Whole house audio recommendation

[marcin]

Good morning,

 

I’m looking for whole audio system recommendation. Something that would play nice with Sonos.

 

I was thinking about:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-95A00-3-4-Source-Structured-Enclosures/dp/B00BB3HLE8

or

https://www.russound.com/products/audio-systems/multi-room-controllers/mca-series-controllers/kt2-66-controller-amplifier-system-kit-with-mdk-c6

 

[kzboray]

Have you considered using Sonos? If you need a local control panel you can use a raspberry Pi running an Android overlay on a 7" touch screen and set it up to permanently boot into just the Sonos control app. They cost about $140 with the screen and can be mounted with double sided tape for a flush mount in a wall.

[carealtor]

Since you want Sonos compatibility and it looks like you want wall mount controllers, a suggestion would be to use Sonos Amps with the speakers of your choosing and then use the Brilliant controllers.  I don't have have any experience with the Brilliant controllers, but they look nice and work with Sonos.  I've been tempted, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

I'm using a couple of Sonos Connects (just replaced by the Sonos Port) with a Dayton MA1240 6-zone amplifier.  I don't have any wall mount controllers, but I do have Sonos integrated with my Harmony Hubs, so I have control with the Harmony Elite remotes that are in the various rooms.

[simplextech]

I've looked at the Brilliant and for replacing a light switch they are ok but too expensive and they are cloud reliant which I don't like.  What about mounting a tablet and using something like SimpleControl or another media centric controller?  SimpleControl supports Sonos and many many other things including ISY.  

[lilyoyo1]

One thing I would change in regards to whole home audio would've been to have the infrastructure put in for whole home but do all Sonos amps. Currently I have RTI but what I do now makes it worthless.  I'd still put in the infrastructure since the future is unknown but Sonos works extremely well when coupled to the isy. When I look around the house, I see all these worthless controllers and tablets sitting there literally untouched in who knows how long. 

With nodeservers, I am automatically able to set my volume which I do depending on time of day and situation. As it gets later in the day, the isy adjusts the volume down for me. That way if I'm outside late, I'm not disturbing neighbors and if I'm inside, I'm not disturbing my wife. The few times I've had to adjust the volume, I've simply opened the app. It's easier than getting up and going to the wall controller. 

You still have the ability to use voice to control Sonos as well. The other thing I like is being able to use my existing keypads as well. Go outside, I can hit a button and it sets the patio for what I want. Lights and all. 

[TrojanHorse]

I’m using 2 of the monoprice amps connected for up to 12 zones (can do 3 for 18 zones and 6 sources). It sounds great and is relatively inexpensive. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles though it still might fit the bill. Can be controlled via serial control so I use a global cache and ISY NR commands. Here’s a link. It used to go on sale pretty regularly although I’ve heard that’s been less the case recently.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=10761




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[Teken]

On 9/20/2019 at 10:11 PM, TrojanHorse said:

I’m using 2 of the monoprice amps connected for up to 12 zones (can do 3 for 18 zones and 6 sources). It sounds great and is relatively inexpensive. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles though it still might fit the bill. Can be controlled via serial control so I use a global cache and ISY NR commands. Here’s a link. It used to go on sale pretty regularly although I’ve heard that’s been less the case recently.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=10761




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've been eyeing this device since it first came out but wanted to see how the community came together to support it. Has there been any integration for the ISY Series Controller or home automation field? Some questions regarding this unit so if you have insight to offer I am more than happy know.

- Public Announcement (PA): What are the limits of the PA feature of this unit. Can I specify which of the six zones will receive the broadcast?

- Muting: When sound is interrupted how is that done? Will it simply cut out the audio and play whatever is in the stream or will it reduce the source volume and play over it?

- Sound Quality: Assuming decent quality speakers in use does the amplifier inject any hiss / noise when no source material is being played?

- Build Quality: What did you think about the build quality of this unit and would you buy again? How long have you had the unit and any issues?   

[asbril]

If you are really strong on Sonos, then so be it. A few years ago I sold my Sonos on Ebay close to what I had originally paid for them. Then I installed 3 Chromecast devices, each connected to its own amplifier, in a different zone of my home. I stream music, partially with Google Home routines and partially with the ISY AVRemote nodeserver.

I also created a Google Home Group of the three Chromecast devices whereby the same radio station streams simultaneously throughout my home. The quality is close to perfect and the cost is way below what I paid for Sonos.

[Teken]

42 minutes ago, asbril said:

If you are really strong on Sonos, then so be it. A few years ago I sold my Sonos on Ebay close to what I had originally paid for them. Then I installed 3 Chromecast devices, each connected to its own amplifier, in a different zone of my home. I stream music, partially with Google Home routines and partially with the ISY AVRemote nodeserver.

