cbell this is how it appears to me. Both volume controls from either Niles or Russound are attenuators with autformers which allow for impedance matching of multiple speakers being driven by the amp. I doubt one is of superior quality to the other with both being very good. Neither manufacturer recommends 12ga wire, they only recommend up to 14ga which I believe would suffice given your application. If I understand correctly what you want to do is hook up your HT as usual with the 950/770 powering your 5.1 setup. Use the two remaining channels on the 770 as Zone 2 and supply the distribution block(not a switcher). Come out of the distribution block and feed each volume control. With this setup you would enable zone 2, set the volume on the 950 to a predetermined value(when you want music in the other rooms)and then you can go to any of your rooms and turn up the volume using the Niles or Russound controls. Both manufacturers even offer these volume controls with IR receivers so you could control the 770 and other sources from the other rooms. Hope this helps.