SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

I have just recently purchased a house and it has a sprinkler system in it. I decided to check it out and found out they have way to many sprinklers in the yard and it was a mess....anyways....I have got it the way I want it when and then as I have been looking for wich valve to use I found out that the pipe size that the prior owners used, which is 1.25 inch pvc, is an uncommon size, just to add the the headache caused by the mess that I had to fix from their sprinkler system job. So the question is, they are using 1.25 inch pipe coming from the well pump to each of the zones and I dont know what i should do about choosing the right valve for the job....I want a good inline valve and I have come to the conclusion that I might have to either use a 1 inch with reducers or a 1.5 inch with reducers for my 1.25 inch. The previous owners had no timer or electronic valves and this is very important to me. I don't want to run new pipe to my zones after the hell that i've been through. So, I want to know to maintain the best water pressure should I go with the larger valve or the smaller keeping in mind that I am using a well pump. PLease, any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

the valves in place are just plain pvc ball valves....the water pressure was done with buckets and we calculated about 35gpm....it seems to be very strong flow from the pump cuz i tried to open up both zones 1 and 2, they contain 9 larger rotars with 2gpm nozzels and 5 pop ups with 1.5 nozzeles and the pump sounds even quieter that with just 1 zone on...but some of the zones are going far out and as they get closer to the zone they shrink to 1 inch....i was just wondering if it would be a better idea to go with the 1 inch or the 1.5 since it does have a strong flow...not niagra strength or nothing but strong....i think i'm gonna try the 1 inch reducer and see how that works and go from there....thanks for the advice...I was personnaly thinking 1 inch but wanted to see if anyone else shared that thought....