Setting Up a New System

[BrownBear]

Hi everyone. I recently moved into a home that was custom built in 2008. The previous owner had all their equipment and speakers run into a central media closet and had a Control4 system with an HC800 and an 8 zone amplifier (AMP108). No instructions/passwords or anything else was left for the Control 4 system unfortunately.

Before I hire an installer to set up the system, I wanted to reach out to this group and make sure I understand how best to set-up my system. Appreciate any and all help you guys can provide.

Specific items in the central media closet:

• Denon x3400H receiver (I replaced the existing unit with this one last week) connected to 5.1 speaker cables (all for family room - downstairs) 
• Denon x3400H receiver (I replaced the existing unit with this one last week) connected to 5.1 speaker cables (all for master bedroom - upstairs) 
• 8 separate zones with 2 channel audio speaker cables (guest bedroom, master bathroom, kids bedroom, patio, office, kitchen, dining room, living room)
• C4-HC800
• C4-AMP108
• 3 Cat-5E cables and 1 coax cable running from family room
• 3 Cat-5E cables and 1 coax cable running from mater bedroom
• 3 Cat-5E cables and 1 coax cable running from guest bedroom

For the family room I just purchased a Sony XBR75X900F. For the master bedroom and also for the guest bedroom I just purchased a Sony XBR55X900F. For TV/streaming, I use DirecTVNOW and Apple4KTV (for Netflix, etc.). For music, I use Spotify.

As I understand it, I have two ways to set up the system:

• Option 1: Purchase 4K HDR baluns/extenders. Looks like they are $600 a pair (Atlona: AT-HDR-EX-70C-KIT). I would then connect my TV in the master bedroom to the balun and then connect it to the receiver in the central media closet (via 1 Cat-5E cable). I would also connect the Apple4KTV, a Blu-ray player, and a media player to the receiver. Exact same set-up for the family room.
• Option 2: Purchase optical/TOSLink balun/extenders. Looks like they are like $140 a pair (Gefen: EXT-DIGAUD-141). I would strap the Apple4KTV to the back on the TV and then just connect the optical/Cat5E from the TV to the receiver (via 1 Cat-5E cable). Exact same set-up for the family room.

Sorry for the very long post but I wanted to provide all the background/specifics. So here are my questions:

• For Option 2, how do I connect a Blu-ray player and a media player to this system?
• What are the advantages/disadvantages of Option 1 versus Option 2?
• For Option 1, it looks like I cant get 4K Dolby Vision in 60 fps. I could get that if I just hook-up the Apple4KTV directly to the TV. Is this a big deal?
• For Option 2, it looks like I cant get Dolby Atmos/etc. via TOSLink? I have a 5.1 systems in-ceiling system and do not want to add more speakers so does this matter?
• Would Control4 work equally well for either Option 1 or Option 2? Any advantages for either set-up as it relates to Control4?
• If I want the Control4 user interface menu on both the family room TV and the master bedroom TV, how do I do that? Does it matter if I go with Option 1 or Option 2?

Thanks so much everyone!   

 

[Cyknight]

With multiple sources Option 1 is better - option 3 would  adding a local hdmi patrix (with your setup no HDBaseT built in needed.

This could cut back on sources to offset the cost.

the 'loss' of dolby vision would be minimal (limited content) at this time vs losing surround sound quality

Both setups operate just fine withing Control4 as such.

To get onscreen in both rooms you'd want to use a simple HDMI splitter in option 1 - it would require additional controllers in option 2. Question is, do you truly want it? You are LIKELY (will depend on exact model/age of HC800) able to use apps on phones and tablets.

I hope DirecTVNOW is on Apple TV? Best to pretend 'smart' TVs don't exist or you're making this a lot more complicated in your situation.

 

What I'm missing here is how you're going to be doing music in these rooms with speakers. That amp is non-switching, no volume control.

Your best bet as getting an audio matrix at this point. Could find an older version second hand. This would allow proper switching of multiple streams coming off of your HC800 (up to 2 streams - can be expanded by getting additional controllers), get the V3 matrix to have full volume off of all zones individually, feed one of the surround rooms from it, leaving a dedicated coax output for the second surround room.

Without that, you'll be locked into using the global input for the amp and a single stream (ie can only listen to one thing on all speakers, with all speakers being on at all times, singular volume control (unless there's control 'knobs' for volume available in the rooms).

[BrownBear]

Hi Cyknight. Thank you for the reply.

• Yes DirecTVNOW is an app that I use exclusively through the AppleTV. I do not use any of the native apps on the TV and just do everything through apps in the AppleTV. Does that work well for Control4?
• For audio, I was mistaken - sorry about that. The unit I actually have is the C4-16AMP3-B. Does that solve the issue regarding playing different music in different rooms and controlling volume independently, etc.? 

[Cyknight]

25 minutes ago, BrownBear said:

For audio, I was mistaken - sorry about that. The unit I actually have is the C4-16AMP3-B. Does that solve the issue regarding playing different music in different rooms and controlling volume independently, etc.? 

Ah, much better - that solves the MAJORITY of it at least.

 

One remaining item would be feeding the two surround zones (if you even care to have music there). Note that with the amp you mentioned, you're still only able to listen to two different things from the HC800 (you could ad a third using a cheap  DAC to convert  the one coax out to stereo analogue - but that would mean no feeds to the two surround receivers)

27 minutes ago, BrownBear said:

Yes DirecTVNOW is an app that I use exclusively through the AppleTV. I do not use any of the native apps on the TV and just do everything through apps in the AppleTV. Does that work well for Control4? 

It's not that it works well for C4, it's what works well in what (as far as I can tell) is your setup, wiring and equipment. And yes, that works out fine.