5- Squeezeboxes do not contain amplifiers so you need to think about what you will use to power your zones. You can either use local systems in each room (messy but allows local FM tuners, CD players, iPod docks etc) or Zone amps that come on when they see a signal (gives you access to your music server, music services like Rhapsody, and Internet radio but no local sources) If you put all your amps in a central location you have to think about how you would get the line level audio from each player to it's remote amp. If you go with local amps you have to think about where the announcement relays will go and what you need to run for announcement audio lines and announcement relay control lines. Another option is to keep everything centralized and use Duet controllers in each zone. which is the cleanest because there is nothing in the room but an LCD remote and the speakers. I have not tried a Duet yet so I dont't have any feedback for you on that approach. With this you lose the nice displays in each room but maybe that is not a priority for you. (Everyone in my house loves the weather displays on my Squeezeboxes and if I ever removed them I would probably be kicked out of the house!)
Mike: Would you mind elaborating a bit on your squeezebox setup? As your squeezeboxes are distributed throughout the house, do you have local amps or a single central multi-amp? If central, how have you addressed running the signal from the squeezeboxes to the amps that you mention? Now I start to show my newbie colours... what is the cable type for RCA cables? Is it just regular speaker wire with RCA connectors? So a lengthy run would need at least 16 AWG then I assume?! Could CAT5 or RG6 coax be used to carry the signal digitally (directly out the squeeze's digital coax output) down to the central location?! Hmm, then what? I'd need an amp with digital input... not even checked that out yet. Sigh... my poor brain, it hurts so much.
As I said in my previous post, centrally locating the amps seems like the safer route. I don't like the idea of having to consider running wire for relays and the like... too scary... too much extra to figure out for now.
So do the squeezeboxes offer you home automation capabilities? You mentioned that the server displays weather and other goodies. But what about other capabilities like initiating events? Does the squeeze server support shooting off events (relayed from a squeezebox) to automation servers, etc.? This would be rather exciting.
Paul
Paul, you are touching on a lot of different topics and they probably need to be separated a bit.
There are 2 major ways to do distributed audio: The first method is to have centralized source equipment (music server, internet radio, CD changer, terrestrial or satellite tuner, etc.), and centralized amplifiers. These systems require both data cabling to remote controls (keypads) and audio cabling to the remote speakers. These are the NuVo and Russound type systems so often discussed here.
The second method is to have a centralized music repository and distribute the music digitally to source equipment and amplifiers located in each listening area. In these systems all cabling is local except the network connection and even that is often handled via WiFi. This is the method used by systems like Sonos and the Logitech Squeezeboxes.
The first method is neater because it avoids a lot of clutter from equipment in each listening area and makes it simple to control the entire system from a central location. The disadvantages are that control is generally from a wall keypad rather than from the actual listening position. also Album/track type meta-data information is usually limited depending on what is supported by the proprietary keypad protocol but this is not usually an issue since it is generally not large enough to be readable from the listening area anyway. Some systems offer a larger LCD display to show pictures of album covers as a song plays. I can't speak to the value of that since I never used to stare at my album covers back when I was playing my music from LPs so I don't know why I would want to do that now. This method is best done in new contruction because it involves a lot of wiring that could be difficult after the walls are closed. It is usually easy to add whole house announcements tothese systems by utilizing special inputs at the central amplifier.
The second method is more modular but but requires space for local components. Using the Squeezeboxes as examples, a typical room will consist of a squeezebox player and a pair of powered speakers. The player outputs sound at line level (same as a tape deck or tuner) and must be connected to powered speakers or a local amplifier or receiver driving regular speakers. While flexible this requires a lot more planning when using built-in speakers because you have to decide where the amplifier will be (hidden in a closet? Visible in the room? In a central location?). The planning is further complicated because the players come as either units with a local display and normal IR remote OR a unit with no display and a WiFi remote with LCD display in the remote.
You could easily put a multi-zone amp (or stack of regular amps) in a central location and have each amp/zone fed by a Squeezebox Receiver. You then have Some number of Squeezebox controllers (the WiFi remotes) in strategic listening areas and use them to control the system just as you would a using the keypad in the first method (except you have a lot more information available and a lot more functions you can control).
You could also stick a player with a display connected to powered bookshelf speakers (I reccomend AudioEngine a5's) and control them locally with an IR remote. You can also do any combination of these and the WiFi controller still controls everything.
The down side of this system (besides the complexity of planning it) is that it is harder to incorporate whole house announcements. If you are mainly using the central amp and WiFi contoller configuration you can take advantage of the fact that all of the speaker wires come together in one place to set something up using relays but if you do not have a comfort level with that type of work then I would would not want to talk you into going this way. Also these systems are good for playing from music servers and Internet music soures but if you need to incorporate other equipment like turntables, 8-Track players, or Reel-to-Reel, then you will want to go with the first type of system.
In answer to your other questions:
A squeezebox system can display messages from a Home Automation system but it is not a Home Automation controller and is not the way to control other devices. Also this is not simple to implement because it is not directly supported by most Home Automation devices and requires you to work with the xAP protocol which might not be where you want to focus your efforts right now.
RCA cables used for connection between a music player and an amplifier are not speaker lines with RCA cables. They are shielded wires carrying line level audio. There are ways to extend them over distance but the best practice is to keep them short (keep the player close to the amp or powered speakers) and save the long runs for speaker wires.
The weather and stock display features are plugins for the Squeezecenter application that acts as the music server for Squeezebox players and are not dependent on any Home Automation application or hardware.
