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judetf
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| Posted: July 01 2008 at 08:27 | IP Logged
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I'm ready to add some speakers in and around my house (at this point I don't have any WHAS or structured wiring).
My plan is to only install a single zone (ie, only one source so all speakers will play the same thing at the same time).
My plan is that music will come from my PH computer (iTunes or whatever), piped through a stereo receiver, split to the different sets of speakers. Somewhere in there I will have to put in impedance-matching "stuff" - my understanding is that i can either get an impedance-matching speaker selector, or get a basic speaker distribution panel and then get impedance-matching volume controls for each set of speakers.
What I want to do is have an Insteon KPL in each room with speakers, and use PH tricks to control the music (easy enough). But what I would _love_ to be able to do is have the KPLs also be able to control the volume for the particular set of speakers in that room (and not just control the volume on the computer).
So, that's where I'm stuck. Has anyone incorporated PH, Insteon and a Whole House Audio System in such a way that they can use an Insteon device to control individual volume in a given room?
I am trying to do this with basic AV components - I don't really want to purchase a dedicated WHAS system... And I'd prefer to do it the less-expensive, more-complicated/convoluted way...
Any thoughts on a way to make this happen would be much appreciated!
Thanks.
jtf
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traviskleckner
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| Posted: July 01 2008 at 09:54 | IP Logged
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Not exactly an answer to your question, but maybe a solution to your problem...
I've got pretty much the same setup as you. I've got 4 rooms on the first floor that have speakers. Each room has it's own impedance matching volume control. All the wiring home runs to an amp in the basement next to the server that's running Winamp and Powerhome.
Two of the rooms have KPLs with buttons for next, previous, change play list and play/pause. The volume controls are in boxes right next to the KPLs (technically the boxes are on the opposite sides of the stud so it's easier to segregate the high and low voltage wiring).
Just my 2 cents worth.
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nadler
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| Posted: July 01 2008 at 10:58 | IP Logged
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I can get you almost there.
Look at the AB8SS. http://www.hacs.com/ab8ss.php.
It provides for 8 pairs of speakers and 2 different amps and is reasonable in price. You can turn each pair on and off through PH using RS232 or IR (or X10) I think. I use the KPLs to control volume (but it's every room at once ) but I also use KPLs and PH to mute each room individually.
They have a new product, the ESS, which seems to have individual volume controls for each pair which it looks like you can control through PH and thus the KPLs.
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judetf
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| Posted: July 01 2008 at 13:25 | IP Logged
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Oh, that's very close. This sucks though. I'm sure there must be a reason, but I find it very surprising that what I'm looking for doesn't exist without a specialized "complete" package. With all of the volume control devices out there, that none can be adjusted remotely so strange...
Thanks for the thoughts. I am going to keep looking for a single solution. Particularly since I plan to put one outside in a weather-proof box, I definitely want to get it down to a single KPL for full control.
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TonyNo
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| Posted: July 01 2008 at 14:34 | IP Logged
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My system is also similar. Music comes from my PH machine and is piped to: 1. A re-purposed receiver in the basement that drives two main-floor zones; 2. A receiver for the master bathroom (upstairs); 3. Amplified speakers in the master bedroom.
I have X10 Palm Pads and Stick-a-Switches scattered about for transport and volume control. Since I use receivers and I have distributed IR (Powermids), I can either control the master volume or zone volumes.
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judetf
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| Posted: July 02 2008 at 12:11 | IP Logged
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I did realize that I could probably do this with X10, but I am new to this game and have only purchased Insteon so far and think I want to stay that way.
Questions: how to you split from your PH machine to different amplifiers?
Also, I feel I am on the edge of understanding something (but at this point I am clueless about anything beyond PH and Insteon). I don't yet know/understand RS-232 or USB-UIRT, but I'm sensing that they might potentially allow my PH machine to send IR signals. If that's true, then is the following scenario plausible?
