Help designing a multi zone system

[wolverines]

Hey all, I was hoping you guys could help me put together what I would need for a multizone system. I've narrowed down my search to the squeezebox and one other setup and want to make sure I understand what I need before going out and testing it.

Here is what I currently have: Speakers outside, kitchen, dining room, living room, playroom and basement all wired to a central location. I also have 2 5.1 setups in the basement and family room. In reality it's only 3 zones but I don't have volume controls so I'm looking at 5-6 "zones" so I can avoid the volume controls.

I also have a 12 channel amp in the basement where the speakers come to, along with a PC that has multi channel audio card, and all my music is stored on an HP Media Smart server. The house is wired all over with cat5e (to go along with the wireless) and I have an iTouch and iPhone to control things, along with 2 laptops.

Because there are several products I'm not exactly sure where to start. I think I can use the PC with squeezecenter as a source. I then probably need a few SB Classics or Duet receivers hidden in the closet downstairs to act as zones.

What would you guys suggest for a setup given everything that I have?

Sorry for the long post but I figured the more info I give out the better the answers can be!

[iPhone]

Hey all, I was hoping you guys could help me put together what I would need for a multizone system. I've narrowed down my search to the squeezebox and one other setup and want to make sure I understand what I need before going out and testing it.

Here is what I currently have: Speakers outside, kitchen, dining room, living room, playroom and basement all wired to a central location. I also have 2 5.1 setups in the basement and family room. In reality it's only 3 zones but I don't have volume controls so I'm looking at 5-6 "zones" so I can avoid the volume controls.

I also have a 12 channel amp in the basement where the speakers come to, along with a PC that has multi channel audio card, and all my music is stored on an HP Media Smart server. The house is wired all over with cat5e (to go along with the wireless) and I have an iTouch and iPhone to control things, along with 2 laptops.

Because there are several products I'm not exactly sure where to start. I think I can use the PC with squeezecenter as a source. I then probably need a few SB Classics or Duet receivers hidden in the closet downstairs to act as zones.

What would you guys suggest for a setup given everything that I have?

Sorry for the long post but I figured the more info I give out the better the answers can be!

Hello and welcome to the Forum. Don't worry about the "long post" as yours is really just a baby compared to others and you have questions.

My first concern is that it seems like you have already done a bunch of work that is geared toward a single amp/single location layout. In having all the speaker wire come back to one location and using a multi-channel amp it is very easy to keep the music the same in every room and at the same set volume. But without IR repeaters or an RF Remote, it is harder to change the volume or source without going to the location that holds the source feeding the amp.

Since it seems that just about all the work is done, one solution would be to install a volume control in each room to control that room's volume locally (which is sounds like you don't want to do) and buy a nice RF remote to control the centrally located equipment. Then if you want to stream music with a Squeezebox, you could buy one to three SB3s (depending on if the source for the multi-channel is one of the 5.1 receivers or not) to be a source to stream music (controlling them using iPeng on the iPhone/Touch). The use of iPeng on the iPhone would allow you to control what music and the volume of any Squeezebox feeding the multi-channel amp. To give more accurate advice, we would need to know exactly what equipment is in the current setup and what all you would like that equipment to be able to do.

Another choice would be to scrap (or limit) the multi-channel amp idea and kind of start from the beginning. This would depend on how much money one wants to spend and how much flexibility one has to have. Maximum music flexibility comes from having a Squeezebox in each Room/Zone. In that way, one can play different music at different volumes in any room or Sync all or some of the Players/Zones. At issue with this configuration is that each Room/Zone with a Squeezebox needs either its own amp/receiver or powered speakers or a Boom (as in a bedroom or kitchen). Again, iPeng on the iPhone would be able to control all the Squeezeboxes or using SC on one of the laptops. In the long run this gives the most flexibility and control at the cost of greater equipment outlay.

A hybrid setup might be the way to go and then see if you want to or need the extra flexibility later. Buy three Squeezebox Classics (or 1 Classic and 2 SBRs), one for the multi-channel amp and one for the two surround sound zones. This gives you complete control of the one big zone and two smaller zones to include volume and what music is streamed or synced in what zone. The large zone would not be able to control the volume in each room, but you could control the volume of the room you were in with iPeng and that would be the volume in the remaining rooms of that zone. And as an example to take the kitchen off the main zone and make it its own zone would be as simple as adding an SBR and an old amp/receiver to the speaker leads or disconnecting the speakers from the multi-channel amp and buying a Boom for the kitchen.

Just some ideas of what could be done. Knowing what equipment you have now, what unused equipment you have, and how much money you are thinking of spending, and how much flexibility you HAVE to have would help narrow things down. With the Squeezebox in the system, there are probably a hundred different ways to do it. As I have retired or upgraded equipment, I have used that equipment with a new Squeezebox to make a new zone. For areas like my home gym and office, I have bought specific equipment to handle those rooms. Home Gym has a pair of ceiling mount Thiel Speakers and an auto on sensing amp fed by a Squeezebox Classic (SB3).

