|
|
Post by MukAudio on Feb 26, 2021 10:36:40 GMT -5
I bought a house that happened to come with some speakers and in-wall wiring.
1) Two speakers on the back porch
2) Two speakers in the garage
3) Two in-wall speakers in the loft
In the living room, there are 6 wires coming out of the wall where the previous owners had their stereo (And where I stuck my XMC-1) so I assume that's where the source and power were.
Ideally I'd like each of those satellite locations to be independent. In other words, the ability to play music in the garage without it coming through the back porch and loft.
This would seem to suggest 4 zones. From what I saw, the XMC-1 only has two zones. I could simply wire up the second zone and choose which pair of speakers to connect to at the wall, but that is a little tedious.
What sort of equipment is normally used when you have this many zones?
Sonos or Echo speakers would be less work but as I already have the speakers and wiring in place, I'd like to take advantage if it's not going to be too complex.
Thanks,
Mark
|
|
|
|
Post by SteveH on Feb 26, 2021 16:53:47 GMT -5
Ideally I'd like each of those satellite locations to be independent. In other words, the ability to play music in the garage without it coming through the back porch and loft. This would seem to suggest 4 zones. From what I saw, the XMC-1 only has two zones. I could simply wire up the second zone and choose which pair of speakers to connect to at the wall, but that is a little tedious. What sort of equipment is normally used when you have this many zones? Mark I have the same issue. The RMC-1 has two zones, yet I have three more hard wired zones. My Zone 2 is used for the front patio, back patio and the garage. I use Russound Volume Controls that have an 'off' position for the front patio, back patio and the garage. They are impedance matching so they will configure to add more speakers if you need to add more zones later. They will impedance match any combination of 4 ohm, 6 ohm, 8 ohm speaker pairs. Even though they sell an outdoor volume control, I purchased indoor volume controls, mounted them in outdoor enclosures and painted them gray to match the box. They have been operating for twenty years with no issues and they have been exposed to the South Florida rainy seasons and hurricanes. The down side to these volume controls for you, is the fact that you would have to run the speaker wires to the volume control first, then back to the speakers, which might be even more tedious. When the zones are hard wired, having the on/off volume control in the actual listening area is a very nice feature. Twenty years ago, we didn't have all of this fancy electronic wizardry, so hard wired zones was the only option. I hope you make it all work, there is no such thing as too much music! www.russound.com/products/connectivity-and-control/volume-controls/indoor/alt-126r-126-watt-impedance-matching-volume-control-1www.russound.com/products/connectivity-and-control/volume-controls/outdoor-volume-controls/waltx-2-126-watt-weatherproof-volume-controlThanks for the memories! I built this box with a Russound Volume Control for my rear speakers, coupled with the other three zones long before Zone 2 ever existed, haha! Damn, I'm old. Attachments:
|
|
|
|
Post by Zombie on Feb 26, 2021 18:22:39 GMT -5
I was fortunate enough to pre-wire my new house so I terminated the different zones to their locations. I did it this way so I could use HEOS to control the separate zones. I can play different or the same tunes in the garage, rear patio/yard, loft, pool table room and/or the great room. I use a HEOS Link in the garage, Denon 4500 in the loft and Denon 1500 in a lower kitchen cabinet to control everything. Using the HEOS app on my phone or IPad I can control it all from anywhere. Really works well and I can source the music from my server, any of the streaming services or my CD player.
|
|
|
|
Post by ottaone on Feb 27, 2021 9:30:46 GMT -5
Depends on what you want to do.
For a whole house experience, I’ve had the HTD controller and amp for almost 11 years now. Old school by today’s standards but it just works.
You can connect various sources to the controller.
|
|
|
|
Post by jackfish on Feb 27, 2021 10:22:52 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by AudioHTIT on Feb 28, 2021 12:18:43 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by MukAudio on Mar 11, 2021 11:47:45 GMT -5
I’m intrigued by that Niles selector.
If I understand the flow correctly, I could use the Zone 2 output in the XMC-1 to go to a stereo amp and then the amp would connect to the Niles.
It also looks like you can play more than one zone at a time which is pretty slick. I don’t anticipate doing so, but nice to have the capability.
Mark
|
|
|
|
Post by LuisV on Mar 11, 2021 12:17:55 GMT -5
Personally... I would go with multiple Sonos Amps or Bluesound PowerNodes with HDMI. Having volume knobs or keypads on a wall is far less convenient than controlling playlists, streaming services, volume, etc. from a phone, tablet or computer. I have 4 Sonos zones in my house and went with a Bluesound Node 2i for my 2 channel rig that is in a dedicated room... no particular reason other than I wanted to try something different. Reviews indicated the coax output from the Node 2i sounded better than the same connection from a Sonos Port, so I tried it... zero complaints thus far. Roon can be used to control all zones (Sonos and Bluesound); however, my wife and kids prefer the Sonos app and I flip back and forth between Roon, Sonos and native Bluesound app or Tidal connect... depends on my mood.  I prefer Roon in my dedicated room for the added visual content, but I don't hear much of a difference when Roon is controlling my Sonos zones as I don't listen critically in those locations. I don't use wifi for streaming, I have a Sonos Boost connected via ethernet and it establishes a dedicated wireless network, called SonosNet, if I recall the name correctly, for music streaming to the various Sonos zones. The Node 2i in my dedicated room is connected via ethernet to avoid any possible audio drop outs. |
|
I prefer Roon in my dedicated room for the added visual content, but I don't hear much of a difference when Roon is controlling my Sonos zones as I don't listen critically in those locations. 