multi-room audio

[admin_exported]

Hi,

looking for advice:

we are building a new house and would like multi-room audio. I had decided the way to go was a main amp in living room, output speaker splitter box to 6 speakers. running speaker wire though house to various rooms (max 20 meters away) having a wall volume control and then the speakers. We have a remote control to control ipod that can work through walls, so there is no need to have option of changing in-between sources.

But it has been advised that i not go down this route, and have Sonos - this is going to work out more expensive - but realise that quality will be better.

Should i hard wire the house in cat5 cable - and how should i do this - is it like every speaker room would have a cat5 cable direct from there to living room or is it a cable from living room to hall, then onto kitchen and then bedroom (like a ring circuit but not coming back to living room) etc..

any suggestions / help would be great!cheers,

donald

 

[The_Lhc]

No it'll be like speaker cables, every cat6 (go for that rather than cat 5 it's not much more expensive) cable will need to go back to where your switch is (you'll need a switch as there aren't many routers with sufficient ethernet ports to support what you want to do). The switch doesn't need to be in the living room though, it could be anywhere that's convenient (cupboard under the stairs?), you just need one cable going from the switch location to you router, wherever that will be housed.

If you're going to use a NAS for your music storage connect that to the same switch, it'll keep the traffic off your router's backbone.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks,

so the main sonos box would be next to my ipod in living room, 1 ethernet to a 'switch' (like a junction box?, in a cupboard), and then a cat6 cable going from the 'switch' to a room and so on. and the switch to be linked to the router.

does the 'switch' need to be plugged in to the mains electric to work?

is sonos the best - ?naim uniti / squeezebox

donald.

 

[The_Lhc]

donelgol:
thanks,

so the main sonos box would be next to my ipod in living room,

Depends what you mean by "main sonos box", the concept doesn't really exist with Sonos, all Zoneplayers are equal, there is a requirement to wire one Zoneplayer to the network and people tend to think of that one as the "main" box but as you'll be wiring all of them to the network that effectively becomes irrelevant.

Are you using the iPod as your source for the music? If so you'll need the new Sonos iPod dock, details can be found on the WHF news page.

1 ethernet to a 'switch' (like a junction box?, in a cupboard)

Effectively yes, a switch could be thought of as an active junction box. Where will your router be?

and then a cat6 cable going from the 'switch' to a room and so on. and the switch to be linked to the router.
does the 'switch' need to be plugged in to the mains electric to work?

Yes it does.

is sonos the best - ?naim uniti / squeezebox

"Best" is subjective of course, I don't know enough about the Naim Uniti but I don't believe it's setup as a multi-room system although it probably can be used that way with additional components but if you think Sonos is expensive...

Squeezebox would work, however it's not quite as slick as Sonos, I believe it has better support for higher bit-rate music files though, if that's an issue for you (Sonos supports nothing better than 16-bit 44kHz music, which is CD quality but no better than that). Squeezebox does require some form of active storage running the SqueezeNetwork software (I think that's what they call it now).

 

[Anonymous]

hi,

yes the ipod will be connected to the sonos via the new ipod dock, so another ipod/iphone/sonos controller can access it.

there will be other inputs to the sonos also - like tape/record/cd player, but this will be through a pre-amp - but rarely used.

most of my itunes is done by apple loss-less format - it there was a problem i could reduce bit-rate when i update it, as i have to do with my old ipod shuffle.

thanks for your help. will have to go and measure plans to see how much cat6 cable i require! - i think sonos is the answer.

donald

 

[scene]

Don't worry, Sonos can play Apple loss-less format fine, and can get it straight from your iTunes library (that's how I do it).

The only wrinkle is album artwork, that need's to be embedded in the ripped files or as an image in the same directory as the ripped music. The default album artwork retrieved automatically by iTunes doesn't show up on the Sonos controller / controller app.

 

[Anonymous]

A lot depends upon how much quality and control / flexibility you want. There are ultimately 2 options I believe. The one you refer to is based upon one control source and speaker wire through your home. It may sound cheaper but is limited. The second is to have hub units that recieve data and decode and amplify locally (in each room), with one main data source. If you are on a budget, fixing ethernet sockets in each room, with all feeding back to a main hub (under the stairs type thing) and connected to a router is cheapest and most reliable. You can then get something like an apple TV ($99) to stream music and video from your home network storage or internet. If you have a modern home that is not too big (less than 6 hubs i think) you may get by with one wireless hub, but you are prone to drop outs etc (SONOS works over wifi but is independent and more reliable). You can buy amps for each room, or units that have built in amplification and just connect speakers. Building a new house is stressful, and CAT 6 cabling your home is of little extra cost and would always recommend this. Your money needs to be spent on a good "switch" that would be linked to your internet modem too. I would then opt for the SONOS - it just works all the time and has options with DAC and amplification and can be controlled by Iphone / Ipod Touch. If you have the CAT 6 connection, you can save money on the wireless "bridges" you need to get for wifi connection.

 

[heavenlydoddy]

Hi Donald

am a little late here & not as techy minded as a lot of these guys. I have just done exactly what you are wanting to do. New house build etc, have managed to get through by asking lots of questions !!. Can give you a few tips on the lay out & cable issues.

With regards to Cat 6 ( buy it online & dont rely on local electrical shop, we live in cornwall went to 3 local shops & into Devon but no one was stocking Cat 6 got up to Cat5e) pick your Nas/switch area & then all individual cat6 feeds must go back to switch. Always lay 2 to each back box, there are now single wall plates but again search as lots only do double face plates. Wire them all as doubles or leave one behind plaster board. Make sure you tape ends up until second fix as moisture will damage. Use left over cable as patch leeds.

Remember to do loft as well & think about where the Nas/Router?switch are going centre of house ideal but not behind mega thick doors/walls/units, traditional timber frame is a lot better now. Also if signal is poor you can boost from the loft cat6 with an additional wifi link.

Speaker cable look at the Van Damme blue 2.5 great quality & sound for a new house wire at a great price.

The others have answered all the sonos Q, remeber not to patch lead into each cat6 wall plate from the sonos thinking you will get better sound/signal the sonos needs to go into 1 cat 6(wall plate) or the rear of the router & set its own zone otherwise it will struggle.

Hope that helps

Heavenly

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Why use 2 cables of cat6 to the back of the box?

why put it into loft? - we are building 1 1/2 storey and bedroom/en-suite will have speakers in.

is the whole idea of using cat6 that in the future tv / sky / PC would work through it?

what is patch leads?

I live in Isle of Skye, so all will be done online ordering!

 

[Anonymous]

ok.

can anyone advise where to buy:-

cat6 cable 100meters

speaker cable 100 meters

face plates for speaker output/input & cat6 face plates

a switch for network of cat6

&any tips?

thanks

 

[Andrew Everard]

Maplin, RS Components, similar computer/electronics supply companies...