simple multizone audio option

[obas]

I have an EA3, surround receiver for the living, 2 speakers in the bedroom, 2 in bath, 2 in kitchen.  What is the easiest way to connect the speakers? Just want the ability to play a single source in multiple rooms (including through the living room receiver). I do not need the option (right now) to play different streams on different speakers at the same time. I just want to be able to turn on/off individual rooms (or change the volume). I assume I need a multi zone amplifier that connects to the control4 . Do I still need a matrix as well? To me, that wouldn't make sense.

Thanks

 

[sonic30101]

A 4 zone matrix amp should be fine as long as you don't need more than 4 shared audio sources for the stereo rooms. The matrix would be needed if you wanted more or did not have enough inputs on your surround sound receiver. What model is the AVR? And what sources are you planning on using?

[thegreatheed]

An AVR that has 3 powered zones (or 3 zones and a small external amp to power the non-powered zones) + the EA-3 would be just fine. No need for the matrix.

[obas]

Thanks for responding so fast.

I was thinking I only need one multi zone amplifier,  something like the TS-PAMP4-100 that will power the speakers in bed/bath/kitchen. The AVR is a single zone 7.1 receiver.  For now, I'm planning to use  Pandora and spotify streamed via the EA3 to one or more speakers and to the AVR. As mentioned, no intention at this point to stream different sources to different speakers.  It's all very simple for now.   Unrelated to that, when I stream to the AVR will it show info on the tv (like what song is playing and such).

Thanks again.

 

[sonic30101]

if you want 

12 minutes ago, thegreatheed said:

An AVR that has 3 powered zones (or 3 zones and a small external amp to power the non-powered zones) + the EA-3 would be just fine. No need for the matrix.

most that can do this are main avr zone with a zone 2 and a zone 3 that either is self powered or needs an external amp but that still does not get him the total number of individual zones to be powered on/off as well as independent volume control.

 

5 minutes ago, obas said:

I was thinking I only need one multi zone amplifier, something like the TS-PAMP4-100 that will power the speakers in bed/bath/kitchen

this is a "dummy" amp meaning it only has direct rca input to speaker output. Using this without an audio matrix or an AVR without enough RCA preamp outputs will not allow you to have volume control and power on and off will be audio sensing which is not particularly ideal for this setup. A matrix amp will be a lot better

[thegreatheed]

25 minutes ago, sonic30101 said:

this is a "dummy" amp meaning it only has direct rca input to speaker output. Using this without an audio matrix or an AVR without enough RCA preamp outputs will not allow you to have volume control and power on and off will be audio sensing which is not particularly ideal for this setup. A matrix amp will be a lot better

1

EA-3 to PAMP4 will give you volume control. The EA digital and analog audio outs are variable.

EA-3 HDMI > AVR
EA-3 Digital > PAMP4 
EA-3 Analog > PAMP4

These 3 zones would all have volume control. You would have 2 zones on the PAMP4 that aren't in use, unless you did AVR Zone 2 > PAMP4, which would have limited source availability. Instead of the PAMP4, you could use 2 1-zone amps or something smaller and cheaper than the PAMP4.

Power on and off on the PAMP4 can be 12V trigger or audio sense. 

[sonic30101]

Good luck with that. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. 4 Zone Matrix amp would be such a better choice and also give you more source availability in your stereo zones in a uniform manner then just being limited to control 4 native services only. Plus using Zone outputs of AVR is m e h

[thegreatheed]

1 minute ago, sonic30101 said:

Good luck with that. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. 4 Zone Matrix amp would be such a better choice and also give you more source availability in your stereo zones in a uniform manner then just being limited to control 4 native services only. Plus using Zone outputs of AVR is m e h

It's not the way I would design it, either. But I'm not going to give false information about no volume control.

[sonic30101]

58 minutes ago, thegreatheed said:

It's not the way I would design it, either. But I'm not going to give false information about no volume control.

Agreed, I can work but that is a good way to get another angry customer ranting like @wappinghigh because of a bad initial design lol 😉😉😉

[obas]

thanks again. it does make things clear. 

I just assumed a control 4  controller (EA3) should be able to control the volume of a control4 multi-zone amplifier.

So I cannot get just the amplifier, have to get the matrix. I saw on the control4 products website the     C4-8AMP1-B matrix amplifier. Would that be an option or are there issues with that solution as well?

Really, I don't care about different sources for different speakers. all speakers  (bed/bad/kitchen) are very close to each other. I only care about streaming a single source throughout the house (for the wow factor).

 

 

[sonic30101]

The C4-8AMP1-B will give both independent source and volume control of each zone. Otherwise if you use a dummy amp and use preamp of various types like the zone2 and zone3 rca out of a receiver it may be flaky since not all AVRs will downconvert each input if not set up properly. On top of the fact that it is janky and full of caveats

[wappinghigh]

3 hours ago, sonic30101 said:

Agreed, I can work but that is a good way to get another angry customer ranting like @wappinghigh because of a bad initial design lol 😉😉😉

Lol aint ranting on this. Ranting only worth it, if it's legit and matters. All good. 

[obas]

I will not give any ratings

Thanks for the explanations/suggestions. I guess my options are 

1) the C4-8AMP1-B (works but according to my installer that amp is being phased out and inferior to option 2)

2) get a triad 4 zone amp combined with the triad 8 input matrix

3) use Sonos to hook them up

I don't think the EA3 can handle multiple streams to different zones (e.g. pandora to bed and spotify to kitchen) so that would mean I need another source to connect to the matrix.

I currently have a Sonos hooked up to the bedroom speakers. It works fine and I'm happy about it. Still, prefer to have a single system (EA3) that controls everything instead of EA3 for living and Sonos for bed/bath/kitchen. I'm just very weird about it, hooking up a few more Sonos would be much cheaper.

I also have a doorbird and I want it to use the ceiling speakers. Hooking it up to the AVR is not an option since it takes forever to ring (has to change source on the AVR, will turn off tv for a second, then ring) Takes a good 30 seconds at least (if AVR was turned off it takes even much longer). I guess both Sonos would be able to facilitate that.

 

[sonic30101]

20 hours ago, obas said:

I don't think the EA3 can handle multiple streams to different zones (e.g. pandora to bed and spotify to kitchen) so that would mean I need another source to connect to the matrix.

It can handle 3 streams. HDMI, digital coax, and analog

[sonic30101]

20 hours ago, obas said:

I guess both Sonos would be able to facilitate that.

I have given up on sonos due to not playing nice with others. Option 1 or 2 is my recommendation

[Home Theater Advisors]

If it is just for music in the bed/bath/kitchen and you don’t mind living with two apps (Control4 for video and automation; Sonos for music), it is a more affordable and very functional solution.

I have no knowledge of doorbird and how it integrates with Sonos.