Re: Basic setup for zoned listening

["Bill Kearney" <wkearney99@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

There are several things to consider.  If all you want is just the same
audio material to be heard in the other rooms then you need only worry about
amplification.

If you want different material heard simultaneously in different rooms you
need software that supports zones.  Best bet on windows is J.River's Media
Center.  Well worth the $39.  This gives you the ability to *easily* setup
multiple output zones, each with their own playlist.  JRMC supports adding
multiple soundcards.  I've added 4 via USB soundcard devices.  Works great.
I've got it setup feeding 4 output zones into a Russound CAV66.  That
handles the amplification and control quite nicely.  If you want to setup a
DIY rig it gets pretty tedious.  The biggest hassles are having multiple
amplifiers and controlling them.  Doing in-room control means having to feed
some sort of control signals back to whatever's controlling the amps.  Some
folks have had success using RF remotes or even PDAs with WiFi cards.  Or
you could use an IR repeater network; xantech, niles, etc.  But even then
you're faced with something having to recieve those signals and act upon
them appropriately.  I've got a PC running girder (from promixsys) listening
to a usb-uirt.  This, in turn, controls various source devices in addition
to the JRMC application.

Alternatively you could use something like A-Bus.  Each zone is fed via CAT5
cabling and has it's own amp in the keypad.  The keypads handle routing IR
back to the central hub device.  They're usually suitable for up to 4
sources fed to 4 zones.

There are other solutions but most are, quite frankly, a real pain in the
ass to setup and often even worse to use in daily life.  They're getting
"less worse" but most still don't rise up to the level of 'spousal
acceptance'.

-Bill Kearney