Can I do this? (and how)

[ahreno]

I dont know where else to ask this since it's not completely home theater related... but it's close.

In my kitchen (and bathroom and bedrooms) I want to be able to have a HTPC hidden away somewhere. I want this to show on a small LCD (either computer monitor or tv) in the room... controlled via a remote (will probably be XBMC or something similiar). I want the audio from this to go through some in wall speakers in the room controlled by an inwall volume controller.

That part shouldn't be too hard. However (and here's the part i don't understand) i want to have a jack in the wall (rca probably) so that I can plug in a laptop or mp3 player (or anything really) and be able to switch the input to that so it will play over the in wall speakers. How can i do this?

So I guess ideally for me... the wall plate would have a knob volume control as well as a the ability to switch between at least two inputs.

 

[nov0798]

Sounds ike you need an intercom system!

 

[mdesmarais]

It sounds like you are going to have a PC in every room? If so, you could just use the line-in on the PC, and use the volume control on the PC too. . .

 

[jlehnert]

Are you doing any whole house audio? One of the A-Bus manufacturers (OnQ-Legrand IIRC) has a provision for local audio source. It was/is made so you could connect an iPod into the wall and play it through the room speakers. That could do the trick. Only problem might be with the input levels, i.e. headphone output from the iPod vs line-level from the laptop.

 

[ahreno]

I don't need to do whole house audio if i can get this to work. All my media is digital and can be streamed through XBMC or whatever front end I use. If I absolutely need to I can just put a cheap receiver in each room and control things that way. I figure though if all my walls are open there has to be a cleaner way to do things.

Amplified Volume Control with I/R 4-Input 10WATT 3.5MM Jack White

That seems to be very close to what I want... however it falls short in a couple ways:

4 inputs doesn't work. I have 3 bedrooms & Kitchen & Bathroom... I would need at least 5 inputs.
i dont like the idea of each room having the ability to select the other rooms as an audio source. Seems like that adds a lot of confusion possibilities to non tech users.

If I do just have a computer in each room can i have it hidden in a counter or somewhere with a wall mounted 1/8" jack that feeds into it? Then how would I feed the audio into the ceiling mounted speakers? just hide a small receiver in each room as well and abandon the centrally located amp?

 

[drozwood90]

What are you using for your Home Automation software?

I have a script I use to control my whole house audio. I just use multiple sound cards in my server.

10 Zones so far...at a total cost of about $90.

--Dan

 

[ahreno]

Dan... I don't have anything setup and going... I'm just starting. I'm seriously considering the Nuvo Essentia at $1600... which is a lot of money for me but it does pretty much exactly what i want if i put a cheap PIII computer in each room...

I'm looking at either an Elk or Hai system

 

[potts.mike]

If your patient and watch ebay you can find nuvo gear for much cheaper than 1300. You also might look at thin clients, they are not the quickest machines but they are cheap and easy to maintain with a low power draw.

 

[ahreno]

If your patient and watch ebay you can find nuvo gear for much cheaper than 1300. You also might look at thin clients, they are not the quickest machines but they are cheap and easy to maintain with a low power draw.

what do you mean by thin clients? Do you mean for the HTPC in each room or in place of the Nuvo?

 

[mdesmarais]

If I do just have a computer in each room can i have it hidden in a counter or somewhere with a wall mounted 1/8" jack that feeds into it? Then how would I feed the audio into the ceiling mounted speakers? just hide a small receiver in each room as well and abandon the centrally located amp?

This is pretty much what I was saying.. .. use the input of your PC to feed the local source. Use the output of your PC to feed an amp. Use the volume control on your PC. The amp can be next to the PC- it does not need a volume control, you would be using the PC for that. All switching goes on in the PC too.

Not saying this is the only solution, but it is pretty simple if you have the PC right there. Centralizing the amps or PCs is good for other reasons, mainly control, but you will have a lot more wiring to do.

Personally, I use multi-output sound cards in a central server with a central amp. But I don't have local feeds, and my volume is controlled via touch screen or X-1o RF remotes. Housebot ties it all together.

Markd

 

[TLCNORM]

Why so many PC's? Why not go with the Nuvo and use 1 PC with a Delta audio 1010 sound card?

 

[ahreno]

Why so many PC's? Why not go with the Nuvo and use 1 PC with a Delta audio 1010 sound card?

Will that allow me to play 8 different mp3's in 8 different rooms OR in either of those access a local source (assuming i run wire from an RCA port in the wall to the sound card)?

The reason for the multiple pc's is to have the multiple input per room and the ability to watch a file in the bathroom / bedroom AND kitchen at the same time as well as stream a different mp3 in each bedroom.

I would love to not have to have a pc in each room but I just can't wrap my head around how I would do it anhy other way.

 

[TLCNORM]

Why so many PC's? Why not go with the Nuvo and use 1 PC with a Delta audio 1010 sound card?

