The 10 Best Speaker Selectors

Anyone sending one receiver to four rooms gets volume and protection in a single box with the Monoprice SSVC-4.1. Every room has its own knob and on/off button, and built-in circuitry keeps the load on your amp from dropping too low when all of them play together. Separate left and right grounds make it safe with bridged amps, and the screw terminals take heavy wire. It accepts only one source, so you can't flip between two stereos.

Two stereos and six rooms is the job the OSD Audio SSVC6D was built for. One front button flips the whole house from one amp or receiver to the other, and each room gets its own stepped volume knob. A rear switch sets how much protection the amp gets, but you have to choose the setting that matches how many rooms play at once. Its terminals won't take the thickest speaker wire.

For a big house on a budget, the Monoprice 108230 switches up to eight pairs of speakers from a row of push buttons. Its protection circuit keeps the amp safe no matter how many zones are on, and a switch turns it off when you want more power through to fewer rooms. Stickers come in the box for labeling each button. There are no volume knobs, so every room plays at the level set on the receiver.

The Pyle PSS4 is a plain, low-cost switch box that sends one amp to as many as four pairs of speakers, with a button for each. A protection button adds a safety load for the amp when several pairs run together, though it trims the volume a little. Spring clips grab bare wire without tools. It expects 8-ohm speakers, and with lower-rated ones you should keep it to a pair or two at a time.

When the switch should live on the wall instead of a shelf, the Pyle PVCS2 fits a standard electrical box and looks much like a light switch. Two buttons pick speaker pair A, pair B or both. Wiring lands on a screw terminal block on the back. Cable run inside walls has to be the in-wall rated kind, so check local code, and with both pairs on, keep the volume moderate because nothing protects the amp.

Hobbyists who like to compare two amps or two pairs of speakers can do it from the couch with the Douk Audio VU3 Pro. Two glowing needle meters bounce with the music, a remote does the switching, and relays inside make a clean break between choices. It also shields tube amps from running with no speakers attached while you swap. It needs a small USB power cable for the meters and relays, and it handles only two pairs.

Two toggle switches let the Prozor 2-Way Switch work in either direction: one amp to two pairs of speakers, or two amps to one pair. That suits anyone keeping a vintage receiver next to a newer amp. The metal case and spring clips are simple and sturdy. When it's wired to two amps, only one switch may be on at a time, since tying two amp outputs together can damage both.

Each of four rooms gets its own volume knob on the Pyle PSLSW4, along with an on/off button and a master switch that silences everything. The metal case sits on a shelf beside a receiver, and the rear screw terminals take common speaker wire. It's made for 8-ohm speakers, and with no automatic load protection, playing every room loud at once can strain a modest receiver.

Large homes and small shops with a dozen zones can run them all from the Monoprice SS-Pro 12. It takes two sources, chosen with a front knob, and push buttons turn each zone on or off. Monoprice says matching transformers inside keep the amp safe as zones are added. There's no volume control per zone, so pair it with wall-mounted volume knobs in the rooms that need them.

The Prozor AS005 gives four pairs of speakers their own buttons, plus a master switch that cuts every room at once. Prozor rates it for low-impedance speakers and for long wire runs, which suits ceiling and patio setups. It's a newer box with few owner reports so far. There's no protection circuit, so playing every pair loud at once can push a receiver below the load it can handle.