Audio Systems: amp clipping, ceiling speakers, excessive load

Question
I have my amp hooked up to 4 ceiling speakers in one room and two speakers in an other room. the amp has two volume controls.  The amp clips out and has to reset at high volume.

Answer
Most low impedance amplifiers are rated at 8 ohms per channel. Two speakers paralleled  on one channel will make the load 4 ohms and cause the amplifier to nearly double it's wattage translating into heat buildup in it's output stage of the amp. Few amplifiers are rated to operate below 4 ohms. Most amplifiers have safety features to prevent blowing them out when the load is below it's rating.

Going into thermal cut out and shutting off is one safety feature and another is clipping. Either condition usually means that you have an excessive load on the amplifier.

In your case it sounds like too many speakers.

There are serveral solutions: one is that you use volume transformers for each speaker with load matching on the input of the transformer. One brand is called Optimatch. Or you can get a load control devise for multiple speakers like Niles or equivalent Or you can use an additional amplifier to drive some speakers