I also created a Google Home Group of the three Chromecast devices whereby the same radio station streams simultaneously throughout my home. The quality is close to perfect and the cost is way below what I paid for Sonos.

@asbril

I need something that doesn't rely on the Internet along with the fact the system must be centralized. I see the benefits for using Sonos / Chromecast but at this juncture can't say they meet my immediate needs given this is primarily geared to life & safety. Once I have been able to hammer out the hardware and all of the related integration the plan is to scale up for a much larger deployment that is in the planning stages. 

[TrojanHorse]

4 hours ago, Teken said:

I've been eyeing this device since it first came out but wanted to see how the community came together to support it. Has there been any integration for the ISY Series Controller or home automation field? Some questions regarding this unit so if you have insight to offer I am more than happy know.

- Public Announcement (PA): What are the limits of the PA feature of this unit. Can I specify which of the six zones will receive the broadcast?

- Muting: When sound is interrupted how is that done? Will it simply cut out the audio and play whatever is in the stream or will it reduce the source volume and play over it?

- Sound Quality: Assuming decent quality speakers in use does the amplifier inject any hiss / noise when no source material is being played?

- Build Quality: What did you think about the build quality of this unit and would you buy again? How long have you had the unit and any issues?   

Hi  @Teken

Overall I've been very pleased with them.  I've been running my first one for over 2 years, the second one for maybe 1.5 years (it takes a while to run new wires in existing construction...)  I bought mine when they were a bit cheaper and thought they were at a great point on the value curve.  I'm mostly using them for lossless iTunes files and FM radio (yeah, we still do that here!) over in-ceiling speakers.  

I know of no integration with the ISY.  You can control the amp with serial commands so I use NR's over an IP to Serial converter.  

PA - I'm not using this functionality (yet, maybe will someday).  My understanding is that the PA function would be most useful if you didn't have a serial controller and wanted to instead use the +12VDC trigger inputs as that would play source 1 on all zones.  If you're going to use a serial controller, then in essence yes, you could specify any source over any / all zones as your PA.  Different programs could play different zones for different time of day for example.  See last sentence for more...

Muting - I'm assuming you mean this in relation to a PA announcement.  There's no mixing, so it would just cut out and go to the other source.  

Sound quality is great.  I'm a bit of an audiophile (at least relative to most people) so that was important for me.  I feel that the on-board bass and treble adjustments do a pretty good job for different speakers and environments.  There's no hiss / noise that I notice or cross talk between sources, even at full volume with no active source.   No turn on noise or source switching noise.  I listen for this type of stuff so would most likely notice it before many others would.  

I think the build quality is great.  While I've had no hands on experience with other whole house amps, I have a sense for and appreciation of good quality hardware and A/V gear.  It ways ~11kg and in no way does it feel cheap.  

I'm using a different DAC for the iTunes, although the amp supports digital coaxial and Toslink.  Not sure I would do that again - I'd save the money instead - I think the onboard Toslink works fine, but I'm sticking with what I have since I can have a source that we use frequently be #2 instead of #6... 

I know some of the more expensive systems have fancier keypads that can show album artwork and such for a lot more money.  At this price I think it's a good value.  The biggest shortcoming that I see with this amp is that depending on your needs, you might need to query zone and volume status and store them somewhere.  As an example, say you want your PA announcements to be at a certain volume (e.g. 15 - they go up to 39 which is waaaay past 11 ?)  well that's easy enough, but when you're done with the announcement, you want to go back to the previous source at the previous volume.  There's no RS232 command for these actions - e.g previous source or even volume up or down.  You need to specify a value.  This would be a simple program to write, but I'm not a programmer.  But I'm seriously thinking of learning to write a simple script for this exact purpose (probably not a node server, just something that I can run on my RPi and stuff the values into ISY variables via REST).   

 

[Teken]

Hi  @Teken Overall I've been very pleased with them.  I've been running my first one for over 2 years, the second one for maybe 1.5 years (it takes a while to run new wires in existing construction...)  I bought mine when they were a bit cheaper and thought they were at a great point on the value curve.  I'm mostly using them for lossless iTunes files and FM radio (yeah, we still do that here!) over in-ceiling speakers.  

I know of no integration with the ISY.  You can control the amp with serial commands so I use NR's over an IP to Serial converter.  

PA - I'm not using this functionality (yet, maybe will someday).  My understanding is that the PA function would be most useful if you didn't have a serial controller and wanted to instead use the +12VDC trigger inputs as that would play source 1 on all zones.  If you're going to use a serial controller, then in essence yes, you could specify any source over any / all zones as your PA.  Different programs could play different zones for different time of day for example.  See last sentence for more...

Muting - I'm assuming you mean this in relation to a PA announcement.  There's no mixing, so it would just cut out and go to the other source.  

