The standard speaker selector switch has push buttons that you press to indicate which set of speakers will play the audio from your output source. Typically, these speaker selector switches come with labels that allow you to label each button and assign it to a certain room of the house. These are the most common and least expensive type of speaker selector switch.

If you want to be able to control which speakers play the audio from your chair or any other part of your house, you will want a speaker selector switch with a remote. For example, if you are entertaining guests in the dining room, you could use the remote to play audio in the room without having to walk to the box. Likely, this will impress your guests. Speaker selector switches that are capable of using a remote are a little more expansive than the standard speaker selector, but could be worth it if you don’t want to deal with the hassle of hunting down the speaker selector box every time you want the audio to switch.

The standard type of speaker selector switch is just a knob that looks similar to a light switch and it goes in every room that has speakers hooked up to the central speaker selector box. The knob allows you to control the volume of the audio in the room that you are in, or further switch between sets of speakers in the room itself.  Depending on how much money you want to spend, these are not entirely necessary, but they can be useful if you want to control the volume without hunting down the audio player and turning it up or down from there.

Some speaker selectors are more advanced and include individual volume controls for each output. That way, if you want to blast the audio in the living room and quietly play the audio in the rest of the house, you can.  Speaker selectors with volume control gives you even more control over the audio in your house although they can be a little more expensive.  Also, there are some speaker selectors that come with amplifiers to boost the audio output that is normally being split among several speakers.  Currently, you can purchase speaker selectors that will allow you to control the speakers in up to eight rooms. I have seen speaker selectors made with even more audio outputs, but they can be difficult to find at your local electronics store.

There are a few benefits to using a speaker selector.  Speaker selectors are relatively inexpensive considering what powerful pieces of electronics they are.  As I already mentioned, speaker selectors allow for you to have control over your sound.  If you want to play nice Christmas music while you are eating a nice meal, you might only want the sound coming out of the dining room speakers. A speaker selector gives you the flexibility to do so.  If you are using a simple speaker selector without any volume control, it does not require much power to operate. Even the speaker selectors with amplifiers will not cost you too much in energy expenses.

There are a few drawbacks to using a speaker selector however. The installation can be tricky especially if you are installing volume controls in each room.  You can always hire a professional to do the installation for you.  Also, if you are splitting your signal across several rooms, you might lose signal strength. If signal strength becomes too much of a problem, you can always get a speaker selector with an amplifier.  Overall though, I think the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.  Speaker selectors start at around $20 and go to as high as thousands of dollars depending on the features you need for your house.  You should be able to find them at your local electronics store or just about anywhere online.

After researching the best ways to do this I finally settled on getting a speaker selector. I browsed for awhile and settled on a Niles speaker selector, because they seemed to have the best reviews and a good company history of solid audio.  I ordered online and got it in the mail I think three days later. Okay, let me tell you, I’m no electrician and am not the most handy person when installing electronics and this thing installed very easily. The only trick for me was running speaker wire to my backyard, and installing the speakers in the awning. Taking a saw to your new house can be a little intense. The setup basically involved running my usual wires from the stereo to the speaker selector, then from the speaker selector to my living room speakers, and from the selector to my outdoor speakers.

The Niles speaker selector itself sits comfortably on top of the stereo. Its, small, nice-looking, and generally out of the way. To play music I can use either my satellite TV, my ipod, or I sometimes use my dvd player to play cds. Then if I want to listen to the music outside, I switch my speaker selector over and the music plays outside. I even have a little remote for my stereo that I leave outside and shoot through the window to control the volume. I throw the occasional get together and there is nothing more fun than grilling or soaking in the hot tub with high quality digital satellite music coming through my speakers outside

Having your speaker selector powered also allows for features that passive speaker selectors cannot have. Display screens and lights are the most common. The displays will often tell you the volume levels and active speakers in a very clear way, unlike an unpowered selector, which will have mechanical switches and no information is displayed other than the current toggle of the switch. Having power also allows for higher fidelity audio, so if you are an audiophile you will definitely find it worthwhile to buy.

To use a powered speaker selector it will need to be in a place that is near an electrical outlet. While near the stereo may seem like an obvious choice, it is sometimes convenient to have the selector in an area where some of your speakers are, like outdoors. It is common to have a speaker selector outside and toggle the backyard speakers on or off while outside, instead of having to come all the way in the house to change them. Some speaker selectors have remote switches which if that are the case, you can easily place the speaker selector near the stereo.  If you place the selector outdoors, make sure it is safe from harmful weather. It is also important to cover all the wires, whether by using conduit or running them through walls. Ever location generally has its own set of rules regarding wiring code, so make sure to check with your local code to make sure you aren’t causing a fire or shock hazard.

