Dayton AudioMA1240a Multi-Zone 12 Channel Amplifier

This is the second one I have ordered. My first one is 9 years old and still performing well.

Great amplifier and works as should and having separate channels is a huge help.

When I moved into my house four rooms and the outside were professionally wired for audio, but they didn’t leave the amp… for the next 10 years I settled for a single zone inexpensive 100watt amp and distribution switch since it wasn’t a priority. This sounded fine at low volume, but was ineffective for the outdoor speakers.I decided to up my game so I could have some decent tunes while in the pool. So far I’m very impressed with this amp. I have wall volume controls in each room, but the ability to control the max volume for each speaker has allowed me to insure my kids can’t crank the volume inside excessively loud ( I capped these are at 35%) and pump up the max to the outside speakers (gain is at ~75%).The setup is very easy and the instructions very clear. For the price I think this is a great choice. I almost splurged on the more expensive model with the built in AirPlay, but I appreciate the physical switches on this one.The auto turn on (trigger) and turn off work great. There is almost no lag when the audio source starts feeding signal. I’m using an AirPort Express using AirPlay, and that has a mini phono (stereo headphone) to RCA feeding it.Here are my CONS in order of importance (no show stoppers):In bridge mode, it does mix the channels to mono, but you can’t control the left and right speakers independently for the bridged channel/zone. Only the left gain is used and it controls the max volume for each speaker in the pair. I didn’t have this level of control before so it isn’t a show stopper, but since the one of the exterior speaker is close to a seating area and the other isn’t (pointing to the pool) independent control would have been nice. BTW, I used bridge for to power boost and because stereo didn’t make sense with the speakers outside.The gain control for each speaker is very small and is on the rear. It can make tweaking things more inconvenient. Also, it necessitates having some sort of volume control either at the speaker or at the audio source, because you won’t be using these to control volume day-to-day.The amp has a slight hum when running. This doesn’t bother me because the amp is mounted somewhere without people regularly near, but if you were in the same room it could be annoying.This isn’t really a con, but be aware this is fairly large and fairly heavy. If you are putting it on a shelf, make sure you have room for the speaker wires and the power connections. This probably adds another 1.5 inches to its depth, and I’d recommend at least 2 inches so you’re not squishing everything.

Here is how I set up the system. I set up 6 zones downstairs that were pre-wired before the house was completed. I wired directly to the speakers, not using a volume control in each zone. I bought 12 Alexa Dots and 6 3.5mm to RCA converters. Then I attached 6 of the dots to the RCA inputs for each zone on the amp and put each of them on mute. I also placed a an Alexa dot in each zone. Then I named each dot carefully. The dot in the Kitchen is named "Kitchen Dot" and the dot in the closet for that zone is named "Kitchen Speakers" This allowed me to tell any dot, anywhere in the home, "Alexa, play music on the Kitchen Speakers" and the dot in the closet streams the music to the speakers. You can also tell Alexa to "Lower the volume on Kitchen Speakers", so I avoided having to install or purchase volume controls in each zone. I am going to buy another unit for the upstairs zones now. Alexa also has Groups, you you can group multiple Zones together and say "Alexa, play music Downstairs" and it streams to several zones. I also have a group I call "upstairs intercom" so, I can stream "Reveille" in the morning to get the kids to head downstairs for breakfast.Update: I added the second amp for the upstairs zones and everything is working as planned. I have 24 Alexa dots running the two amps and the kids love that they have control over every room in the house and what music is playing on the ceiling speakers. I made a few groups, Like "Master Bedroom" group, that plays in Master bath, office and bedroom, in Alexa to allow multiple zones to play the same music as well. Also made a "Main" group that plays on all the common area speakers. Update: Alexa now allows me to make a dot a member of more than one group, so the office is now part of "All Downstairs Speakers" group, but not part of the "Downstairs" group (which is just the common areas).

I purchased this back in late December and was very happy for ... less than 3 month. One of the zones went down and I can't get it fixed under the warranty. Amazon saying they cover only 30 days (even though on their support page it says 90) and Dayton support was the worse I've ever seen. After a number of phone calls and emails they "ok" to give me warranty (because I purchased not from them), but I have to mail it on my dime (and this is a heavy unit so we are not talking pennies on shipment) and wait for replacement, because I again didn't buy from them and hence not eligible for an "advance replacement". So, I'll have to be without audio in my house for unknown period because one zone going down in less than 3 months. Unacceptable service from both Amazon and Dayton sides. Stay away from it (even though product itself is not bad other than breaking too fast).