SiriusXM app on Amazon Echo

[drmark12pa]

Amazon has added Sirius XM app to the Amazon Echo and I would like to connect an Amazon dot to my C4 system so I can just tell the dot to play "such and such station".  What would I need to do to connect an Amazon dot to my system to allow audio streaming from the Sirius app on the dot to my C4 system?  I have a C4 amp in my basement but have dots in nearly every room.  I was wondering if it would be possible to just run an audio cable into a C4 controller (I have an older HC300 in my kitchen) and that would be "streamable" via my C4 amp.

As it stands I have an older Sirius tabletop internet radio that runs into my HC800 though I have an EA5 that runs my entire system.

My dealer had mentioned that I would need an audio matrix but I'm scratching my head because I don't have an audio matrix for my Sirius tabletop radio and that works just fine in my system with the ability to listen to it on any of the 8 zones supplied by the amp.

[mstafford388]

Sounds like you have a matrix amp.  If that's the case I'd just put a dot near the matrix amp and feed audio into it.  At that point you just need to add the dot driver, make the connections and your off and running.

 

[lippavisual]

Except that the dots/echo don't have localization features as of yet.  So if you tell the dot in your kitchen to select the rack dot as source in kitchen and then tell it to play, nothing will happen because he has to tell the rack dot to play.

If you only want to use the dots for streaming music, you would have to wire audio back from each to your amp or matrix and add each one as its own source.

[mstafford388]

Correct.  Should've specified you'd have to give that dot the voice commands for the music. 

[drmark12pa]

I'm still not clear on why the sirius tabletop radio can feed into a controller and the audio is available throughout my house via my C4 amp but when i tried feeding the dot into controller the audio cuts out after a few seconds? 

So again I ask how can a dot feed into the audio in on a controller (in this case the HC300 in my kitchen) via RCA cables so it's an available audio source in my system? 

[mstafford388]

If the audio cuts out after a few seconds you may want to increase the audio latency in your digital media. 

[drmark12pa]

13 hours ago, mstafford388 said:

If the audio cuts out after a few seconds you may want to increase the audio latency in your digital media. 

Where would that setting be located? 

[lippavisual]

I wouldn't use a controller input for this.  The dot audio output could be set too high, which could cause cut outs/clipping.

The dot kills all audio output until it is called upon, which I'd believe, could cause issues with the encode/decode process the controllers use.

[mstafford388]

11 hours ago, drmark12pa said:

Where would that setting be located? 

In the driver for digital media. 

[drmark12pa]

I just did a screen shot of my DIGITAL MEDIA... I'm trying to use the HC300 in my KITCHEN as the input for the dot.  I'll be working on it tomorrow and see if I can get it to work properly without the cutout after the audio starts as it did previously when I tried to do this. 

Are there any adjustments based on this DIGITAL MEDIA screen that I would need to do to get this streaming audio properly?

[mstafford388]

Ah yes, audio latency is a feature of the advanced audio which you can't use with a 300 in the project.  This is probably a tough ask for an HC300 to pull of successfully. 

[drmark12pa]

I tried connecting using a generic Sirius driver similar to what I already have running the Sirius tabletop internet radio that connects to the HC800 (which used to connect to this very HC300 without any issues).  I did get sound for about 8 seconds from the Sirius radio stream via my DOT but then it stopped coming through the speakers.  So, it appears that the stream is going into the HC300 and through the C4 system.  My dilemma is why is the audio just stopping?

I guess the only other issue that is different from when I had the HC800 running my system (and Sirius was connected to the HC800) is that now I have an EA5 running the whole system.

So bottom line question is how can I get the C4 system to not suddenly drop out the audio that the DOT is streaming out?

UPDATED I just fed audio from the dot into my hc800 and that it did work. I'm wondering if the hc300 is not capable of accepting audio input since the time I had upgraded to the ea5 unit. Previously before the ea5 unit the Sirius audio from the tabletop unit did feed into the hc300.  Appears that I will need an updated controller for this to work. Any opinions?

[drmark12pa]

So my  dealer did come out and we replaced the old HC300 with an EA3 and I now am able to stream audio from the Dot into C4.  I have it set up so that if the EA3 detects audio from the Dot, it will automatically turn on the KITCHEN zone audio.  I have noticed a few times that the audio has turned on for no apparent reason however.  So I still have to figure out why that is happening as I've changed the wake word to "Echo" and not Alexa.  I might consider doing a delay so if audio is sensed, delay 10 seconds, and if audio still present then turn the zone on just in case Alexa is talking and that is the audio being detected.