Oops, of course I meant 500 TOTAL watts, 100/channel.

I would go with glaro's suggestion. and buy a good Denon receiver..

Here's why I'm leaning against buying a Denon:

1. I just bought my Sony 4 months ago, and really like it. I don't want to pay $$$ for a Denon right now -- I made that decision then for the same reasons I would now. The Sony serves my needs for many years.
2. I don't want to be running two receivers. It's much simpler to have a dedicated amplifier with zero features except to amplify. The Sony can handle everything else through the preout RCAs. I'm leaning toward one from Russound or Xantech. While they're expensive, at least they're the best at what I want them to do -- drive my house speakers -- and don't add any extraneous features.
3. If I were to buy the Denon, then split the signal via a speaker selector, I'd be paying roughly the same or more as buying a dedicated amplifier, but the speakers would get less juice. It seems to be an increase in flexibility I don't need.

mwl001,

Get a second amp for zone 2.

Make sure the amp has auto on/off, so a signal arriving at its inputs powers it on, no signal puts it to sleep. I install the Integra ADM2.1 but others do the same at 100 watts. That's 20 watts per channel per zone approximately, which should do you for most listening.

For simplicity, use a Soundolier or Audioplex 6 zone speaker switcher that has amplifier A/B inputs. You can turn any speaker on and off and feed it from the main zone amp (your Sony) or the zone 2 amp. They may have volume controls for each zone as well.

Hope that helps. A simple setup.

=Tom

[email protected]

Smarthome isn't the only source for these items, but it's a good place to shop.

Up to 8 speakers from 1 amp, one source: [Link: smarthome.com]

Switcher for up to 6 speakers, one source: [Link: smarthome.com]

Volume control, 2, 4, or 6 spkrs, 2 sources: [Link: smarthome.com]

Amp for six pairs of speakers, six sources: [Link: smarthome.com]

Need separate amps?: [Link: smarthome.com]

These items and other stuff: [Link: smarthome.com]

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

what's nice about the denon is that you can have seperate sources in zone 1 and zone 2.. someone can watch a dvd while your listening to the radio in zone 2.anyway you have the sony --so i guess all you need is an amp---i would recommend sonance,also sherbourne makes a pretty good amps. i am a dealer for both if you have a hard time finding em.