[Gordab]

Zyxxel Homeplug works fine also (I use the 200mbps version)

In simple terms I have:


Router > Homeplug in one room

Front Room:
Homeplug -> ZP90 <- NAS
|
V
Arcam AVR350

S5 as portable around the house (kitchen/bedroom)

If you really want to use the USB drive, there are devices which turn USB drives into a standard network drive, but honestly if you have a £2k you can get a small NAS within budget.

[mikedouglas]

Hi BlizeH,
I recently bought an S5 and so enjoyed the sound that I went further and bought another 7, also bought a ZP120 for the bathroom, ZP100 to interface with the Onkyo AV receiver. I have a controller and also two Ipod touches with the software to control the whole system.

I can honestly say that I think I made the right choice and the great thing is that if I move home the only thing I have to leave is the fixed speakers in the bathroom ceiling (or patch the holes).

The whole system was so easy to set up.

[blizeH]

Thank you so much once again guys. Definitely going with the Sonos now, think I may start off with just the one S5 and a homeplug, try it in different rooms and get an idea of where exactly I need to buy and where I want them positioned. ie just an S5 in the bedroom, and maybe one on the landing instead of getting speakers wired into the bathroom along with a ZP120 (and wiring both bathrooms to the one unit)

I guess my main thing would be a way to get it to have access to all of my music - a NAS thing as mentioned sounds good, but I might try and get a really small/energy efficient PC under the TV in the living room which I guess I could leave on all of the time, and run the audio from that?

[blizeH]

Just had a look on the Sonos site and it seems you can't manually assign an IP to them, which for me is a real deal breaker as I have NAT disabled and if I don't manually enter the IP address, then I can't connect to the internet with that device.

/sigh

[coolio107]

Originally Posted by blizeH

Just had a look on the Sonos site and it seems you can't manually assign an IP to them, which for me is a real deal breaker as I have NAT disabled and if I don't manually enter the IP address, then I can't connect to the internet with that device.

What exactly are you trying to do? Do you want to assign a public IP address to the device? Or is it DHCP you have disabled? And if so: why?

You might run into trouble with quite a few devices and such a setup, SB Receiver is probably another one. I believe you can manually assign an IP address with the Classic, but I'm not 100% sure.

[blizeH]

Yeah I run some (very small) web servers that all require different public IP addresses - problem is, I've never been able to set it so that these have a fixed/static IP per virtual machine and the rest just autoassigns, not sure if it's possible - at the moment I have a block of 16 IPs and have to manually assign each IP to a device, so my main PC, each virtual machine, all of my consoles, iPhone, and whatever else needs to have a static, manually entered IP address

[coolio107]

Originally Posted by blizeH

Yeah I run some (very small) web servers that all require different public IP addresses - problem is, I've never been able to set it so that these have a fixed/static IP per virtual machine and the rest just autoassigns, not sure if it's possible - at the moment I have a block of 16 IPs and have to manually assign each IP to a device, so my main PC, each virtual machine, all of my consoles, iPhone, and whatever else needs to have a static, manually entered IP address

I'll give my SB classic a try on this.

Why don't you use a two-zone concept with a DMZ (using your public IPs) and another "private" network using DHCP. All you need for this is probably a £50 router. Will give you quite a bit of additional security, though.

Since your "public" machines have a public IP you can still reach them, you just can't reach your "private" network from the "public" machines w/o the use of port forwarding and such.

[blizeH]

Thanks! Can you do that though? So I'd have a static IP assigned to four or five virtual machines, and then a seperate public IP or something whereby I'd just run everything through it, that would be absolutely fantastic! Either cable or ADSL I can get I think, if it helps with setting up stuff like that.

The alternative idea I had was to leave my computer at my parents house and use LogMeIn for a few hours a night - not sure that's very practical though

[coolio107]

You mean you want all this on the same machine? This may be difficult, but you could still add a 2nd NIC (network card) to your machine and use that for the "internal" network. Or you use wired for one and WiFi for the other.
As long as you only use one per VM this should be possible.

[blizeH]

Thanks dude - the only important thing in terms of a static/fixed IP I need is the virtual machines, anything else I'd be more than happy to share a single public IP really. Would I still need to add different network cards (one per VM?!) for that?

[coolio107]

Originally Posted by blizeH

Thanks dude - the only important thing in terms of a static/fixed IP I need is the virtual machines, anything else I'd be more than happy to share a single public IP really. Would I still need to add different network cards (one per VM?!) for that?

