Multi Zone, Multi room equipment

[masmith572000]

Does anyone have a suggestion on what equipment to purchase for a multi-room, multi zone distribution system?

I want to centrally locate all my equipment and have recessed speakers and wall controlls for a reasonable price. I am looking at Russound right now, but don't know much about the brand, reputation, or even if there are competitors that are decent.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Depends on your budget, size of your home, amount of equipment you want to use, etc.

Sonance, Speakercraft, Niles... I think they all make stuff.

Nuvo also makes a complete package:
http://www.parts(remove)express.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-831&ctab=4#Tabs

(Click link then remove the word remove and the parenthesis)

There is the ever popular (and pricey) gear from Crestron (www.crestron.com) which is beyond reliable and allows you to use the best gear you can find with it.

 

[jcPanny]

Russound info.

My parents had a whole house audio system installed in new construction by a professional. It includes Russound distribution amplifiers and LCD touch pads for background music in 10 different rooms. I thinks the amps only supply about 20 Watts to each speaker, but this type of system allows any room to listen to any of 4 or 6 music sources and has IR repeaters in each room. You have to be pretty familiar with Cat 5 and other wiring for this type of installation and I'm not sure if special programming equipment of software is required.

A lower tech option that I am considering is using a pair of amps from the receiver and connecting to impedence matching volume controls in up to 4 rooms. This only requires runs of speaker wire. I have also investigated an A-Bus based system which are available from russound and several other companies. It requires runs of Cat 5 from the hub to the keypads, and speaker wire from keypads to speakers.