Recommendation sought regarding whole-house audio
I'm adding a second floor onto my house, and it has turned into a gutting of both floors. Basically, all the ceilings and floors are open to the joists and studs, and I'm planning on running cabling for 4 speaker-pairs on each floor.
I've got 2 Onkyo tx-8511 receivers that output ~140W/channel into 4-ohms (if I remember correctly), and was thinking I'd retask those on a panel in the basement to drive the system; one amp driving each floor.
From there I've run 12AWG feeds to a central location on each floor, and plan to have a 4x distribution panel for local control.
Here lies the question:
What is the best way to balance the impedance of the system?
The amps need to see a 4-ohm load, but if I run 4 separate impedance matching volume controls, it would appear that I'd actually need 4-ohm controls (they all seem to be 8-ohm) set up in a series-parallel configuration.
The solution that seems to be the best is to get an autoformer based 4-way speaker selector for each floor, with integrated volume controls, and mount it through-wall with a bezel so that the faceplate is accessible in a central location (hallway). The resistor-based units seem ok, but I'm not sure I want to sacrifice independent volume controls.
Any recommendations? I'm trying to avoid spending tons of cash, but that would include NOT killing my amps  thanks!
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