Help - New to C4 and needs the pros assistance please

[Calv1n]

Hello all!

My fellow AVS friend Strange Brew sent me here hat in hand for some guidance from the pros - so here I am!

I have a medium sized home with 2 basic and 1 dedicated Home theater that are my priorities with the dedicated been the first thing I want to do as finances allow. The nice thing about C4 as I understand it is that it allows me to "grow" the system as I go along which is great for me right now as most of my budget is been spent on my landscaping right now.

I guess the first thing I should do is list the equipment and the stuff I want to do and then maybe show the list of stuff I was quoted on by a local dealer to see if anyone can trouble shoot or "tweak" it for me if/as required - I really have very little idea so I'm hopefully a guru out there comes to my aid. (thanks in advance)

Component

Main dedicated theater on lower level

139" 16:9 SMX Pro-line Acoustical Transparent Screen paired with a cinema class 3 chip DLP Kodak/Infocus 333 Projector

7.4 Built in speaker system with 7 x 8" Proficient (speaker-craft) + 4 x 12" Earthquake Thor Subwoofers.

Speaker Details -

W850 Series x 7

Design: 2-Way in-wall

Earthquake THOR-10” In-Wall Subwoofers x 4

Active Driver: 10” long throw SWS subwoofer

This system is hooked up to a Xbox 360 Elite, PS3, PC, HD-DVD XA1 on the video side

Audio side we have the Sherwood Newcastle R-965, MAS 7.1 switcher, 2 Behringer Feed back destroyers pro's (one for each pair of Earthquake subs), Flying Mole Cascade amp with 5 modules (3 singles and 2 pairs for the 7 surrounds), Amp running the 2 front subs is the Behringer Europower EP2500 and I have a Crown CE2000 running the 2 subs I have built into the riser.

All put into a MA rack model # MRK-44-27 which is 77" high and 27" deep complete with vented plexi-glass panel door (this rack also houses the components listed below for the AV equipment on the main level)

Currently this system is using a Harmony 1000 Remote and I smart homes Insteon light switches & IR controller for the lighting. We are looking at adding control for the fireplace and blower in this room as well

Additional HT on the Main level;

46" Samsung 1080P LCD on PDR articulating mount paired with a 5.1 built in-ceiling and in-wall proficient speakers.

Speaker details -

8" Proficient In - ceiling speakers

CA850 Series x 4

Design: 2-Way coaxial in-ceiling

1 x 5.25" In wall center channel

IW55Ix 1

Design: 5 1/4" 2-Way in-wall Speaker

1 x 10" In wall sub

IWS10 x 1

System Configuration: In-wall Subwoofer

Hooked up to Xbox Pro and HD-DVD add on + PC.

Sherwood Newcastle R-771 paired with the HSB-600 HDMI switcher plus the Alesis RA-300 300-Watt Reference Power Amplifier for the 10" proficient passive in-wall Sub.

Currently I'm using a Harmony 890 Remote through a Proficient IR switch to the AV rack below - we are also looking at controlling the fireplace and blower motor through remote as well as lighting in this room (1 switch for lights)

Additional HT on the upper level;

71" Samsung 1080P DLP

5.1 surround

LCR speakers are Nuance grand's

side surrounds are Mission

Rear Surrounds are Mission

Sub is 8" Energy

Hooked up to this HT is Xbox 360 Elite, PS3, Wii, Pioneer Elite X82 AVR and the Toshiba XA2 HD-DVD

Currently I'm using a Harmony 880 on this system. We would also like to implement lighting control in this room (1 switch)

Now to the quote I've received (I'm not showing prices as I assume this is a no-no but PM me if your want to know what the prices came back in at)

Dedicated room

QTY PART NO. DESCRIPTION

1 C4-HC500-E-B Home Theatre Controller

1 VD-H-4 HD Video Distribution Hub 4-2

1 TSG-3.8C1-W WiFi Mini Touch - 4” (white)

1 RCZ-SRC1-B System Remote Control

1 KPZ-6B1-B Wireless Black 6 Button

1 LDZ-101-B Wireless Black Dimmer

2 LSZ-101-B Wireless Black Switch (FP)

NTE-SG1-B Secure Gateway

LNS 8-1 Wireless N-Router 8.0.1

NTE-SG1-B Secure Firewall

1 AC-2URE1-B HD Video Zone

1 AC-3URE1-B Audio Zone

C4-PR-30 Programming & Racking

C4IN Install

This is where I would like to start with my PJ and go from there as my budget allows- They have also suggested I get the Sony 777 (400 DVD) player which they said they would swap out and credit me for when the new Blu-ray player comes out later (this year?)

