Do I interpret this correctly to mean that the only place where you could not stand with a remote right now and hit a sensor is out by the pool? If that is so, then you don't need to worry about sensors for the dining room and family room.



Huh? Not all speakers are in use? All speakers are turned off? All speakers sound like crap so I never turn 'em on? Okay, sorry about the sarcasm. I don't get what you are telling us here.


Anyway, it looks to me like the Xantech switcher is the simplest and probably cheapest approach, if I understand that first point above correctly. Out by the pool? That's a bit of a problem because of sunlight; look for threads here or advice from Xantech about how to deal with IR sensors outdoors.

You could use a Xantech waterproof keypad out by the pool, with macros built into it so that a few controls will do the speaker switching you want, something like
"only pool speakers on," "all speakers on," and then commands for the amps and such. If you are going to use a keypad and you are far from the system, you might as well use its ability to control other components.