Ask S&V

Q I want to upgrade my receiver but have been out of the loop for a few years. My budget is $1,000. What I am looking for is to get surround sound in my TV room and also power a pair of outdoor speakers. Is there a receiver that will let me play music outside and adjust everything while simultaneously getting surround sound in my TV room? Or do I need a two-receiver setup for that? --Mike Mulhall

A There are plenty of receivers well within your budget that will do exactly what you’re looking for. The Onkyo TX-NR636 7.1-channel receiver ($500) for example, has a powered multi-room audio output (also known as a Zone 2 speaker output). This feature lets you divvy up the Onkyo’s 7 amp channels so you can listen to 5.1 audio via your TV room speaker system and also route music from a separate source to stereo speakers in another room or outdoors. The one catch is that you won’t be able to “adjust everything” from outside using the TX-NR636’s IR-based remote control. But as long as your home’s Wi-Fi extends outside, you can use Onkyo’s Remote App for iOS/Android to operate the receiver with your smartphone or tablet.

While the Onkyo -- and many other similar receivers -- will give you what you want, you should be aware that not all 7.1-channel receivers at the lower end of the price spectrum can route signals from their digital inputs (HDMI, optical/coaxial digital) to a second zone. In many cases you are limited to sources connected to the receiver’s analog inputs, or networked ones such as Internet radio, Pandora, etc.

That caveat doesn’t apply to all budget 7.1-channel receivers, however. Denon’s AVR-X3000 ($500) offers the same features found on the Onkyo but also supports Zone 2 output from digital audio sources connected to its coaxial and optical digital inputs. Climbing further up the price ladder, you’ll find receivers that can route PCM stereo audio from HDMI sources to a Zone 2 output as well. The advantage to this is you can use sources that only have an HDMI output -- Apple TV and certain model Roku boxes, for example -- for second-zone music listening.