jorge_zr Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 I'm thinking about getting a C4 system and am unsure about which controller to get. To being with, I will just be doing lighting, climate, shades, and lock in the front door. I mentioned to my dealer that later on, I would like to add a door station and 4 touchscreens so that I can answer and open the front gate throughout the house. I may consider 4 zones of audio later on but this is unlikely. Which controller should I get? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c4toys Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 22 minutes ago, jorge_zr said: I'm thinking about getting a C4 system and am unsure about which controller to get. To being with, I will just be doing lighting, climate, shades, and lock in the front door. I mentioned to my dealer that later on, I would like to add a door station and 4 touchscreens so that I can answer and open the front gate throughout the house. I may consider 4 zones of audio later on but this is unlikely. Which controller should I get? once you mentioned touchscreens and DS, I instantly said EA5 to myself, just my opinion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 The EA-3 would likely work well for you. A few things that would push me to EA-5 in this case: If you were going to do multiple audio zones, the EA-3 only has 2 stereo/digital audio streaming outputs, so in your 4 zone audio case, those 4 zones couldn't all be listening to different things at one time. The EA-5 provides 4 stereo/digital audio outputs, along with the HDMI ('fifth') audio output. If you are mounting in a rack, the EA-5 is full rack width, so cleaner to mount. If you were also going to use the contacts/relays on the EA-5 for something like garage door control, etc. Edited to add: as mentioned above, the touchscreens/doorstation also would push me more towards EA-5. RyanE Matt Lowe and Cart 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Honestly it's all about number of concurrent audio feeds you want. eggzlot and RyanE 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorge_zr Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 12 minutes ago, msgreenf said: Honestly it's all about number of concurrent audio feeds you want. I'm still unsure if I would even get audio in the home. However, I would only want three concurrent audio feeds since only three of us live in the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 32 minutes ago, msgreenf said: Honestly it's all about number of concurrent audio feeds you want. This is sound advice msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 I'm still unsure if I would even get audio in the home. However, I would only want three concurrent audio feeds since only three of us live in the house.Then you probably want the ea5. Sound feed #3 on the ea3 is HDMI audio. JSTRONG and RyanE 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorge_zr Posted February 21, 2020 Author Share Posted February 21, 2020 The dealer is recommending the EA5 because of the additional processing power that the door station and touchscreens would require in the future. Another question about the audio feeds. So with the EA3, I would not be able to play 3 different songs from spotify at the same time. Is that correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSTRONG Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 the EA3 does have 3 streams of audio (hence the 3) however the 3rd stream, as Mitch said, is only from the HDMI port. Technically, yes you can still make it work but requires some special driver building and adapters. If you want the 3 or more streams of audio go with the EA5. Yes, stick with the EA5 for a full house controller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorge_zr Posted February 21, 2020 Author Share Posted February 21, 2020 Thank You for all the advise. I guess I'll go for the EA5 then. RyanE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil12011 Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 1 hour ago, msgreenf said: Honestly it's all about number of concurrent audio feeds you want. 1 hour ago, eggzlot said: This is sound advice Good pun there Eric. msgreenf, South Africa C4 user, eggzlot and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 10 minutes ago, neil12011 said: Good pun there Eric. I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it ecschnei and South Africa C4 user 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcovach Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 1 hour ago, eggzlot said: This is sound advice I hear ya eggzlot and ecschnei 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejn1 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 On 2/20/2020 at 6:36 PM, RyanE said: The EA-3 would likely work well for you. A few things that would push me to EA-5 in this case: If you were going to do multiple audio zones, the EA-3 only has 2 stereo/digital audio streaming outputs, so in your 4 zone audio case, those 4 zones couldn't all be listening to different things at one time. The EA-5 provides 4 stereo/digital audio outputs, along with the HDMI ('fifth') audio output. If you are mounting in a rack, the EA-5 is full rack width, so cleaner to mount. If you were also going to use the contacts/relays on the EA-5 for something like garage door control, etc. Edited to add: as mentioned above, the touchscreens/doorstation also would push me more towards EA-5. RyanE Curious why Touchscreens operate better with EA5? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 It also depends on what your audio source is going to be. If it will be a native C4 source or Spotify then you will need more audio feeds on the controller. But if you will use other sources like an Echo device then you don't have to worry about as many feeds coming from the C4 controller. Depending on your AV setup then you may want more than one controller to have IR control and OSD in additional rooms. RyanE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Lowe Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 I would also recommend the EA5. Entire system performance is dependent on the main controller. The only thing above this would be the ca10 but that would be for a much larger project and will be more than what you need for your system from what i can tell with the little information provided. I have more thoughts on this here old but still relevant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.