I would also like to likely think about using a HD-DVD / Blu-Ray player combo to get use of the 80+ HD-DVD movies I have for the lower and main level HT's if possible.

This is 1st on my priority list

This is the suggestion for the main level HT

QTY PART NO. DESCRIPTION

1 RCZ-SRC1-B System Remote Control

1 LDZ-101-B Wireless White Dimmer

2 LSZ-101-B Wireless White Switch (FP)

1 TSM-10.51-B Wireless Touch Screen - 10.5”

1 TSM-10.5TC1-B Touch Screen Table Dock - 10.5”

1 AC-2URE1-B HD Video Zone

1 AC-3URE1-B Audio Zone

C4-PR-20 Programing

C4IN Install

Strange Brew has suggested I move the 10.5" touch screen here to the lower level dedicated HT' and I like that idea seems to make more sense then having it sitting on the kitchen island where it will not be used as much and likely to be damaged accidently as the kitchen is a high traffic /risk area for electronics in my home. A simple push button remote would likely do here I think.

This is 2nd on my priority List.

The Upper Level HT breakdown

QTY PART NO. DESCRIPTION

1 RCZ-SRC1-B System Remote Control

1 AVM-TUN1-B HT-300

1 AC-2URE1-B HD Video Zone

1 AC-3URE1-B Audio Zone

+ Programming and Installation.

This is 4th on my priority list

Finally I didn't think with 3 HT's in the home (one on every level) that my wife would want or need speakers in our bedroom but now she does and so I've asked for a quote to get some music tied in with C4 for her as well.

Master bedroom

QTY PART NO. DESCRIPTION

1 TSG-3.8C1-W WiFi Mini Touch Screen - 4” (white)

1 AVM-TUN1-B HT-300

2 TES-C-8 Teslaudio In-Ceiling Carbon Fiber 8"

1 AC-3URE1-B Audio Zone

Plus installation and programming charges

Some questions that Strange Brew suggested I ask (which I have but I haven't heard back from the dealer yet about)

Questions I've asked already;

Which Video Distribution hub is this? How many Zones/Inputs?

I'm assuming you are planning to distribute the C4 onscreen GUI from hub?

What are the HD Video and Audio zone components? It doesn't look like C4 gear?

Comments I've made to the dealer already

I noticed that you have suggested 1 controller for all the Audio/Video zones. This is not necessarily wrong, but it does affect usability. For example, I don't think I can have 2 users simultaneously accessing the Controller GUI. And when you access the GUI, it will take a bit of time for C4 to "load" the room I'm trying to control if it was left on another one. Won't I also be limited in how many IR and serial connections I can have?

I think I'm more inclined to have the 10.5" touch screen for the theater room vs. the family room. I believe the family room will be fine with the hand held remote and the MTS in the kitchen location.

I don't see an "outlet switch". These are power sensing devices and really make the Xbox work nicely. This would allow me to play by just turning on the Xbox from one of the controllers and have everything fire up. When I turn off the Xbox, everything would power off. They also work well for devices that have toggle codes vs. discrete IR. I'm hoping this will also assist in a "range" issue I have with the controller on the main level losing connection to the 360 in the basement on some occasions.

Thanks to anyone that made it this far (I may have a record for first post)

I look forward to any feed back anyone may have good, bad or otherwise and if anyone wants to discuss anything "offline" you can PM me please.

I'm hoping to have a clear direction and scope with in a week at most and then award the job so they can be in and out by June 15 - 30th and I can start enjoying the benefits of C4 this summer. Right now I just need to ensure I'm getting what I want and also I'm not getting robbed or sold things I don't need so far the quote was much higher then expected but I've gone back to the dealer asking about his margins as well so hopefully he moves a bit on the overall price as I don't want to spend more then a car on this.

Thanks again.

Cheers

Calvin

[tumult]

welcome to c4 and fellow avs'er. good gosh. did strage brew mention that the post had to be 10 words or less? let me get my cup of joe and my reading glasses while I ponder your questions...

[Calv1n]

Thanks Tumult. I thought I should be pretty thorough as this is pretty technical crowd I’m told and I thought if I supplied more info rather then less I might answer some questions before they were asked.

Looking back on the post it does seem like a lot of info though! I maybe should have just started asking about one room at a time instead of the 4 in hindsight.

I hope someone will wade into it and give me some input though I sure would appreciate it.

Thanks again

Calvin

[tumult]

I'm still reading your initial post:lol: actually, i had some things come up so i'm just now getting a chance to read it all. and this crowd is not anywhere close to the technical crowd at avs.

tum

[Calv1n]

Thanks Tumult and anyone else that takes a stab at it. Much appreciated

Looking forward to what you guys have to say.

Thanks again

Calvin