I totally agree with the above two posts. If you just use the one amp , you wont have enough power, if you ar ein a surround mode, then the signal sent to the rest of the house will also be in surround, (not what you want), you want two channel stereo, the volume from the surround amp is the same volume that you will have in the rest of the house. With the second amp you can have two different volumes, one for the home theater, one for the rest of the house. If possible add volume controls to you rooms with speakers for better adjustment in each room, if thats not possible get a sel box with vol controls built in, they are kind of pricey, but it will be worth it in the long run, especially with 3 ore more zones. (not counting the theater room)

My 2
cb1