sfleck Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 so is that what everyone is doing ... running from the RCA jacks in the MTS back to the MC or amp?are you using CAT5 and soldering on RCA jacks?what kind of lengths are these runs good for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slemay Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 I think you're confused... the MTS (Mini Touch Screen)? If so - then that takes ethernet (or Wifi) and you don't run RCA's to it. It has RCA line level outs so that it could drive sound in a room off of it (run ethernet from the MC to a switch, from the switch to all your MTS - from those run RCAs to the stereo or amp already in that room). It's either that or I use SpeakerPoints. Never running RCA over Cat5 - why would you need to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfleck Posted January 18, 2006 Author Share Posted January 18, 2006 slemay,no ... i'm not confused ... i know what ethernet is for and what the RCA jacks are for.i'm trying to figure out the best way to multi-zone AUDIO ... without having to put an amp / audio point / speaker point into every room. i like centralized distribution. if C4 would have put an actual amp in their MTS instead of a pair of RCA jacks ... the damn thing would be useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmacdougall Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 You need to use the C4 Multi-Channel Amp (MCA) and connect the three analog audio outs from the MC to the MCA. You should locate the MCA & MC together in a central loaction and then distribute the Speaker Level Outs to each Zone.I hope this helps,Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlevine Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 slemay,no ... i'm not confused ... i know what ethernet is for and what the RCA jacks are for.i'm trying to figure out the best way to multi-zone AUDIO ... without having to put an amp / audio point / speaker point into every room. i like centralized distribution. if C4 would have put an actual amp in their MTS instead of a pair of RCA jacks ... the damn thing would be useful.It would have been great if they put an AMP in there... Not sure why they didn't... Probably a space / cost issue.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfleck Posted January 18, 2006 Author Share Posted January 18, 2006 You need to use the C4 Multi-Channel Amp (MCA) and connect the three analog audio outs from the MC to the MCA. You should locate the MCA & MC together in a central loaction and then distribute the Speaker Level Outs to each Zone.I hope this helps,Robthanks Rob,that is what i figured but it just seems like such a huge waste of wire and work.so then, back to original question ...what are you guys doing? running 2 cat5 back to the wiring closet where the MC and MCA or located and soldering on RCA jacks?steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meyerssb Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 what are you guys doing? running 2 cat5 back to the wiring closet where the MC and MCA or located and soldering on RCA jacks?steveI'm guessing that this question comes from my response yesterday on the thread about the Amp and 8 zones. I did use this method once on a job where I couldn't get the analog audio to work correctly off of the C4 Amp. This install was probably a little different than most, because the house was done when we found out the analog wasn't working correctly. I planned ahead and threw a conduit in the wall from the basement to the attic, just in case we needed more wires. As it turned out this saved my job from flopping... it was one of those times when I was in severe need of help from Control4 and I couldn't get anyone to answer the phone so I just did my own thing. Rather than solder cat5, I just ran siamese RG6 and crimped ends on. It worked fine, it wasn't the ideal method, but that's what I came up with. I also used this method in my own house where I have a touchscreen, an htc and a usb hard drive. I ran the siamese from the back of the MTS and connected it to the router input on my Zon Audio system... works great for calling up media from the hard drive and playing it through out my house. Now if I can just program to control Zon Audio's settings...Blake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfleck Posted January 18, 2006 Author Share Posted January 18, 2006 siamese RG6?i assume that means parallel runs from the MTS back to the MC or Amp?but did you not use the RCA jacks on the MTS ?....nevermind ....i misread RG6 for CAT5 ....i understand now, i do the same thing for RCA all the time ... especially subs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABCO Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 Is there any way this forum can be password protected so that are customers can not access this info. At that point I would even donate to this site to help cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfleck Posted January 18, 2006 Author Share Posted January 18, 2006 Never running RCA over Cat5 - why would you need to?you have to run it over something .... and ....because there are no amps in the room.because i think the speaker points are rather unattractive boxes and make it difficult to hide the wiringbecause the client has no idea where they will permenantly place their furniture before the build is finished ... so where would they put a speaker point? where would you terminate?and because a $700 (MTS) + $400 (ESpkPt) + termination boxes is very expensive for a single room audio solution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Wired Up! Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Because the MCA isn't capable of streaming digital and the MTS is, we are running the line level analog audio out from the MTS back to the amp to create additional zones. Rather silly going from PC to ROUTER to HTC to MTS to MCA to SPEAKERS to create one zone but as sfleck says, an extra $400 for a zone when we already have an amp is not realistic.The MCA not doing digital is just silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slemay Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 It would have been great if they put an AMP in there... Not sure why they didn't... Probably a space / cost issue..and weight as well as it would no longer be a low voltage device - so different UL certs etc.. etc... plus I don't think you'd get it in a device that size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfleck Posted January 19, 2006 Author Share Posted January 19, 2006 i think the amp would fit in a MTS fine ... they fit quite easily in the speaker point and they are low voltage running at 36V ... so i don't think any of SLemay's issues apply.i have said it from the first time i laid eyes on a MTS and a speaker point ... they should be "combined" and DITCH THE RCA jacks on the back of the MTS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chambrick Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 here, here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meyerssb Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 I think it is reasonable to assume that putting a AMP in the MTS is doable... look at Zon Audio... or others that stream the audio over cat 5 and amplify it at the volume control and send it out to the speakers... I think someone once said on the dealer site that would basically be just like what Sonos does??? Certainly it would increase the cost, but I would rather send the signal from there out to the speakers, than figure out some powered solution...Blake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfleck Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 yep, sure ... the ABus keypad maybe only 7W or 11W but the whole damn thing fits easily in a single gang box with ALL THE WIRES. i just cannot find an intelligent use or room design with the RCA in the MTS. this keeps forcing me to seek another lower priced whole-house audio design that fills that 3 to 5 room niche that may require only 4 or less sources. has anyone seen a dual RCA -> RJ45 adapter? there's no way i'm running dual RG6 and single cat5 to every MTS ... especially now on one of my current projects - it's mostly drywalled already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfleck Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 RG6 is so .... 1980's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Wired Up! Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 has anyone seen a dual RCA -> RJ45 adapter? there's no way i'm running dual RG6 and single cat5 to every MTS ... especially now on one of my current projects - it's mostly drywalled already.I think you need baluns don't you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrikinCurt Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Agreed, they already work with DAudio, just put the cheap 20watt amp they have in there, works fine for Netstreams at low voltage (though not POE). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgrace Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Sending the audio back is a bad idea, what we need is some sort of low power amp we can mount in the speaker opening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfleck Posted January 28, 2006 Author Share Posted January 28, 2006 TrikinCurt ...what amp is that you're using? sounds perfect!is it a D2Audio amp?how well does it work and where can i get/see one ?thanks,steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfleck Posted January 28, 2006 Author Share Posted January 28, 2006 I think you need baluns don't you?i don't know why you would.it is line level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Wired Up! Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 You would run analog line level over cat5? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfleck Posted January 30, 2006 Author Share Posted January 30, 2006 sure. done it many times. 20 - 30 feet without a problem.this run is a lot longer though. i split the pairs and solder on jacks.one of the wiring manufacturers (Belkin? Commscope?) always puts on a great free seminar at the EHExpo ... you would be amazed at the things they do with Cat5 and all the data to back it up. it's a great class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrikinCurt Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 sfleck,Sorry not talking about anything i did, just stating that Netstreams has 20watt Daudio amps that they put in each room, C4 also works with DAudio, so you would think they could come up with a way to put a small amp in the color touch screen.Curt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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