I don't know, how do you do that now? If you can run all your VMs with one NIC now, you should still be able to do that then, if not, then not...

[blizeH]

Thanks dude, fingers crossed I can get something in place!

One final quick question about the Sonos - am I right in thinking it'll pick up songs etc from your iPhone, but if you were playing a game or something on there, the S5 won't be able to play the game's audio? I had a good look on the Sonos site and Google but couldn't see anything

[neilball]

Originally Posted by blizeH

Thanks dude, fingers crossed I can get something in place!

One final quick question about the Sonos - am I right in thinking it'll pick up songs etc from your iPhone, but if you were playing a game or something on there, the S5 won't be able to play the game's audio? I had a good look on the Sonos site and Google but couldn't see anything

You cannot stream audio from the iPhone or iPod to Sonos directly, only option is to use a dock plugged into a ZonePlayer as an external audio source create a share to your iTunes library. Note that Sonos cannot stream Apple DRM-protected tracks.

[Ian Mc]

Helping my Mam move to a new apartment... It has structured cabling in place...

Also has cabling back to a HUB area for celiing speakers. So im going to install
ceiling speakers and a multi room audio system.. Now ive used Sonos with a NAS drive before and works a treat...

There are wall sockets at eye height with a single cat5e back to the hub area, i assume these are here if i wanted to install keypads to control a music system... Some are single gang back boxes and a few a dual gang..

so my question is .... Can yous recommend a muti zone music server that uses keypads on walls (Single Cat5e), .As i want to give her the option of using the key pads on the walls...

Regards...


Ian

[Autopilot]

Originally Posted by Ian Mc

Helping my Mam move to a new apartment... It has structured cabling in place...

Also has cabling back to a HUB area for celiing speakers. So im going to install
ceiling speakers and a multi room audio system.. Now ive used Sonos with a NAS drive before and works a treat...

There are wall sockets at eye height with a single cat5e back to the hub area, i assume these are here if i wanted to install keypads to control a music system... Some are single gang back boxes and a few a dual gang..

so my question is .... Can yous recommend a muti zone music server that uses keypads on walls (Single Cat5e), .As i want to give her the option of using the key pads on the walls...

Regards...


Ian

The squeezebox touch is wall mountable and there will be a kit on sale for this.

[Radiohead]

Hi folks

I'm looking at the Sonos S5 range.

I currently have my iTunes library on my iMac (27") which obviously has wi-fi.

Am I right in thinking that I could just buy 3 S5 units and they'll all connect to my router and see my iTunes library or do I need a bridge as well?

[Autopilot]

Originally Posted by Radiohead

Hi folks

I'm looking at the Sonos S5 range.

I currently have my iTunes library on my iMac (27") which obviously has wi-fi.

Am I right in thinking that I could just buy 3 S5 units and they'll all connect to my router and see my iTunes library or do I need a bridge as well?

If you plan to use all the S5's with wireless you will need a Zone Bridge wired to your router. Or you could have one of the S5's wired to the router.

If your spending this kind of money, also buy a NAS to hold your music library. Using a laptop with be a serious PITA long term.

[Radiohead]

Thanks - it's a desktop though, so always on and iTunes lives on a separate Firewire hard drive.

[Autopilot]

Originally Posted by Radiohead

Thanks - it's a desktop though, so always on and iTunes lives on a separate Firewire hard drive.

Oh cool, misread sorry. BTW, do iMac's support WOL? I think they do, might be worth looking into.

[Radiohead]

I think they do yes. Would that mean that using an S5 could power the iMac and therefore the library on?

I won't want to wire an S5 (one lounge, one kitchen and one bedroom) so will need that Zone Bridge.

Thanks for your help with this.

[Autopilot]

Originally Posted by Radiohead

I think they do yes. Would that mean that using an S5 could power the iMac and therefore the library on?

Not sure about WOL and how it exactly works on the Sonos (never used to do it but i think its been implemented now), but in theory yes, thats what many of us do with our Squeezebox's. Works well

[Radiohead]

Great stuff - thank you

[HB2010]

Hi there, a newbie here with a frequently asked question.

Im about to start wiring my house. Wanted to put a good A/V system into the house but budget wont really allow for it now. I don't know a whole lot about AV wiring so any help is welcome.