Sound quality is great.  I'm a bit of an audiophile (at least relative to most people) so that was important for me.  I feel that the on-board bass and treble adjustments do a pretty good job for different speakers and environments.  There's no hiss / noise that I notice or cross talk between sources, even at full volume with no active source.   No turn on noise or source switching noise.  I listen for this type of stuff so would most likely notice it before many others would.  

I think the build quality is great.  While I've had no hands on experience with other whole house amps, I have a sense for and appreciation of good quality hardware and A/V gear.  It ways ~11kg and in no way does it feel cheap.  

I'm using a different DAC for the iTunes, although the amp supports digital coaxial and Toslink.  Not sure I would do that again - I'd save the money instead - I think the onboard Toslink works fine, but I'm sticking with what I have since I can have a source that we use frequently be #2 instead of #6... 

I know some of the more expensive systems have fancier keypads that can show album artwork and such for a lot more money.  At this price I think it's a good value.  The biggest shortcoming that I see with this amp is that depending on your needs, you might need to query zone and volume status and store them somewhere.  As an example, say you want your PA announcements to be at a certain volume (e.g. 15 - they go up to 39 which is waaaay past 11 )  well that's easy enough, but when you're done with the announcement, you want to go back to the previous source at the previous volume.  There's no RS232 command for these actions - e.g previous source or even volume up or down.  You need to specify a value.  This would be a simple program to write, but I'm not a programmer.  But I'm seriously thinking of learning to write a simple script for this exact purpose (probably not a node server, just something that I can run on my RPi and stuff the values into ISY variables via REST).   

 

 

 

For the RS-232 are you using the iTach to Ethernet? I understood this device goes on sale from time to time any idea when?

 

Black Friday / X-MAS?

 

For speakers did you go with a name brand or the in house mono price brand speakers? I also understand this device also has a smart application which offers more features and connectivity if so anything worth noting?

 

 

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[TrojanHorse]

23 minutes ago, Teken said:

 

For the RS-232 are you using the iTach to Ethernet? I understood this device goes on sale from time to time any idea when?

 

Black Friday / X-MAS?

 

For speakers did you go with a name brand or the in house mono price brand speakers? I also understand this device also has a smart application which offers more features and connectivity if so anything worth noting?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I'm using an iTach Flex.  I started with an older GC-100 which worked with ISY NR's, but not with the iOS app I found (called "Monoprice Whole Home Audio" by NT Mobile Innovations).  So I had to contact the app developer to see what's up and ending up buying a new iTach, even though these GC/iTach units *supposedly* use the same protocol.

For speakers, I found good speakers online at inwallstore.com .  I wanted some stereo single speakers (dual voice coil) for my applications and they seemed to have decent ones (I gave them a try and really like them).  I went 8", but someone should tell them they currently have their "compare at" price looking a bit silly here (https://www.inwallstore.com/Presence_8_in_Dual_Voice_Coil_Speaker_p/pe822f.htm).  Also bought a pair of standard stereo speakers from them that I think are really good as well. 

Monoprice makes some decent speakers.  I built enclosures for 2 that I'm using in the garage since they wouldn't fit in the thinner ceiling.  They're good, but can't remember which ones they are but they are 8"...  I actually returned some of their speakers that I planned to use in the house, but I maybe didn't give them a fair shot since any speaker will sound different in the ceiling.  Of course, keep in mind that anytime you're putting a speaker in a ceiling or wall it's no longer "critical listening" it's background music...  And any speaker needs a break-in period.

What app are you referring to?  iOS or Android?  I don't believe that Monoprice makes an app themselves but maybe that has changed.  As far as additional control via RS-232 (maybe an app), you can send a command to the entire amp (e.g. all off, all zone X, etc.) which you can't do via keypad.  The app I mentioned is very basic, and only offers all off as additional functionality.  The manual, although a bit convoluted to read (maybe they should hire a technical editor!), shows the commands available.

As far as sale prices on the amp, I'm not sure.  I stopped following it although looking now the price is about USD 250 or so more than I paid on average (don't remember exactly and the price has risen and stayed there).  So if I needed a 3rd amp, I probably would have been better off just buying it rather than waiting for a sale.  TBH when I bought them it kinda felt like I stole them they felt so cheap.  That said, if/when supply chains get kinked from China shutdown I personally wouldn't be counting on too many sales of electronic items like this for a while.  Anyway, so the price went up, but perhaps the price on other systems went up too.  I'd probably still buy them again at this price (haven't compared recently to other systems) since the price / value delta was significant compared to other systems when I last looked.  

Hope that helps with your decision.  

[Teken]

8 hours ago, TrojanHorse said:

I'm using an iTach Flex.  I started with an older GC-100 which worked with ISY NR's, but not with the iOS app I found (called "Monoprice Whole Home Audio" by NT Mobile Innovations).  So I had to contact the app developer to see what's up and ending up buying a new iTach, even though these GC/iTach units *supposedly* use the same protocol.

