Multi room amplifier

When you say multi-room audio, do you mean playing the same source in multiple locations, or being able to play different, shared sources in multiple locations? Do you want in-wall keypads in each room to control the audio system, or would you prefer to just use a phone/tablet app? How many rooms?

Playing different sources in multiple locations. Phone control is fine. About 4/5 rooms.

Of course like everything it comes down to budget. The easiest solution, especially if you mostly use streaming services, is Sonos. You'd need a Connect:amp for each room - $500 each. The app is very good, and it integrates with some other home automation systems. There are no in-wall keypads, so everything is done through the phone/tablet app.

If you are very budget conscious there is a Monoprice multi-room amp which runs about $6-700 (occasional sales can shave that). It has in-wall mounts (which is going to require you to run Cat5e cable to each of those locations) for each zone. There are no official phone apps, but there a couple of people have put them together. There is an extensive thread on this on avsforum.com

On the mid-level side you might want to check out htd.com It would run around $1-2k and they have some packages which include speakers. It's a mix of in-wall and an app.

Does the multizone controller connect to your receiver? I was thinking of going with the Yamaha MusicCast receiver which would allow me to access it and stream music from my phone.