bhs117
Standard Member
Hi all,
My wife and I are undertaking a self-build later this year and are currently looking at home automation systems to cover a variety of areas including music. We're looking at systems like Crestron, Control4, Elan etc for the home automation element. The sound system is a home cinema set up for a living room (5.1) and tv room (7.1) plus ceiling speakers for a limited number of other rooms to stream music into them. The contractor who is designing the system is proposing a Crestron system with the multi-room audio based on the Sonos digital network streaming hardware and Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers. It would also include: Sonos digital pre amp, Sonos arc soundbar, Sonos active subwoofer, Sonos active satelite speakers, Anthem surround sound audio visual receiver and a Martin Logan active cabinet subwoofer.
The sound system is concentrated on a limited number of rooms but we were looking to expand that by having a cheaper ceiling speaker option in a variety of additional rooms and a few areas outside the house e.g. patio. We're happy with fairly basic speakers for these rooms/areas but the key criteria for us is:
1) cost
2) ability to control the individual speakers as part of the wider home sound system, allowing us to use the audio feeds we have coming in to the central system (e.g. spotify) and to send them to the ceiling speakers. We would want to be able to have different music in different rooms.
3) we dont want to have bluetooth/wifi signals being continually transmitted from the speakers when not in use, so either speakers without bluetooth, speakers where the bluetooth could be disabled or speakers where the bluetooth is only sending out its signal if a bluetooth audio source is connected to it.
4) a wired solution providing sound and power
The other premium speakers are all going to be using a Sonos amplifier but that is too expensive to use to support the speakers for the additional rooms, so I was thinking of either an active speaker which had a built in amp or a cheap ceiling speaker/amp combination. I am unsure whether there would be any other hardware costs/implications to take into consideration for these additional speakers other than the active speaker (or passive speaker plus amp) plus wiring e.g. is there a limit to the number of speakers that can be wired into the receiver. Ideally we wouldn't be spending more than £250 per speaker and a single stereo speaker would be sufficient per room.
Both my wife and I have limited knowledge on AV systems so we were hoping to get some advice on what solutions could work for the cheaper ceiling speakers. Any help would be appreciated - thanks in advance.
My wife and I are undertaking a self-build later this year and are currently looking at home automation systems to cover a variety of areas including music. We're looking at systems like Crestron, Control4, Elan etc for the home automation element. The sound system is a home cinema set up for a living room (5.1) and tv room (7.1) plus ceiling speakers for a limited number of other rooms to stream music into them. The contractor who is designing the system is proposing a Crestron system with the multi-room audio based on the Sonos digital network streaming hardware and Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers. It would also include: Sonos digital pre amp, Sonos arc soundbar, Sonos active subwoofer, Sonos active satelite speakers, Anthem surround sound audio visual receiver and a Martin Logan active cabinet subwoofer.
The sound system is concentrated on a limited number of rooms but we were looking to expand that by having a cheaper ceiling speaker option in a variety of additional rooms and a few areas outside the house e.g. patio. We're happy with fairly basic speakers for these rooms/areas but the key criteria for us is:
1) cost
2) ability to control the individual speakers as part of the wider home sound system, allowing us to use the audio feeds we have coming in to the central system (e.g. spotify) and to send them to the ceiling speakers. We would want to be able to have different music in different rooms.
3) we dont want to have bluetooth/wifi signals being continually transmitted from the speakers when not in use, so either speakers without bluetooth, speakers where the bluetooth could be disabled or speakers where the bluetooth is only sending out its signal if a bluetooth audio source is connected to it.
4) a wired solution providing sound and power
The other premium speakers are all going to be using a Sonos amplifier but that is too expensive to use to support the speakers for the additional rooms, so I was thinking of either an active speaker which had a built in amp or a cheap ceiling speaker/amp combination. I am unsure whether there would be any other hardware costs/implications to take into consideration for these additional speakers other than the active speaker (or passive speaker plus amp) plus wiring e.g. is there a limit to the number of speakers that can be wired into the receiver. Ideally we wouldn't be spending more than £250 per speaker and a single stereo speaker would be sufficient per room.
Both my wife and I have limited knowledge on AV systems so we were hoping to get some advice on what solutions could work for the cheaper ceiling speakers. Any help would be appreciated - thanks in advance.