

That's all I have, will let somebody else jump in with more specifics.

 

[boosted1g]

You are going to need a purpose built amp for this task. There is really no 7 pair (14 speaker) amp only 6 pairs so you will either need to get 2 and cascade them, or output the RCA preamp outs to another 2 channel amp.

Here is one model: https/www.amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-MA1240a-Multi-Zone-Amplifier/dp/B003DKVZHQ
If rewiring the control panels/ volume selectors would not be too hard I would go for this which will give you far greater control: https/www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dax66-6-source-6-room-distributed-whole-house-audio-system-with-keypads-25-wpc--300-585

In regards to wifi streaming you can use any android device, PC, or raspberry PI that can run kodi. or try something like this: https/www.amazon.com/Wireless-Receiver-ANEWISH-AudioCast-Airplay/dp/B01N5FOVAJ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1493070079&sr=8-3&keywords=wifi+music+stream

 

[texwmson]

Thanks to both for your responses. I think that boosted1g's first option, or some variation thereof, might be the way to go. And jsmithepa, you helped me comprehend the language enough to begin to grasp how the system works, so thanks!