Hi all, I got help here once before so figured I'd try again.

I am trying to help my technology-challenged parents put the finishing touches on their new home theater system.

Currently they are using a Sony str-ks2300 AVR, with 5.1 surround sound in the living room. All the main stuff is set up and good to go, but now they want to add outside patio speakers...

They already have the outside speakers, total of four (I know that won't be real surround). Two will be mounted up in the corners of the patio, on the house's exterior wall. The other 2 are going inside some rocks on the hill which makes up the back yard. (tiny yard).

Idea is to get a outside speaker volume control and mount it on the patio someplace, but I am not sure how it all gets hooked up. Their handyman said they could just run speaker wire from the volume control to the receiver and connect them to the same speaker ports on the receiver that the inside speakers are connected to, but that doesn't sound right to me. I told him I thought we might also need some sort of an A/B switch, or "Speaker Selector".

Main things they want to be able to do are:

-Listen to the same thing outside as inside

-Control the outside volume while outside, independently from the inside (volume lower inside than outside, or vice versa).

-Turn off outside speakers all together when they're not in use, and have sound only inside

-Not blow up their AVR by having too many speakers connected to it directly

Is the outside volume control all we need, or will this Speaker Selector device or switch of some sort be required?

Thanks in advance for any advice, and if more information is required please let me know.