cindycchan
Standard Member
Multi-room audio advice/opinions on Nuvo vs Living Control
Please excuse the length of this posting its my first one and I thought I'd better put down as much info as poss. It's probably also a reflection of the fact that Ive managed to confuse myself through information overload and so I would be very grateful for any help
Im planning to get a multi-room audio system (plus other AV equipment) installed and had an initial specification drawn up by a very reputable company. My apartment has just been renovated and all the cabling (Cat5) and wiring (speaker and HDMI) has been installed according to this specification. However I have decided not to ask the same company to complete the installation owing to the very disappointing level of customer service. This has left me with the issue of finding another company to come up with a proposal and to install the system. I now have design proposals from three different installers and Im undecided about which one to go for.
Some info about the apartment and wiring:
Room 1: Open-plan living room, kitchen/dining
TV Screen, 2 x rear in-ceiling speakers, 3 x front in-wall speakers and wire for sub, HDMI and data point
Room 2: Main bedroom
TV Screen, 2 in-wall speakers, HDMI and data point
Room 3: Bedroom 2
2 in-ceiling speakers, Cat5 wiring for keypad
Room 4: Bathroom
1 in-ceiling stereo speaker, Cat5 wiring for keypad
Room 5: Shower-room
1 in-ceiling stereo speaker, Cat5 wiring for Keypad[/INDENT]
Here are details for the different proposals:
Initial Proposal:
Distribution of audio and video (from a dedicated server) to three zones from a Passive Technologies media server (250GB) using Rotel comms and Crestron via wall-mounted Rotel keypads and a web-tablet.
This came to a total of 23k for all equipment (tv screens, speakers, media server, surround sound amp, DVD player, web-tablet, installation, programming etc ) which I now think is quite an excessive sum to spend on an apartment of only 70sqm. And no discount was offered on any of the equipment.
Proposal 2 & 3:
Both suggested Living Control to distribute audio but not video Ive decided that I dont need video distribution.
Quotes came to 16-18k which is much more in line with what my budget will allow.
Proposal 4:
Suggests an installation using the NuVo Grand Concerto
Cost ?? - I have yet to be given a price but they keep telling me that it will be much cheaper than Living Control
I seem to have spent hours pouring over details for each system trying to work out which to go for but I just cant decide so would appreciate some help.
So far Im favouring the Living Control for a number of reasons:
The hard disk is 400Gb (vs 160Gb got NuVo)
The music server comes with a CD player
There is an NT Control box that can be controlled using a web-tablet (which would be handy as there is no wiring for keypad in the main bedroom)
Pros for the NuVo are:
Cost (although I dont know this for sure)
Keypads look nicer.
My main questions are:
1. Does anyone have any views as to which system is better?
2. Does anyone know how much I should be looking to pay for installation and programming? The figures from each quote vary by quite a lot and I dont know if it would be a mistake to simply go for the cheapest install cost. As far as I can see the install will require fitting the in-wall/in-ceiling speakers, wall-mounting the screens, fitting the keypads, setting up and programming the equipment.
Thanks in advance
Cindy
Please excuse the length of this posting its my first one and I thought I'd better put down as much info as poss. It's probably also a reflection of the fact that Ive managed to confuse myself through information overload and so I would be very grateful for any help
Im planning to get a multi-room audio system (plus other AV equipment) installed and had an initial specification drawn up by a very reputable company. My apartment has just been renovated and all the cabling (Cat5) and wiring (speaker and HDMI) has been installed according to this specification. However I have decided not to ask the same company to complete the installation owing to the very disappointing level of customer service. This has left me with the issue of finding another company to come up with a proposal and to install the system. I now have design proposals from three different installers and Im undecided about which one to go for.
Some info about the apartment and wiring:
Room 1: Open-plan living room, kitchen/dining
TV Screen, 2 x rear in-ceiling speakers, 3 x front in-wall speakers and wire for sub, HDMI and data point
Room 2: Main bedroom
TV Screen, 2 in-wall speakers, HDMI and data point
Room 3: Bedroom 2
2 in-ceiling speakers, Cat5 wiring for keypad
Room 4: Bathroom
1 in-ceiling stereo speaker, Cat5 wiring for keypad
Room 5: Shower-room
1 in-ceiling stereo speaker, Cat5 wiring for Keypad[/INDENT]
Here are details for the different proposals:
Initial Proposal:
Distribution of audio and video (from a dedicated server) to three zones from a Passive Technologies media server (250GB) using Rotel comms and Crestron via wall-mounted Rotel keypads and a web-tablet.
This came to a total of 23k for all equipment (tv screens, speakers, media server, surround sound amp, DVD player, web-tablet, installation, programming etc ) which I now think is quite an excessive sum to spend on an apartment of only 70sqm. And no discount was offered on any of the equipment.
Proposal 2 & 3:
Both suggested Living Control to distribute audio but not video Ive decided that I dont need video distribution.
Quotes came to 16-18k which is much more in line with what my budget will allow.
Proposal 4:
Suggests an installation using the NuVo Grand Concerto
Cost ?? - I have yet to be given a price but they keep telling me that it will be much cheaper than Living Control
I seem to have spent hours pouring over details for each system trying to work out which to go for but I just cant decide so would appreciate some help.
So far Im favouring the Living Control for a number of reasons:
The hard disk is 400Gb (vs 160Gb got NuVo)
The music server comes with a CD player
There is an NT Control box that can be controlled using a web-tablet (which would be handy as there is no wiring for keypad in the main bedroom)
Pros for the NuVo are:
Cost (although I dont know this for sure)
Keypads look nicer.
My main questions are:
1. Does anyone have any views as to which system is better?
2. Does anyone know how much I should be looking to pay for installation and programming? The figures from each quote vary by quite a lot and I dont know if it would be a mistake to simply go for the cheapest install cost. As far as I can see the install will require fitting the in-wall/in-ceiling speakers, wall-mounting the screens, fitting the keypads, setting up and programming the equipment.
Thanks in advance
Cindy