Control PH with KPL and have PH send IR signals to control volume to ... and this is where i lose it. I still need something that allows volume to be controlled with IR. If I split the PH machine to different receivers/amplifiers like TonyNo, I guess that would work, but ideal would be something less complicated.
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TonyNo
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| Posted: July 02 2008 at 13:34 | IP Logged
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I need to explain that Palm Pads are X10 RF, not power line. All you need is an RF receiver. I use a WGL W800RF32 ($70) and this talks to PH via a serial port.
You could get the same functionality with ControLinc's or KPL's.
Audio goes from the PC to a Y adapter. One side goes to my basement receiver, the other to a modulator that puts the audio on my phone line. I have the line out from that receiver going to the receiver in my living room. On the second floor, I have two demodulators. One is connected to a receiver in a linen closet that drives speakers in the master bath, and the other is in the master bedroom connected to amplified speakers.
Yes, the USB-UIRT is an IR sender/receiver.
"Less-complicated" would be one of those serial-controlled amplifiers with multiple outputs. You would then need to pull speaker wire from the amp to each location.
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TonyNo
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| Posted: July 02 2008 at 13:49 | IP Logged
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Here is one amp I found.
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judetf
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| Posted: July 03 2008 at 09:28 | IP Logged
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Thanks for the info! I need to study it a bit and figure out what exactly I want to accomplish and how, but this should be very useful.
I'm going to post this to the other thread I started specifically on this topic, but I'll mention it here, too:
Last night I received the $7 ($9 with shipping from Amazon) USB "speaker card," and it works _perfectly_ for what I wanted. My PH laptop now recognizes both the new USB line out as separate from the PC speaker/internal line out. That means I am now able to spit my PH TTS messages from the PC speaker and have iTunes play from the USB line out which is running to an amplifier.
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judetf
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| Posted: July 03 2008 at 11:04 | IP Logged
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Okay, so that MCA-66 appears to be exactly what I'm looking for in several regards... It's overkill in a lot of ways (price being one).
I haven't vetted it fully, but I found this which, for $129, seems to give just about exactly what I was looking for. As far as I can tell it is about the same as the MCA-66 except for fewer sources/zones.
For that price I think I might throw caution to the wind and go for it... Does anyone here have any experience with the BreathAudio solution?
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TonyNo
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| Posted: July 03 2008 at 14:15 | IP Logged
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BreatheAudio comes up from time to time over on Cocoontech. They are the lower-end line of NuVo.
That looks like a good deal. Note that it does not come with keypads or their Allport breakout device. Also, there is only IR control (not serial). Maybe you don't need the keypads if you can use IR to control everything.
Link to BreatheAudio Site
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mcable1004
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| Posted: July 20 2008 at 12:17 | IP Logged
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Just wondering if you went ahead and picked up the 2 source/4 zone BreateAudio Amp. I'm considering adding something like this, so I wanted to see how you liked it.
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judetf
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| Posted: July 22 2008 at 09:16 | IP Logged
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I did get it and I am... bummed.
I knew going in that what I ordered didn't come with the Allport or volume controls. I _thought_ I solved for that by convincing Breathe Audio to sell me a single Allport, which they did.
But what I discovered is that you actually _need_ the volume controls in order to do anything. The remote that comes with the basic amplifier does not control the amplifier directly. For each zone that you want to run, you _have_ to have a Breathe volume control device, and for me that fully defeats the purpose.
I was envisioning being able to have an Insteon KPL in the locations I wanted audio, and program PH to pick up commands and then (and again, I'm fuzzy here b/c I haven't gotten this far) use some IR device that PH could control to send signals to the Breathe system to control the audio.
Unfortunately, Breathe won't support that. Each individual volume control has jumper settings to hard-wire which "zone" it controls, and it picks up the IR signals from the remote and passes them to the Breathe box with that hard-coded zone information. So there is no way that I can conceive of to incorporate that system into a PH/Insteon setup.
So, uh, anyone interested in buying a brand-spankin' new Breathe box with a Wallport? ;)
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Topic: PH to control volume for multiple speaker
