In audio terms, a zone is an area in a home, office or other structure to which audio and/or video signals are distributed. With whole house audio, zones are various areas with their own sets of speakers and amplifiers and which can play audio signals from a number of sources independently of one another.

A house with four zones may have a living room zone, a master bedroom zone, a pool zone and an office zone. A Bach CD may be playing for the office zone while the living room zone is playing a FM radio station and the master bedroom is quiet. Video can also be distributed to various zones.

Many mid- to high-end preamplifiers and audio/video receivers feature a second listening zone. There are products available that can create and manage many zones (even dozens). Most zones in a custom installed whole house audio system have a volume control and a source selector located in a keypad or wall-pad somewhere in the zone (on the kitchen wall for instance).