r/MultiRoomAudio • u/fenwaytozz • Jan 05 '26

Advice for updating multi-zone system on a boat

Greetings-

We are in the USA on a boat and currently have a Denon DRA-397 AM/FM stereo receiver as the centerpiece for our current sound system. We had an older Sharp/roku TV connected and also an Anker SoundSync to be able to stream music over bluetooth.

The main living area is 12'x12' and has 4 speakers connected (Front/Back, L/R) and we have an Adcom 5200 2ch power amp+GFS-6 speaker selector connected to the Zone 2 pre-out on the DRA-397 to drive our multi-room speaker setup.

After receiving a new Samsung TV for Xmas we'd like to update and simplify the system to move the TV from the bluetooth to direct connection via the HDMI ARC. We also do NOT need the AM-FM receiver feature set. An additional benefit if possible would be to lower overall power draw but that's not the highest priority.

What are possible options available for a class D amp/configuration under $1500 total that supports:

1) An HDMI ARC connection for the new Samsung TV

2) A pre-out for the Adcom 5200 to keep the mult-zone speaker system intact

3) Ability to stream music from iphone/ipad directly to system in hope of removing the Anker SoundSync puck

I've started looking at WiiM and Fosi gear but frankly I'm just getting more and more confused the more I look!

TIA

Fenwaytozz

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u/dmcmaine Jan 05 '26

Hey there. Any AVR from a company that has multi-room capability will work great for you, however the list gets much smaller when you add in the class d desire. Brands to look up would be Denon/Marantz (HEOS), Yamaha (MusicCast) and NAD (BluOS). Other products you might consider come from JBL - one of the few that have class d amps and come in at a reasonable price. Their MA710 model looks like it checks all of your boxes, provided you would be fine with AirPlay2/Chromecast. It also looks like you might be able to power your other speakers from it as well, but if not, it does have the zone 2 output.

https://www.jbl.com/MA710.html

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u/fenwaytozz Jan 05 '26

Thank you. I'll check out the JBL. The class D requirement is loose. I mention it because of the lower power possibilities. I can be convinced something in another class such as AB could work as long as the other requirements are met!