[Andyjc]

Hi,

I'm in the finishing stages of a house renovation.

I've put in ceiling speakers in the 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room and kitchen and the wiring all returns to the ground floor media cupboard.
I've also run 4 x cat 5 and 2 x co ax from each room back to the media cupboard.

Question now, is whats the most cost efficient way of getting multi room audio / video? And whats the best way of controlling it?

My equipment list:
all speakers
onkyo 906
virgin v+ box
nas drive (where all my music and movies live)
macbookpro


thanks for your help!

[DannyBoy1]

My sister moved into a house about a year ago with pretty much the exact same speaker/wiring scenario, she hasn't a clue about av stuff and wants my togo over and sort it out which i'm really looking forward to(see lives over in irelend so i only get over once or twice a year.
Unfortunately I don't have a solution figured out just yet she will not spend more than a few hundred on a solution tops though.

Have you considered having an airport express for each room that way you could use your iphone as a remote and control which speakers are on and off, you'd need a separate amp for each room also though....hmm

I think i'll have to connect an old stereo amp i have to all the speakers and just have the same music playing everywhere simultaniously! with an airport express is the best i can think off at the minute what where you thinking of?
(sorry to hijack your thread)

[Andyjc]

hi danny

at this stage, i'm just trying to get a really cheap solution to tide me over, as my original plans of going down the opus / nuvo route etc will have to wait, due to cashflow!

[Andyjc]

would it be possible to buy a squeezbox and connect up to an amp that has multiple channel outs for speakers?

then i could remotely switch between speakers?

[wysinawyg]

What sort of audio and video are we talking about?

I think a combination of Airport Expresses and AppleTVs gives a pretty low price audio/video combination if you can live within the constraints of iTunes.

You do need amps / active speakers though.

[greenears]

Originally Posted by Andyjc

at this stage, i'm just trying to get a really cheap solution to tide me over

I guess a lot will depend on whether you want differing streams of music to different rooms, or just one stream everywhere.

Not sure if wiring all your speakers to one point was a good idea if you want different streams, but when I had a demo of the Sonos, a major plus point was being able to have all the units in one location... thereby being able to utilise your existing speaker wiring. However, this would not be condusive to your preferred "cheap solution"!!

[DannyBoy1]

Originally Posted by Andyjc

would it be possible to buy a squeezbox and connect up to an amp that has multiple channel outs for speakers?

then i could remotely switch between speakers?

The squeezebox remote looks the business and it works over the wifi network which is great.
One big headache though is what amp to use I'm not sure one stereo amp will drive all those speakers, a 7.1 av reciever can drive 3 pairs of stereo speaker (well my yammy can) but even that's not enough when you have 5 rooms with 2 speakers. Perhaps multiple amps is the way to go?
Any thoughts on what to do about the amp?

[confused88]

Originally Posted by Andyjc

would it be possible to buy a squeezbox and connect up to an amp that has multiple channel outs for speakers?

then i could remotely switch between speakers?

You mean a stereo amp that accepts 2 sets of speakers for instance?
If so, yes of course, I don't see why not and even have them all 4 speakers on if you like.

[DannyBoy1]

Just came across thishttp://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/1385

It seems to turn a normal stereo amp in to something that can drive 5 sets of speakers I think it will let you play an combo you want.

[DannyBoy1]

sorry i'm not too handy with the links google QED SS50 TRANSMATCH 5 WAY SPEAKER SWITCH

[Joe Fernand]

The Transmatch switch simply lets you connect up to five pairs of Spks to a single stereo amp - the Spks all playback the selected Source on the Amp.

You can also use the WM14 Rotary volume control (80.00 GBP each) on three of the five outputs of the Switch to allow you to reduce the volume of individual Spk pairs.

Very few (if any) 7.1/5.1 AV Amps can be configured to do multiple stereo streams with individual volume control per stereo pair.

An amp or mixer/amp aimed at Pro installs will do multiple stereo pairs - some will give you manual volume per stereo pair but not via IR and some may include source routing to give you a Matrix of source to Spk options.

You need some sort of budget to achieve anything like what your aiming to do - in terms of pre packaged systems have you looked at Opus or Systemline.

Joe