Over the years, various audio distribution systems have been developed for use in homes and buildings to broadcast audio over multiple listening zones, such as rooms or other living spaces. As an illustrative example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,322 issued to Farinelli et al., discloses a multi-zone audio distribution amplifier system having a housing to store modular, cascadable amplifier units. Each amplifier unit includes an input port for receiving an input stereo signal, at least one amplifier circuit to amplify the input signal, and an output port for providing access to the amplified stereo signal. Speakers in various rooms receive the amplified signal from their respective amplifier in the housing. With the Farinelli et al. system, each amplifier is dedicated to amplifying an audio input signal for playback in a listening zone via dedicated speakers.
While the Farinelli et al. system may be suitable for applications where an audio signal is generally distributed to all zones at the same time, or particular audio inputs are generally directed to particular audio outputs, this prior art audio distribution system may be less than optimal when considerable flexibility is required for directing a number of audio sources to different zones.
What is needed is an improved audio distribution system with greater configuration flexibility which may overcome some of the limitations of the prior art.