I
am
also very interested in putting something similar at home, so to
summarize:
Most
of the people would like to have one speaker in each room for TTS and would
like to independently control the volume of each speaker (depending on part
of
day, room location, whether music is playing etc.). I would asume that 8
zones
would cover most of the needs.
If
we want to have independent volume control of each speaker, we need to
have separate amplifier for each speaker. Whether they will be
all-in-one
unit or separate, doesn't matter.
Now,
the first question is where to locate those amplifiers. A while ago, I
asked about using CAT5 as speaker cable for HiFi and the answer was NO, but
I
asume for TTS it should be fine. I asume that proper speaker cables should
be
even better. One option is to have each amp in one room, but that's bulky,
requires line level signal to be transmitted (KAT5) etc.
So
better solution is to have all amplifiers in node 0 and connect each
speaker
to it's amplifier with speaker cable.
The
second question is how to control volume of each amplifier. Switching off
is
equivalent of lowering volume to 0. Amplifiers will always be on, to reduce
delay and it seems not to be a problem regarding hiss or
noise.
It
needs to be controlled from PC, so it could be either IR through IR
transmitter or wired via serial.
If
IR, each amp must have it's own IR receiver and they must also have ID code
so
IR commands for volume+ and volume- must be different for each amp
otherwise
they'll all mix up. Probably, it will be very hard to find such
amplifiers.
Therefore wired solution seems to be more likely to work.
But
then, on amplifier side, you need an amp that will accept volume commands
through wire - again hard to find. And you need somehow to connect serial
port
on PC to each amp and route commands to right
amplifier.
Buiding amplifiers themselves is probably too complicated for DIY, I
asume (at least for me it is), to put them in all-in-one device. However
there
are fixed gain amplifiers, where you regulate output by regulating input.
If
there is a device like that irrigation relay board, where you'll instead of
switching relays set up volume (resistence) on each channel that's
it.
There should be no much delay, in first step, you set up volume on
each
channel. In second step you release sound. Where volume is 0, there will be
no
sound.
Does
this seem possible?
Cheers,
Nik
For more information: http://www.automatedhome.co.uk
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