OTHER TECH

Q. I installed a home theater in my living room (which is essentially a square room) using a ceiling-mounted front projector, motorized screen, and four freestanding Magnepan speakers in the four corners of the room. It's great for watching movies. Then, my wife decided daytime viewing would be better with a plasma in the room. Well, the HT screen is on the west wall, and the plasma had to be mounted on the north wall. My question: What device do I need so I can "reassign" the Maggies by 90º so that I have the correct channel assignments for each speaker depending on the display I'm watching? Obviously I would have to have alternate center speakers. Any advice? Richard Keller Woodland, CA

A. JAMES BUDOW, Owner/Operator, Performance Audio, Santa Barbara, CA, says: The device you need for this is called a matrix audio switcher, which takes low-level analog audio signals via RCA connectors and can direct them from any input on the switcher to any output with the push of a button. A 4 x 4 switcher, such as Calrad's Model 40-830M ($324), has four separate stereo RCA inputs (eight channels total) that can be switched as stereo pairs and with some clever wiring allows the appropriate reassignment of all five channels. The inputs will come from your preamp/processor or receiver's pre outs, and you'll need an external six-channel amplifier to drive the original five speakers plus the second center-channel speaker. Only one of the two center-channel speakers will be active during the viewing. I assume a system of this caliber has a programmable universal remote control. This can be programmed to manage the matrix switcher via infrared signal, so that all actions will be executed with the touch of a single button "macro" command.

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