Thanks for the response, John K. My idea was to simplify my whole system by getting rid of the Niles unit. I also have a Niles speaker selector box (that I didn't mention), which is hooked up to the Carver amp. I thought I might be able to get rid of that too. And I don't think I was clear about my plan. I wouldn't try to run 3 sets of speakers in parallel from the front speaker terminal. I'd run one pr each from the front speaker terminal, back speaker terminal, and surrond speaker terminal posts. And one pair each (through 3 separate power amps) from the pre-outs labeled as front, surrond, and back speakers. So each set of speakers would have its own separate amplifier circuitry. The bigger and/orless efficient speakers (Kefs, Snells) would each have their own separate free standing power amp. The smaller, 8-ohm speakers (NHT Super Ones)would be driven by the receivers 6 separate applification channels. The question is: Can you have a set of speakers connected to the front speaker terminal (driven by the receiver's amp) and another set (hooked up in series with a power amp) hooked up to the pre-outs labeled front speakers? And the same question for the back speaker and surrond speaker designations. I'm also unsure about the ramifications of the receiver's built-in cross-over for the sub woofer. I currently only have one sub (with a built in amp and active cross-over) that I use in my main listening room and I connect it with long patch cords in series between the Niles unit and the power amp that powers my main speakers. So the cross over only effects the frequencies sent to the speakers that are in the same room as my sub.
My main reason for getting rid of the Niles units was to help defray the cost of the new reciever, which, as you said, I really need for its new tuner, as well as all the digital inputs and outputs. I'd like to connect my computer to my stereo and it is over 100' from my stereo. So I'd like to run toslink cable from my computer to a optical digital input in the receiver. I've already tried running 100' of patch cords and the signal becomes very week. I'm assuming the signal wouldn't degrade nearly as much if trasmitted digitally over the toslink (I hope that is not a bad assumption). But I'm also think you may be right: I'd better hang onto the Niles unit and simply connect it to the Zone 2 preouts from the AV receiver. I appreciate your thoughts.
