How are you guys managing your whole home audio?

[deranged]

Mine is a little mixed.

For the main parts of the house I use the AB8SS to handle 4 sets of in wall speakers for Music/HS (A/ announcements. The Amp is handling the audio switching for FM Radio, CD Player, Satellite radio. The AB8SS is serial controlled the rest is IR controlled.

For other areas of the house I am using the AVS8x8 with 3 Amps to switch 2nd FM Radio, CDPlayer, satellite radio, TV Audio, MP3 Music for 3 other rooms. Along with some video and cameras.

The Sirius Satellite radio is from my Dish Network Recievers for those rooms and all IR is controlled by HS through the Ocelot.


StevenE

 

[gduprey]

Just to weigh in on what seems like a slightly different tack, all music is sent around the house digitally. I have touch screens in the walls at several places around the house and each screen has a set of in wall or in ceiling speakers.

Since the touch screens are full-out computers, in addition to running the user interface software, they run software that can accept incoming streams and direct them out to the computers audio ports. Those feed into amps (I've found car amps the best bang for the buck and size, but any good quality amp could work) and then the speakers.

Those familiar with the Slim devices (SLiMP3) will get will see this as familiar. Each touch screen actually runs a C version of SoftSqueeze (called squeezeslave) and as such, you can control the sound coming from any area from any area. By default, the sound controls at a touch station are for that station, but press a button and you can select any station and then play/queu/stop/pause/etc music, change volume, etc. You can even control what is playing at each station from a web browser (nothing magic there -- that is standard with the Slimserver software (free)).

Because we use the slimserver, we can stream any music content we have. I can also stream any internet streaming audio source and now, thanks to some recent good linux drivers for the RadioShark, you can play live FM or AM radio from anywhere in the house (granted, eveyone has to listen to the same station, but the station can be changed remotely).

Finally, the same thing I use for my touch screens can be used on each persons PC to let them select/listen/etc music/radio they want.

Skips the whole switcher, I/R, speaker cable and control cable runs around the house and is pretty powerful control wise.

Gerry

 

[johnnynine]

I got a ton of cheap 12V trigger & signal sensing 2ch, 4ch, 6ch amps off eBay so I could customize the wattage to the zone. That's the engine behind the whole-house audio.

IVB, can you please give an example. I'm not sure what "cheap" and "12V trigger & signal sensing" mean here.

 

[IVB]

It's a mechanism to leave your amp "off" and have it automatically turn itself on when needed.

12V means 12volt trigger. Many pre-amps, such as my ZPR68, have 12V outputs which get turned on when they turn the zone on. If you have an amp with a 12V input, you just run a cable from the ZPR68 12V output for that zone to the 12V input on the amp. Then, when the ZPR turns on the zone, it'll also send 12 volts across that line, and the amp will know to turn itself on. I have a Sherburn 2/150A amp, which has this.

Another option for auto-turn on is "signal sensing". This means that the amp can tell that there's audio coming over the input cables, and it'll turn itself on. The nice thing is that you don't need another cable for the 12V cable, and you don't need a pre-amp/switcher that has a 12V output. I have 3 Parasound zamps that have both 12V and signal sensing. I only hooked up the RCA L/R and left in signal sensing mode.

 

[johnnynine]

Thanks for the explanation IVB, that makes sense now.

 

[upstatemike]

Because we use the slimserver, we can stream any music content we have.

Gerry-

I assume you mean that you convert content to a digital format on your hard drive and then stream it. You can't stream CD or FM directly? Also, what is RadioShark?

 

[Ripper99]

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/radioshark/

 

[electron]

Gerry, which touchscreens do you have installed? Do you have any pictures of them?