If you already have a speaker selector and are seeking a powered selector for the purposes of amplification, you don’t necessarily need to start over. You can simply buy an amplifier and place it in the wire circuit somewhere between the stereo and selector. This way the amplified signal will hit the selector and disperse to all the speakers. This can also be a less expensive solution than buying new, but for the most part buying the combo of selector with amplifier is cheaper.

Another important element to watch out for are all the features that come with various speaker selectors. Some speakers selectors have extra features such as individual volume knobs, or remote volume knobs that can be installed into walls. Most speaker selector reviews will cover these additional features, and if they are features you require in your product, pay special attention to that particular element in the review.

Price is always an important item when deciding which product to buy. Speaker selectors come in many different prices, from low-end, low fidelity sound, to incredibly expensive, high fidelity equipment with all the bells and whistles such as built in amplifiers, volume controls, and displays. The reviews of the speaker selector will often discuss the price to performance ratio which will help you decide which speaker selector best fits your budget and your needs.

The speaker selector reviews often mention how easy or hard the device is to install. For the most part, ignore this because all of the speakers selectors will be of equal difficulty to install. The only exception being those speakers selectors which have individual volume control knobs that can be installed into rooms. Running wire and configuring those knobs adds a steep difficulty level to installation, and you may want to have them professionally installed if you desire this feature.

Make sure to take into account the reviews of people who have had, used, and operated the product for a long amount of time. The longer the reviewer has used the product the more likely they will know the pros and cons of the particular speaker selector. Also if the product is still functioning after many years of use, it is a good sign that the product is well-built and will last a long time.

Speaker selectors with volume control are easy to install and setup. They utilize the usual 14 gauge speaker wire to feed the signal to each individual speaker. The input from the stereo or other audio generating device will also need to be in speaker wire format (14 gauge being the standard). However any speaker wire will usually work, including simple twisted pair wire, or any other available wire that can handle two channels.

Some speaker selectors with volume control allow for multiple input sources. For instance you could hook a computer and a stereo up to the device, and choose between one of the two as an audio source, then select a set of speakers to distribute the sound to, and finally control the volume of the set of speakers that the sound is being distributed to.

Imagine having your stereo hooked up to your in house entertainment station. Also you have speakers in the backyard for parties and get-togethers. You can have your stereo output the music to your house at a nice low, indoor audio level, and the speakers in the backyard output loud music (or vice versa).

Some of the selectors will allow for remote volume controls. For instance next to a lightswitch there could be a knob that connects to the speaker selector and controls the volume for that area. This is convenient in situations where different people occupy different rooms, and would like personal control over how loud the speakers are. Other speakers selects that have volume control have the volume control knobs directly on the selector, so when you go to switch which speakers are being output to, you can also adjust the volume.

Speaker selectors with individual volume control come in anywhere from 2 to 10 channels of output. This means you can have up to 10 sets of speakers with their own individual volume control. Because the speaker selectors also sometimes serve as amplifiers they will need to be plugged into a power outlet.

The six speaker selector is probably the most popular because it covers all the basic rooms that people seem to want speakers in: living room, den, dining room, kitchen, master bedroom, and master bathroom.  You gain greater flexibility when you purchase one with volume control. Although the ones with the volume control are more difficult to install, they allow for you to selectively control the volume in each room.  Each room with speakers gets a turn knob that allows for the volume of the speakers in that room to be adjusted. The speaker selector itself only determines if sound goes to the specific rooms or not.

The selector itself will come with push buttons and labels that will allow you to assign a speaker set to each button. There will also be a spot to put a label so you know which button controls which room.  The speaker selector should come with these labels.  If you wish, you can keep your speaker selector visible so you can have easy access to it, or you might choose store it inside a cabinet, it’s entirely up to you.  Many of the 6 speaker selectors do not require power which gives you great flexibility in where you are going to install it.

There are many brands of 6 speaker selectors like Sima and Niles. I would recommend doing some research and reading the reviews on the various speaker selectors as you will quickly find out, there are many on the market.  There should be many reviews on sites like Amazon and Ebay especially for the 6 speaker selectors as they are the most popular on the market.  I’d recommend getting a 6 speaker selector that has some form of protection circuitry that will protect the amplifier from low speaker impedance.  I also recommend having it professionally installed to get the most out of your audio system.