Whole Home Audio Question(loaded)

O

ozzlvlosis

Audiophyte
I've recently tore off all the sheetrock from my entire first floor in order to rewire the outlets and switches from BX to Romex so I can make it nice and neat and wire it how I want from my electrical box.
While I have the bare bones of the house showing it's the perfect time to wire up a "whole home audio" system and while I've spent the last few days researching possibilites I seem to not be able to find that one unit that lets me do what I envision. So.. here is what I'm trying to do...

I would like to have 2 speakers in each room
Kitchen
Bathroom
Living Room
Bedroom
with the possibility of adding 2+ more zones down the road

What I'd like to do is be able to play music from my phone wirelessly with the ability to select the zone (from my phone) as well. For example, If I'm listening to a song in the living room and I decide to cook, I'd like to be able to transfer the audio to my kitchen speakers.
I also would like to be able to play music from an input device such as an ipod or cd player
I would like the ability to play from different sources in different rooms. For example If I'm in the bathroom listening from my phone, I would like a friend to be able to listen to music in the living room from their phone.
I also want the ability to be able to "group" these speakers together incase I want to play music through the whole house.

I've looked at the Dayton DAX66, Sonos5, and Chromecast options

The drawback of the Sonos is having to have a different ($300-$400) amp for each zone. Plus i'm not 100% sure I'd be able to play aps like spotify.

The DAX66 looks very organized and powerful and is a single unit as opposed to the multiple SONOS amps I would need but it seems like I would have to use the wall keypads for power and volume and that seems to defeat the purpose. One idea I had was to just add a couple bluetooth receivers as inputs.

The Chromecast AudioI just recently looked into and seems to be the cheapest option with the most freedom and I havent been able to find any downsides which scares me that I might be missing something.
i figure I could go Chromecast Audio to HDMI converter(to rca) into an Amp and wirelessly control groups of speakers I select on their ap. I've read playing music through wifi is better quality over bluetooth

As I'm looking at my bluetooth light switches I will be installing which lets me physically OR WIRELESSLY control the brightness of the bulb, I'm very surprised that a single unit with all these capabilities I'm looking for doesnt exist. I thought it would be out there and I would just be taking a hit to the bank account but I cant find anything and I even had a rep from Crutchfield telling me it doesnt exist yet.

Thank you for reading and any help is appreciated. If anyone can shine some light on these options including more pros or more cons to each or even a better option I would be greatful.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Audioholic Jedi
I've recently tore off all the sheetrock from my entire first floor in order to rewire the outlets and switches from BX to Romex so I can make it nice and neat and wire it how I want from my electrical box.
While I have the bare bones of the house showing it's the perfect time to wire up a "whole home audio" system and while I've spent the last few days researching possibilites I seem to not be able to find that one unit that lets me do what I envision. So.. here is what I'm trying to do...

I would like to have 2 speakers in each room
Kitchen
Bathroom
Living Room
Bedroom
with the possibility of adding 2+ more zones down the road

What I'd like to do is be able to play music from my phone wirelessly with the ability to select the zone (from my phone) as well. For example, If I'm listening to a song in the living room and I decide to cook, I'd like to be able to transfer the audio to my kitchen speakers.
I also would like to be able to play music from an input device such as an ipod or cd player
I would like the ability to play from different sources in different rooms. For example If I'm in the bathroom listening from my phone, I would like a friend to be able to listen to music in the living room from their phone.
I also want the ability to be able to "group" these speakers together incase I want to play music through the whole house.

I've looked at the Dayton DAX66, Sonos5, and Chromecast options

The drawback of the Sonos is having to have a different ($300-$400) amp for each zone. Plus i'm not 100% sure I'd be able to play aps like spotify.

The DAX66 looks very organized and powerful and is a single unit as opposed to the multiple SONOS amps I would need but it seems like I would have to use the wall keypads for power and volume and that seems to defeat the purpose. One idea I had was to just add a couple bluetooth receivers as inputs.

The Chromecast AudioI just recently looked into and seems to be the cheapest option with the most freedom and I havent been able to find any downsides which scares me that I might be missing something.
i figure I could go Chromecast Audio to HDMI converter(to rca) into an Amp and wirelessly control groups of speakers I select on their ap. I've read playing music through wifi is better quality over bluetooth

As I'm looking at my bluetooth light switches I will be installing which lets me physically OR WIRELESSLY control the brightness of the bulb, I'm very surprised that a single unit with all these capabilities I'm looking for doesnt exist. I thought it would be out there and I would just be taking a hit to the bank account but I cant find anything and I even had a rep from Crutchfield telling me it doesnt exist yet.

Thank you for reading and any help is appreciated. If anyone can shine some light on these options including more pros or more cons to each or even a better option I would be greatful.
You are going to end up with a nightmare. All this wireless control if far from all it is cracked up to be.

