Re: Whole House Audio Questions

["egelbeertje" <r_d_k@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Funny this came up, I was thinking about same line... currently have
4 zones of audio with ir remote control, but since these are powered
by receivers I can select different sources in all zones and even
change the tuner presets, only drawback : on mp3 it plays the same in
all zones so I was thinking of adding an extreamer to every receiver
on the mp3 input which would enable that option.
Will follow this with interest.
Rob

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Stuart Grimshaw" <stuart@s...>
wrote:
> On Fri, 04 Jun 2004 08:22:38 -0000, markttay <markttay@h...>
wrote:
>
> > I am in the process of building a new house, and aim to
incorporate
> > many HA features. One thing I plan to do is install a whole house
> > audio system. I would like to eliminate the use of IR in the
house
> > and control everything from a browser interface on Ipaqs or
similar
> > via a wireless network. I also cannot afford to shell out a
fortune
> > on proprietary systems from Linn, Crestron and the like. I have
been
> > experimenting with a Barix Exstreamer and have found them pretty
> > good, particularly the ability to control playlists etc. via a
web
> > interface. I plan to have and Exstreamer (or similar) for each
zone
> > in a central location connected to an amplifier wired to sets of
> > speakers. I believe that a centralised system will be easier to
> > maintain and there is less chance of signal degradation running
the
> > speaker output across longer distances than line level.
>
> I'm not sure I would go this route, you will get a much more
flexible
> system by having the extreamer/slimp3/rio/whatever in the room
where you
> are listening, each connected to it's own dedicated amp.
>
> It just seems daft to me to shell out on a device like the
Extreamer and
> then have them all located centrally like that. Perhaps you might
have
> more joy looking at some of the other streaming media devices that
come
> with built in amps? There are plenty about (check out
> www.automatedhome.co.uk for some reviews), but I'm afraid I don't
know the
> specifics of the amplification they offer.
>
> > The other thing that would be a nice to have is to use the whole
> > house audio for sound from TV and video sources that would also
be
> > centralised. I was thinking of using something like Keith Doxey's
> > Kat5 Switcher (if/when it arrives!) or a Nexus for the video
signal
> > but have the sound come from the appropriate zone in the whole
house
> > audio system. I am not sure about being able to synchronise the
> > video and audio though. I would be very grateful for any thoughts
or
> > suggestions.
>
> Barix also have a product called the InStreamer (is it still a
beta
> product?), you could use one of these to distribute the audio from
> whatever source you like. I'm sure there are other devices like
the
> InStreamer to look at too, but that's the only one I know.
>
> --
> -S