Multi Room Project Help

[nerosurge]

Hi everyone! I have a big project coming up and I love to assemble things like this but I need a bit of help with several aspects to this project.
I hope this is the correct thread to post this in, sorry if it is the wrong one.

Anyway this is the project to do, a multiple room audio system that has individual volume and source control.
-There are 6 rooms to be setup.
-Each room has a set of bare wires from the top wall one wire on opposite ends of the wall, appears to be 16g wire.
-The main room is to have a theater setup of a 5.1 surround system, the room has 4 bare wire already installed.
-I need a switch that can select 5 rooms and have last room being able to support surround sound for the TV in addition to basic stereo sources.
-The control for each room should be run off a wireless remote instead of having wall switches installed.


I have done simple audio before but never a multi room setup like this before, so I can use some help in finding out the right components to make this happen.

I'm also looking for opinions on the best speakers for the $400-$800 per speaker/pair range. Some people have told me Sony, Bose and Polk are good for this sort of setup as well as JBL. Also a good website that has a vast selection of home audio equipment, Best Buy turned out not to be what I expected.

 

[FirstReflection]

Wow. This is a challenge!

Ok, first things first, we need to get organized before I can try to offer any sort of help of recommendations, I need to know:

1) a list of all the sources.

2) a break down of each room. Let's go room by room and list how many speakers are needed in each room, and which sources each individual room needs to be able to access.

3) if all 6 rooms are sharing all of the sources, that's going to be a nightmare! It's simply enough to use matrix switches so that any room can access any source, and you can easily have the same source playing simultaneously in multiple rooms. But the problem is control! What if you have one CD player, but four people are all trying to control it from four different rooms at the same time?!

So we need a break down of how many users, how the sources are going to be shared, and how to organize who gets to control what!

4) We need a budget as well.

5) To be honest, you might want to get into some pretty sophisticated DIY whole home automation control. I'm not an expert in that field at all, so if you go down that path, you'll need to seek out better help than I can provide

6) if you just want to use a regular-looking remote control in each room, I can help you there Harmony remotes and RF extenders can get the job done if you'd rather go this route.

7) There are lots and lots of very good speakers in that price range. Sony, Bose and Polk are NOT among them. That was very bad advice whoever suggested those brands for that price range!

8) it will be best to suit the choice of speakers to each room. There are many, many very good online companies. It's unlikely you'll be buying everything from a single retailer. We can work through this room by room, come up with an equipment list, and then find the best prices when you're ready to buy

So yes, the main thing is to go room by room and figure out exactly what is needed in each individual room. Once you have that info for us, we can start to help!

 

[Hookedonc4]

Hi everyone! I have a big project coming up and I love to assemble things like this but I need a bit of help with several aspects to this project.
I hope this is the correct thread to post this in, sorry if it is the wrong one.

Anyway this is the project to do, a multiple room audio system that has individual volume and source control.
-There are 6 rooms to be setup.
-Each room has a set of bare wires from the top wall one wire on opposite ends of the wall, appears to be 16g wire.
-The main room is to have a theater setup of a 5.1 surround system, the room has 4 bare wire already installed.
-I need a switch that can select 5 rooms and have last room being able to support surround sound for the TV in addition to basic stereo sources.
-The control for each room should be run off a wireless remote instead of having wall switches installed.


I have done simple audio before but never a multi room setup like this before, so I can use some help in finding out the right components to make this happen.

I'm also looking for opinions on the best speakers for the $400-$800 per speaker/pair range. Some people have told me Sony, Bose and Polk are good for this sort of setup as well as JBL. Also a good website that has a vast selection of home audio equipment, Best Buy turned out not to be what I expected.

We use control4 to control 11 zones of music and love it. We stream Rhapsody and also have 240 Internet radio stations with our system. One remote or iPhone and iPad...

As for speakers We use James loudspeakers in main room with 5.1 system. Also use Definitive in another 5.1 system. 5 other zones we actually use Polk, kids rm, garage, bath and kitchen.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Worth saying that this is typically the type of project which is handled by a professional A/V integration company, not the DIYer type. But, you do have a number of possibilities, which is far over-reaching without knowing more about your overall budget.

1. Generally every room needs discrete amplificiation. It sounds like you have a room with surround sound (A/V receiver required) and 5 stereo zones for audio only.

2. The 5 stereo zones would typically be fed with a multi-channel amplifier, like this one:
Speakercraft BB1235 12 Channel Big Bang Power Amplifier | eBay
That provides up to 6 stereo zones with discrete amplification.

3. The hard part is that in front of the amplifier you need an analog stereo matrix switcher, which is available, but generally hard to setup/program by end users.

You have things like this:
Amazon.com: Speakercraft MZC-66 Multi-Zone Audio/Video Amplifier Controller - Shelf Top: Electronics

Which include source selection and amplification... Likewise, complete packages like this:
Amazon.com: CHANNEL PLUS MDS-6A KIT 1 6 Source Multi-room Music Distribution Kit #1: Electronics

...are available. I'm not familiar with these types of kits and if they offer RF remote integration of any type.

4. Consider Sonos for the different zones. Most people really like Sonos, and you can buy either five amplified Sonos players or a multi-channel amp (like listed above) along with 5 Sonos zone players. I believe you can access your entire digital music library as well as share analog inputs and it comes natively with iPhone/Android controlability built in.

5. The most typical method of doing this, as a consumer, is putting volume controls in every room and simply running things manually. It isn't that convenient, but it does work. It's a lot less money.

6. The main surround zone needs a standard surround sound A/V receiver. Pick from a long list which matches your budget. Get speakers which are appropriate to the room including a subwoofer. To get audio into the A/V receiver use the HDMI connection from your sources and/or the digital audio connection. Save the analog audio connections for your distributed audio.

7. Custom solutions, like Control 4, Crestron, and AMX also provide a very high end solution which must be custom installed. They are pricey, but they won't really give you any headaches over the long term. I've had my Crestron home system installed for about 7 years without a single headache. Similar situations with my customers. About $700 for the controller, $600 for the audio matrix, then the amplifier, speakers, and installation/programming time. So, not cheap, but extremely reliable.

As said, there are many ways to approach this, but your budget will figure a great deal into the final quality of the product. At $300+ for in-ceiling speakers, you have the budget for a very nice setup, and it may be worth it to hire a company locally that can simply set everything up for you properly and provide the best product for you. This is up to you.

 

[ACsGreens]

Source out..

I would recommend hiring a CI Audio/Video company for a project like this for a couple of reasons...
1) You will not have someone recommending Bose speakers to you
2) Getting the project done and done correctly the first time is worth it's weight in gold, and any future problems should the occur can be deferred to them. Most reputable companies can make this seamless for you and will be able to provide future assistance.

If this may be an option let us know where you live and there may be someone here to recommend in that area.