Whole House Audio?

[eblend]

Hey guys,

Friend bought a place that has speakers in every room. All the cables from the speakers end up downstairs in the corner. I know they have some soft of multiroom/multizone amplifiers but don't even know where to start looking. Ideally they would have wireless control panels....or is there something even better? He would love to be able to plugin his chromecast into this device and cast from his google music collection directly.

Any ideas, suggestions?

[j3p13x]

I would check out sonos. It works completely from a smartphone/tablet or your computer. I'm not sure if it can import your Google music account but it has built in internet radio and can play everything in your music library. It doesn't require volume controls to be put in the wall as that is controlled through the app. Also you can add as many boxes as you want to the system.

I would suggest getting a few Connect:amp boxes to connect to the speakers.

The other option is multizone receivers which you are hard pressed to find without a contractor or someone who can order them as they aren't usually available at the consumer level. But a rough idea on price, for 6 zones your looking at 3000 + volume controls at each room.

[vw_rabbit2.5]

I recently bought a house that was pre-wired like your friend's house. I just use the speakers to stream music from my ipad/iphone, but the sound from the tv doesn't hook up to the speakers at all, since my speakers are not close to any of the TV's.

Here's what I did (cost me $100):

The house was wired with 2 ceiling speakers in the master bedroom (with an audio control knob on the wall by the light switch), and 2 ceiling speakers in the kitchen with an audio control knob.

The wires were wired to the basement in the furnace room. I had an old receiver lying around (no network capability), so I just bought an apple airport express to make the receiver airplay capable ($100 from best buy).

I hooked the speakers up to the receiver using banana clips, and plugged in the apple airport express to the receiver. I set the airport express to "join an existing network" rather than create a new wireless network. This is important, or you cannot stream the music using airplay.

Once everything was set up, I just turned airplay to "on" in my ipad/iphone, and it works.

I currently just leave my receiver in the furnace room turned on all the time. This might not be the most efficient, but I just wanted a quick and cheap solution.

[rage2]

Originally posted by eblend
Hey guys,

Friend bought a place that has speakers in every room. All the cables from the speakers end up downstairs in the corner. I know they have some soft of multiroom/multizone amplifiers but don't even know where to start looking. Ideally they would have wireless control panels....or is there something even better? He would love to be able to plugin his chromecast into this device and cast from his google music collection directly.

Any ideas, suggestions?
Your problem is that you want to use chromecast, which means you need to find an amp that does HDMI audio, then distribute it out. Then you'll have to do multiroom controls, or have 5 chromecasts + amp combos for 5 rooms.

Everyone and their dog is doing the Airplay method cuz it's so cheap. $100 for an airplay express, $100 for a cheap 60W amp, have a setup for each room and you control everything from an iDevice.

Edit - this amp works well for powering each room in the airplay model.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1007124/cheap-but-good-two-channel-amp

100W @ 100 bucks, and it's got audio sensing to save power.

http://www.meijer.com/s/audiosource-amp100-2-channel-100w-bridgeable-stereo-power-amplifier/_/R-295169?CA_6C15C=330003980000726410&cmpid=capricegrabber

[yellowsnow]

^^

I'm looking set something like this up too... so you need to buy an amp and airport express for every 4 speakers?

any idea how an android phone would work with the airport express? I know there are 3rd party apps that allow you to communicate over airplay, but I'm wondering if anyone has actual experience.

[89coupe]

Spend a few dollars and get this.

www.clarecontrols.com

Best bang for buck.

[yellowsnow]

Originally posted by 89coupe
Spend a few dollars and get this.

www.clarecontrols.com

Best bang for buck.

Which products did you get and what is the pricing?

[403ep3]

I have a very similar setup to the OP.

I use the Yamaha RX-675 multizone receiver and use airplay to turn on/off/increase-lower volume and can play any music on my phone, laptop, or desktop.

[JfuckinC]

Honestly to cheap out you can use Apple airport express'..

Or Sonos as mentioned. Step dad has it in his new and had it in his old house. Seems to like it.

[89coupe]

Originally posted by yellowsnow


Which products did you get and what is the pricing?

Talk to my buddy for pricing.

www.pinnaclehometech.com

[Vdubbin]

I'm planning on using this.

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=109&cp_id=10918&cs_id=1091801&p_id=10761&seq=1&format=2

[sheik_yerbouti]

Originally posted by 89coupe


Talk to my buddy for pricing.

www.pinnaclehometech.com

I agree, Keith is a good guy. His website looks down so check out his facebook page.

[89coupe]

Originally posted by sheik_yerbouti


I agree, Keith is a good guy. His website looks down so check out his facebook page.

His website is working just fine.

Here is his FB site as well, for mobile devices.

https://www.facebook.com/pinnaclehometech