[wolverines]

iPhone, many thanks for all the suggestions. Maybe this will help clarify it a little bit. Right now I have a Nuvo GC that I'm pretty sure I'm going to sell. That was supposed to be the system but the mrs. nixed the keypads (and volume controls). I should be able to get a good amount for it since the keypads are brand new unused in the box and the nuvo was hardly used.

I also have a speakercraft 12 channel amp that I got for cheap off ebay a few years ago. It's a beast and can accept individual inputs for each of the 6 sets of speakers. So in theory I could connect up to 6 SBRs to it to create 6 zones. It has auto sensing so it will turn on once the music is playing and turn off after 3 minutes of nothing. If I were starting over I'd go with smaller amps for each zone but I have this so might as well use it.

One of the 5.1 receivers is part of the theatre in the basement (we'll ignore the other for now) and sits in a closet with all the equipment. I just need to send a line out from something to that.

Can a PC with the squeezecenter software installed on it act similar to a SBR or Classic, i.e. sending audio out to the amp? I have a sound card on the PC that sends out 4 streams of audio (delta 410). If that's possible then it limits the number of SBRs I need and allows me to get started on testing the system a little quicker.

Also, is there a benefit to having the squeezecenter software on the HP Media Smart server (all of the audio files on there)? The other PC sitting right next to it (in the same closet in the basement as everything else) is on all the time too.

Thanks. I'm sure the more I think about this the more questions I'll have.

[tcutting]

I would think for your 5.1 setup in your theater, that you may want a "local" player there (maybe a "Classic" if you would be able to see it, or an SBR, OR a transporter for audiophile).
As for using a PC as a player, that is certainly possible. I use squeezeslave on my desktop PC - it has no GUI (as opposed to SoftSqueeze and Squeezeplay, other software players), and has lower overhead. I believe you could possibly run multiple instances on the same machine (each with a unique "virtual" MAC address), but not sure how easy it would be to configure the outputs to the various outputs of the audio card. Be aware, however, that the software players are not as "robust" as the hardware players. You cannot reliably synchronize multiple software players or SW/HW players (they will sync, but getting/maintaining "tight" synchronization is nearly impossible) and they aren't as versatile in terms of range of streams they will play reliably. For local mp3's, FLAC files they work fine. Remote services like internet radio, other services can be more problematic.

[iPhone]

iPhone, many thanks for all the suggestions. Maybe this will help clarify it a little bit. Right now I have a Nuvo GC that I'm pretty sure I'm going to sell. That was supposed to be the system but the mrs. nixed the keypads (and volume controls). I should be able to get a good amount for it since the keypads are brand new unused in the box and the nuvo was hardly used.

I also have a speakercraft 12 channel amp that I got for cheap off ebay a few years ago. It's a beast and can accept individual inputs for each of the 6 sets of speakers. So in theory I could connect up to 6 SBRs to it to create 6 zones. It has auto sensing so it will turn on once the music is playing and turn off after 3 minutes of nothing. If I were starting over I'd go with smaller amps for each zone but I have this so might as well use it.

One of the 5.1 receivers is part of the theatre in the basement (we'll ignore the other for now) and sits in a closet with all the equipment. I just need to send a line out from something to that.

Can a PC with the squeezecenter software installed on it act similar to a SBR or Classic, i.e. sending audio out to the amp? I have a sound card on the PC that sends out 4 streams of audio (delta 410). If that's possible then it limits the number of SBRs I need and allows me to get started on testing the system a little quicker.

Also, is there a benefit to having the squeezecenter software on the HP Media Smart server (all of the audio files on there)? The other PC sitting right next to it (in the same closet in the basement as everything else) is on all the time too.

Thanks. I'm sure the more I think about this the more questions I'll have.

No problem. The more info the better as I always say. Knowing what I know now, Squeezebox is the way I would go. Since you can put an SBR on each Zone Stereo pair input for complete control of that zone (volume, material, sync/unsync). Then that leaves either another SBR or a Classic (if its visible) for the Surround Sound Receiver. Or if the 5.1 Receiver is in the same closet with the Amp and SBRs, you could run the Digital Out of one of the 6 SBRs into the Receiver if it has Digital In. The only drawback is that the Receiver would play whatever that Zone was playing. If the Media Room is in the basement and there is a general zone there also on the Speakercraft amp, that is the SBR I would pick and not buy the seventh unit. All outputs are active on the SBR and Classic (but of course the same song/same volume out all).

Just to make setting it up easier, I would actually buy one Duet and 5 SBRs so I had a Controller (SBC) to setup the SBRs. It would also give you one more Control Device to leave in one of the rooms.

If the PC is on all the time, SC might be best there. I kind of prefer running SC on a dedicated server that also has all my music. My SC server is on all the time. There are several ways currently to have the PC play the files off the HP. I rarely use this so I'm weak in this area. I use SoftSqueeze when I want to play music over my PC speakers (which is rare).

Hope that helps. Any other questions?