A big fundamental mistake is thinking you can convert HDMI to RCA you CAN NOT. That is an illegal conversion. You probably have seen cables on the NET that show an HDMI plug on one and and RCA cables on another. These DO NOT work, and for obvious reasons. They are frauds.

Probably you best bet is the Sonos system for what you want to do.

The rep from Crutchfield was correct. What you want does not exist.

If you want different programs in different rooms, then at the current time your best bet is individual systems on each room and forget about interconnection at this time.

If you are going to put new cabling in the walls then my most important piece of advice is this. Put all cabling in generous sized conduit so you can change cabling as technology progresses and your needs and desires change. This way you can change cabling easily without opening up the walls.
 
O

ozzlvlosis

Audiophyte

I've seen a few video likes this where people use an HDMI audio converter when using Chromecast Audio. How is it illegal? These are sold in stores like bestbuy.
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord

I've seen a few video likes this where people use an HDMI audio converter when using Chromecast Audio. How is it illegal? These are sold in stores like bestbuy.
It defeats the HDCP protection
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Audioholic Jedi
It defeats the HDCP protection
I'm thing we are wrong. Being old and senile I forgot there was an audio only version of Chromecast. I don't think most music is HDPC protected. CDs certainly are not and I doubt most streams would be. You can stream almost any audio stream and send it from a computer without HDMI.

Obviously a DVD audio or BD only audio disc would be HDCP protected, and I would bet that Chromecast audio only device would screen those sources out.

I have not used that audio Chromecaster as all my systems are AV. So I use the common one.

So yes, I suspect an audio only HDMI to analog converter is legal whereas and AV one would not be.

There have been many attempts to protect CDs and other music sources with encryption, but because the horse is out of the barn with the legacy CD system it has never gone anywhere.
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
Really, you want to break it down into the pieces above all else.

1. You want audio in a number of rooms. Stereo audio, at the very least. Double check rooms that may require four speakers, or outdoors zones, etc. Make a comprehensive list of every single room you want audio in! This includes rooms and spaces you may not think you want audio right now, but speaker wire is cheap, and drywall/painting is not only expensive, but sucks.

2. Consider, very carefully, if you only want wireless control of the rooms. A keypad by a door or other convenient location in each room may be a great way to start/stop music in that room and allow for volume control locally in that room without having to pull out your phone and go to the correct application.

3. Pick a main equipment location that is sufficient. A bunch of wires coming out behind your family room equipment is rarely the correct answer. You can't easily manage cabling there and you rarely have enough room for your family room equipment plus your distributed audio equipment. This can be a huge headache in the long term. I recommend a storage location with plenty of front and rear access to gear and good ventilation for your electronics.

4. Now wire your home. Wire it to the hilt! Cat-5e to keypad locations is perfectly fine, and I would use 14/4 wiring to each room (left/right speakers). You get all your stereo zones done properly. Make DARN SURE! you wire each cable accurately.

5. Pick your sources. Sonos is great AS A SOURCE, but it requires a lot of units to do your whole home. Instead, pick one Sonos unit to act as a source. Then you also want to get perhaps Bluetooth, or AirPlay or Chromecast devices which can plug into your distribution and amplification devices. Treat your sources as a separate line item from the amplification and source selection.

6. Pick your distribution device. This may or may not include amplification.
A good whole-house audio distribution system does exactly what you want. It allows any of your sources to be routed to any of the rooms in your home. You can individually pick a single room, or run the same source to multiple rooms. Each room retains individual volume control. So, your family room can match your kitchen and outside, while a different source plays in the bedroom. With keypads, local volume control setup is right there as you walk in/out of the room. Press a button, turn it on, press a button and turn it off.

Want phone control? Many of the distributed audio systems do allow for this.

My baseline recommendation:
http://www.htd.com/Products/Whole-House-Audio

You can check them out. They have phone control, 6 and 12 source options, built in and separate amplification, and really nail the points you are trying to hit. They offer keypads, and you can use them along with your phone, or just your phone, or whatever.

Why is this not all built into one cohesive unit?
That's really a silly question. Technology changes constantly! Amplifiers do not really change, and are expensive. So, if you have a Chromecast built into an amplifier, and Chromecast 2.0 comes along, you have to buy $250 worth of amplifier to get the latest and greatest. Plus, half the world wants one thing, and the other half wants something else... Then, two years later, they all want something different. By separating everything, it gives you the greatest flexibility you could hope for.

FINALLY: If you have a HDMI source, there is nothing illegal or wrong with extracting audio from it. It does NOT violate any rules of HDCP in any way. There are tons and tons of HDMI audio extraction units on the market from major manufacturers. It does not defeat HDCP in any way, but allows for audio to be de-embedded from the HDMI stream. There are also digital to analog audio converters (DACs) for sources which also offer digital coaxial or optical outputs which work very nicely. For example, I use my Roku and AppleTV devices in my distributed system by using DACs to give me an analog audio feed.
 
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