I have a 990 and currently use Zone 2 to run 4 sets of speakers (i.e. 6.5" ceiling mount, 25w sustained/50w peak, 8 ohms, and 88dB sensitivity) in 4 different rooms throughout my house (i.e. kitchen, dinning room, living room, and office). To accomplish this, I have the 990 Zone 2 connections going to the Left and Right connections on a 7125 (the other 5 7125 connectons are used in my main zone for the Center and 4 Surrounds); and then the 7125 Left and Right connections go to a Phoenix Gold speaker selector (6 selectable zones), which I use to select and run one, more, or all of my current 4 sets of Zone 2 speakers. Note that I use my Zone 2 speakers for background ambiance and thus while the speakers suit their purpose quite well, they are definitely not supposed to be mistaken for reference quality. Accordingly, as noted above, I run the 4 sets of my Zone 2 speakers in parallel (with 1 set or all for sets running simultaneously) through a single set of Left and Right 7125 amplifier connections.

However, I now want to add to my system 4 to 6 "good quality" outdoor rock speakers as well as 1 or 2 good quality outdoor rock subwoofers--although I am fairly new to this game, I guess I must now officially admit that I have gotten the audiophile bug! Given that (i) I have 2 open zones in my Phoenix Gold speaker selector, (ii) I want to have access to the same source material (mostly CDs) as would be available and playing in my current main zone and Zone 2, and (iii) I am all out of additional Zone 2 amplifier connections, I believe I could simply add the outdoor speakers onto one or both of the 2 open Phoenix Gold zones. However, I want the outdoor speakers to have a little more refinement and punch than my current Zone 2 ceiling setup (e.g. something closer to my NHTs in my main zone than my ceiling speakers in my Zone 2), which seems to me to be improbable if I simply add good quality outdoor speakers and subs in paralell to my existing 4 sets of Zone 2 speakers all of which could (and likely would) be running simultaneously through a single set of Left and Right 7125 amplifier connections.

Given the above, my questions are as follows (and you may assume my knowledge is limited if you haven't already guessed that based on my questions): (i) can the 990 Zone 2 output be split and fed to two different amplifiers (i.e. my current 7125 running the single Left and Right set of connections for the inside portion of Zone 2 plus another amplifier for the outside portion of my planned Zone 2 addition), and if so what do I need to accomplish this and be mindful of while while doing it; (ii) assuming the answer to (i) is yes, is there any way to adjust the volume of the outdoor portion of my planned Zone 2 addition separately from the inside portion of Zone 2 (or at least further increase the volue outside as I would think I would want the outdoor speakers louder than the indoor speakers); and (iii) again assuming the answer to (i) is yes, what is the best way (and any alternative ways) to add/incorporate a sub on a conventional two channel stereo system as is the current Zone 2.

Any thoughts or insights would be appreciated. Also, let me know if upgrading my 7125 to a 7200 would make any difference in your thoughts and insights as I will be making that upgrade in the next few months to lesson the load on the current 7125 7 channel amp.

Ed.