Upstairs I'll have a small office where all wiring will come back to. At the moment the plan is to run 2 Cat5 cables to TV in living room, kitchen and master bedroom. On a tight budget so but there anything else that would be a must?

Now, the big audio problem. I would eventually like to put audio in most of the rooms, using a squeezebox system.
I going to put speaker cable into most of the rooms. Do I need to have an amplifier in each room? Where would i position the amp, especially in the bathroom? Is it possible to have all speakers run to one main amp? The amps are the thing that are confusing me most.

The plan is to get a squeezbox device for one room and do the other rooms in the future when i can afford to.

I would love a decent enough diagram of wiring up such a system so that I can show to electrician so if anyone has anything id be grateful to see it.

[amcluesent]

>Hi there, a newbie here with a frequently asked question.<

Welcome to the Forum!

There's other areas for discussion about wiring schemes, the Home Automation forum etc. You need to be planning a 'node 0' layout.

There's been discussion of amps for multi-room, such as -

Would like to create a multi room wireless environment for music

Music in the bathroom / downstairs - struggling for the right plan!

6 x Squeeze box receivers controlled by iPhone/iPod, but which speakers/amp?

Your options are really

1) Just run network cable to each room, then have local players with either an amp or active speakers. You can get in-ceiling actives as well as wall-mounted

2) Have a central amp with either multiple channels (i.e. a commercial distribution amp) or one channel amp and a speaker switcher (horrid to use). With this system, you'd maybe not need more than one player, as it could feed all channels on the amp. That compromises multi-zone flexibility of course

3) Use some combination of above with 'all in ones' like the Boom and Radio. I used a Radio (with its battery pack) in the bathroom, Booms in bedroom and kitchen, Touch with amp in study and Transporter with amp in lounge.

[HB2010]

Thanks for the reply.

Ok, i will post my question regarding wiring in the home automation forum.

You mentioned about running network cable to each room. That might be possible but ideally I would like to do have the wireless option.

I would like to have speakers in each zone and each zone could be controlled to play the same or different music. What squeezebox products would be best to do this?

[Joe Fernand]

Wireless is going to depend on many variables so unless you can pre-test your Wi-Fi coverage you can’t rely on it 100%.

Where hard wired is not possible and you have poor Wi-Fi coverage you may want to look at HomePlug from the likes of Devolo.

Joe

[johnykp]

Hi guys, look for alot of advice on this one, im looking to install a multi zone audio setup in my house,however i am a complete noob when it comes to audio, i am planning putting ceiling mounted speakers in 4 rooms and the same again in to bathrooms,i am undecided in my living room as i already have surround sound in place and would like to utilise this if possible,if not then id opt for ceiling speakers again,i would like to play different music in each room,all my music is on itunes,i can run cables just about anywhere so it doesnt have to be wireless,i would like it to be quite minimalistic if possible using a remote for eag room sounds appealing. i currently have a netgear router with a pch in it and as said surround sound in my living room,we have to laptops so i assume a NAS will be neccessary?i can spend anything upto 1k on this,i have looked atthe squeezebox and sonos but they seem rather bulkiy looking.

[iamsgf]

Hi All,

I am trying to put together multi room audio system and looking for some advice. I have read many threads and still not really come to any conclusion as to what would suit me due to differing requirements for set-up. Here is an overview of my project and what I think is required. It would be helpful if someone with experiance could point me towards the right product for the job.

I already have Amps/Speakers/Cat5 Laid and need the following:

1 x Storage Server
Central Control Software (ie PC Based)
Individual Display Controller for each room

The key element to this and where I am having the problem finding the right equipment, is the 'Individual Display Controller' for each room.

I have a 'Mid Level Budget' for this. So not looking for high end products, more entry level type.

thanks

[ro53ben]

A budget really needs to be in numbers, not words.

I personally have Sonos multi-room all over my house, which features portable controllers with displays. Rooms (zones) can be grouped to play the same music, or different music can be played in each area as required.

More details on the Sonos website

[iamsgf]

I was looking at Sonos,

Thinking about using

Zone Player ZP90 in each room with Controller 200 but could not figure out anything about storage device for it. ie would that mean that I would need a Main controller PC, that I would connect the storage device (NAS) too then ZP90's from each room would connect over Cat5 or wireless to main PC to pull music?

I was hoping to find something that was not relient on a Main Controller PC having to be permanently on!