New home - half baked multiroom - advice please!

[rupertisalive]

Hi there

I am new to multiroom having just moved in to a house that has a half baked effort, but that I am hoping might be the basis of upgrading to something half decent instead (maybe by DIY, maybe by an installer).

The Kit:

Marantz amps with tuner and CD understairs routed to the house via a couple of primitive room control selector units (manual not remote controlled so you have to go under the satirs to select your room...). Most of the rooms in the house have (fairly crappy but that I will replace) speakers that are hardwired to this set up, and there are IR receivers in the walls that route an IR signal back to the amps etc.

So, I can control the amps/CD etc with a remote in any room, but I can't select that room from the room I am in...I have to go downstairs and press a button which, given I have 4 floors, is rubbish!

I am happy to spend a bit of money and throw much of this away, though it seems sensible I use the existing wiring/remote receivers in the rooms?

I would like something that streams audio (not pictures), that is really easy to use - my ideal would be to walk in my bathroom, hit one button that says 'Radio 4' and it all comes on! Then my girlfriend can do the same for 'Radio 1' downstairs as she cooks my breakfast (that's a joke by the way). Ultimate sound quality is not that important, ease of use more so.

It would be nice if the suggestion would include a music server too so we can select our itunes tracks in the same way.

Where do you recommend I start my research? I have no idea...

Thanks!

[Isco 3]

Budget?

[rupertisalive]

Thanks VIP! Hmmm - can be flexible, but wouldn't want to spend much more than 3k, but that's a guess and you might laugh at that?

Thanks again

Rupert

[101music]

Sonos

[hornydragon]

Originally Posted by 101music

Sonos

why? poor solution in my opinion.

What i would suggest is get a pro in to check out the wiring there are system that can do alot more allow room selection and source selsction and control for alot less investment than was previously needed.The cost will depend alot on the installed cabling if it is what i would hope it is then your looking good all you need to decide on is exactly what sources you want where and what sort of interface you want to go with it.

What you want in temrs of hiotting radio stations, ipod listings etc is no problem

PS where abouts in the world are you?

£3k seems reasonable to me as long as cabling is good and there arent more than about 5-6 rooms

[rupertisalive]

Thanks to you both

I am in Camden so would you suggest anyone? I have used musical images in the past but i noticed the cornflake shop off tottenham court road the other day so maybe I should given them a go?

Hornydragon - I recall your name from the scaler/pioneer forums, is that right? my next plan is a 9g pio 60"...

Cheers again!

[hornydragon]

I get all over all sorts of forums Rupert if your planning to add a screen and some other bits its well worth considering these when looking at the multiroom and getting a combined and logical plan of what you want where as you upgrade etc. I dont know of anyone in Camden specifically but do know of people who cover the area in general drop me a PM if you want some numbers etc

[rcoundon]

Originally Posted by hornydragon

why? poor solution in my opinion.

What i would suggest is get a pro in to check out the wiring there are system that can do alot more allow room selection and source selsction and control for alot less investment than was previously needed.The cost will depend alot on the installed cabling if it is what i would hope it is then your looking good all you need to decide on is exactly what sources you want where and what sort of interface you want to go with it.

What you want in temrs of hiotting radio stations, ipod listings etc is no problem

PS where abouts in the world are you?

£3k seems reasonable to me as long as cabling is good and there arent more than about 5-6 rooms

Just out of interest, why do you say the Sonos is a poor solution?
I'm currently using a 2 zone Sonos system with plans to extend to include more rooms. Set up is simple, my wife - a confessed technophobe - is addicted to it, sound quality is good and all at a reasonable price.
So I'm curious as to what you see as the drawbacks of the Sonos system?

[hornydragon]

Originally Posted by rcoundon

Just out of interest, why do you say the Sonos is a poor solution?
I'm currently using a 2 zone Sonos system with plans to extend to include more rooms. Set up is simple, my wife - a confessed technophobe - is addicted to it, sound quality is good and all at a reasonable price.
So I'm curious as to what you see as the drawbacks of the Sonos system?

Originally Posted by rupertisalive

I would like something that streams audio (not pictures), that is really easy to use - my ideal would be to walk in my bathroom, hit one button that says 'Radio 4' and it all comes on! Then my girlfriend can do the same for 'Radio 1' downstairs as she cooks my breakfast (that's a joke by the way). Ultimate sound quality is not that important, ease of use more so.

MAin drawback of sonos really poor radio and no legacy control.

For Rupert all the sonos units would end up in onplace controller range would be poor especially in london meaning zone bridges all over the place. Also sonos isnt as relaible as many stand alone systems cant integrate ipods etc.

There are much better solutions where you have cables available (which can be quite a bit cheaper tha sonos)