For speakers, I found good speakers online at inwallstore.com .  I wanted some stereo single speakers (dual voice coil) for my applications and they seemed to have decent ones (I gave them a try and really like them).  I went 8", but someone should tell them they currently have their "compare at" price looking a bit silly here (https://www.inwallstore.com/Presence_8_in_Dual_Voice_Coil_Speaker_p/pe822f.htm).  Also bought a pair of standard stereo speakers from them that I think are really good as well. 

Monoprice makes some decent speakers.  I built enclosures for 2 that I'm using in the garage since they wouldn't fit in the thinner ceiling.  They're good, but can't remember which ones they are but they are 8"...  I actually returned some of their speakers that I planned to use in the house, but I maybe didn't give them a fair shot since any speaker will sound different in the ceiling.  Of course, keep in mind that anytime you're putting a speaker in a ceiling or wall it's no longer "critical listening" it's background music...  And any speaker needs a break-in period.

What app are you referring to?  iOS or Android?  I don't believe that Monoprice makes an app themselves but maybe that has changed.  As far as additional control via RS-232 (maybe an app), you can send a command to the entire amp (e.g. all off, all zone X, etc.) which you can't do via keypad.  The app I mentioned is very basic, and only offers all off as additional functionality.  The manual, although a bit convoluted to read (maybe they should hire a technical editor!), shows the commands available.

As far as sale prices on the amp, I'm not sure.  I stopped following it although looking now the price is about USD 250 or so more than I paid on average (don't remember exactly and the price has risen and stayed there).  So if I needed a 3rd amp, I probably would have been better off just buying it rather than waiting for a sale.  TBH when I bought them it kinda felt like I stole them they felt so cheap.  That said, if/when supply chains get kinked from China shutdown I personally wouldn't be counting on too many sales of electronic items like this for a while.  Anyway, so the price went up, but perhaps the price on other systems went up too.  I'd probably still buy them again at this price (haven't compared recently to other systems) since the price / value delta was significant compared to other systems when I last looked.  

Hope that helps with your decision.  

Figures, I was really hoping this system would go on sale but given how long it's been on the market now. Things just get more expansive it seems for those items you're interested in. At the price you got it at - yeah you stole it!

Back On Point: Any quirks regarding the keypads besides it doesn't have a fancy LCD screen?

[TrojanHorse]

Figures, I was really hoping this system would go on sale but given how long it's been on the market now. Things just get more expansive it seems for those items you're interested in. At the price you got it at - yeah you stole it!
Back On Point: Any quirks regarding the keypads besides it doesn't have a fancy LCD screen?

Only quirks I’d say is that you have to hold the power button for a few seconds to turn it off and there’s no mute button, but there is a mute command over RS232. I wish we could dim the one in the bedroom.

Note you don’t need to use the keypads if you’re using an app or serial commands.


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[Teken]

A few years ago when this unit was released it was said the equivalent Dayton Audio DAX66 is the same unit ~ it is. I'll see if that unit is cheaper as I need 2~3 of these units once the full deployment is done. From the Interwebs the keypad is different in the back when compared to the Monoprice unit. The Monoprice uses a standard RJ45 jack vs the Parts Express Dayton Audio DAX66 uses phoenix connectors with a screw.

Not the end of the world having to strip cable but the RJ45 is much cleaner and insures 100% connection without miswiring. Have you bridged any of the channels and if so did you notice any negative performance / sound issues?  

[TrojanHorse]

A few years ago when this unit was released it was said the equivalent Dayton Audio DAX66 is the same unit ~ it is. I'll see if that unit is cheaper as I need 2~3 of these units once the full deployment is done. From the Interwebs the keypad is different in the back when compared to the Monoprice unit. The Monoprice uses a standard RJ45 jack vs the Parts Express Dayton Audio DAX66 uses phoenix connectors with a screw.

Not the end of the world having to strip cable but the RJ45 is much cleaner and insures 100% connection without miswiring. Have you bridged any of the channels and if so did you notice any negative performance / sound issues?  

 

I havent bridged any of the channels so can’t say.

 

Yes the Dayton is basically the same amp but keypads are a bit different. IIRC the Dayton has a 5 year warranty though.

 

 

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[TrojanHorse]

I havent bridges any of the channels so can’t say.

Yes the Dayton is basically the same amp but keypads are a bit different. IIRC the Dayton has a 5 year warranty though.


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Another thing on the keypads - they tend to stick out from the boxes more than other devices. So getting covers to sit nicely requires a little extra effort if that’s something that matters to you. I’ve had issues with old work drywall boxes. Instead I’ve been using Madison electric boxes that can be used on a stud in “old work” so I can set the box back a bit (less than an 1/8” or so).



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