Sorry not to think this one through. I am not an expert on this since I am only using 1 zone output and 1 source input. I do know with winamp or Jriver you can have different zones playing different mp3s from the same computer. I have a touchscreen in my kitchen that I plan on using to control the different zones, the only problem is that I only have 1 amp at this time. I have all my speakers home run to a speaker selector and each room has a volume control. I use an Audiosource amp 100. Pretty good/pretty cheap. I know a lot of guys use portable devices and software like Netremote and Girder. I think a lot of guys use the Nokia 770 or a similar device.

Check out Jilsons thread, I am following his work myself:

Jwilson home

I have also been very interested in Bfisher also:

Bfisher

And of course IVB does some cool stuff:

IVB

As for local inputs I am not sure how to handle that. Have you re considered Nuvo or HTD?

 

[IVB]

I have the Delta 410 soundcard with 4 stereo pairs, and yes, that allows you to render 4 concurrent streams.

Ok, now that the physical of this is out of the way, how many people are there in your household? Folks commonly confuse sources (# of concurrent streams) with zones (# of rooms).

If you only have 4 people (you/wife/2 kids), then you only really need 4 concurrent mp3 streams. There's no way you'd personally listen to a different song based on which room you're in. Rather, you'd want the same song in any room you're walking between.

But to go one step further, seriously what are the odds that you/wife/both kids are:
A ) All listening to CDs at the exact same time
B ) All listening to different CDs in different rooms at the exact same time

In my household I've never even used 2, it's inevitable that the wife or I are watching TV and the kids are listening, or vice-versa. That said, i've still got the physical infrastructure all ready to go for 3 concurrent streams, but I removed it from my GUI as it was adding complexity that was truly never used. My kids are only 7 & 5, so i'm sure this'll change as they get older, but by the time they're teenagers they'll want to be the same annoying, sullen brats I was, and listen to their iPods on headphones so they can shut out the stupid adults who just don't get it cuz they're so damn old. In which case I don't even need a stream for them

 

[ahreno]

I have the Delta 410 soundcard with 4 stereo pairs, and yes, that allows you to render 4 concurrent streams.

Ok, now that the physical of this is out of the way, how many people are there in your household? Folks commonly confuse sources (# of concurrent streams) with zones (# of rooms).

If you only have 4 people (you/wife/2 kids), then you only really need 4 concurrent mp3 streams. There's no way you'd personally listen to a different song based on which room you're in. Rather, you'd want the same song in any room you're walking between.

But to go one step further, seriously what are the odds that you/wife/both kids are:
A ) All listening to CDs at the exact same time
B ) All listening to different CDs in different rooms at the exact same time

In my household I've never even used 2, it's inevitable that the wife or I are watching TV and the kids are listening, or vice-versa. That said, i've still got the physical infrastructure all ready to go for 3 concurrent streams, but I removed it from my GUI as it was adding complexity that was truly never used. My kids are only 7 & 5, so i'm sure this'll change as they get older, but by the time they're teenagers they'll want to be the same annoying, sullen brats I was, and listen to their iPods on headphones so they can shut out the stupid adults who just don't get it cuz they're so damn old. In which case I don't even need a stream for them

There are four people in my house. Me / Girlfriend / two renters.

I don't think we'll ever use 4 cd's at the same time. Not sure if "CDs" are the key term there. It is pretty likely though that we would have four different mp3's playing at the same time however. Person in the bath ... person cookin ... two people in their bedroom. that scenario is pretty likely to happen once a week. Of course we could survive without the ability... but that's not why we're here.

The reason i'm concerned with sources is the way I want it to work.

I want each room to have a way to control a centrally located mp3 library (and video if certain rooms). I also want each room to be able to have an external source plugged in and override the mp3 playing. This allows a guest to play music while cooking (yes i do have friends that come over and cook ) It allows my girlfriend to play her ipod while in the bathroom... it allows the roommates to hook an xbox 360 in their bedrooms to utilize the in ceiling speakers instead of junky tv speakers...

So doing the math... I have 3 bedrooms a kitchen and a bathroom (and may add a second one) and I wouldn't cry if i had a zone left over for the deck and one for the living room (though the home theater in the living room can handle things on it's own). So that makes 5 zones with 7 or 8 being ideal.

5 sources is pretty much minimum since Each of those rooms should be able to control their own mp3 source. Since I want an input in each room that pretty much means another source for each room right? If i use a HTPC with Aux in then I can keep it at one source per room as long as i can find a front end that will work that way.

Each bedroom has a tv and the bathroom and kitchen will too..

The Nuvo Essentia does allow control of mp3s in each room as long as you add a $450 part to send the meta data to the control panels. The nuvo doesn't have a local source in the control panel so i'd have to have another wall plate with either RCA or 1/8" jack in it running all the way up to the PC

The advanced solution from HTD has a local input built right into the keypad and also has RCA wall plates for each room as an override which is really nice. However it doesn't allow for selection of mp3's locally.

Both systems hover around $1600.