ERDrPC Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 Dumb question hereI've been to Sonos's website. What is the benefit of a sonos installation where there will be in-ceiling speakers and in-wall speakers hooked up to a multi-channel amp? I guess I plan on either using an EVA or XBMC or 7MC to watch my videos. I figure I'd to be able to stream my mp3s to different locations with cover art on the controller. As I plan to central stack everything, is there a point to use sonos? I guess I'm asking what is the best way to set-up multi-room audio? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 I set mine up using C4's gear and it works great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 Dumb question hereI've been to Sonos's website. What is the benefit of a sonos installation where there will be in-ceiling speakers and in-wall speakers hooked up to a multi-channel amp? I guess I plan on either using an EVA or XBMC or 7MC to watch my videos. I figure I'd to be able to stream my mp3s to different locations with cover art on the controller. As I plan to central stack everything, is there a point to use sonos? I guess I'm asking what is the best way to set-up multi-room audio?Not a dumb question at all: The following is an opinion from a self confessed Sonos fanatic so is very much "IMHO" It comes down to your multiroom audio philosophy. Basically fixed install vs. portable. Complete install in one hit vs. gradual install adding to rooms as you so desire.Network distribution of digital music out to the peripheral zones (where the amps are) vs. having the one centrally located amp with speaker wires going out to the periphery.If you can't run ANY wires at all (eg you're a tenant, or have a solid mud brick house!) then Sonos is a proven wireless multiroom system. But C4 also has a great solution with it's "speaker point" box. If you can run wires, but the runs are long (ie rooms are a long way apart) then running speaker wire great distances can be a problem and expensive for high quality wire. It also becomes difficult to power good quality speakers. So the alternative is to run Cat5e-6 and put the zone amps/players (either Sonos or C4) out at the periphery. If you are happy to run speaker wire out from the central stack to every room, then any system is fine (including old fashioned expensive non digital fixed installed systems)I've seen Sonos used in a central stack. You would basically use one ZP90 for each zone/room you need and run an output into each channel of whatever multichannel amp you want to use. But remember Sonos does not have any IR or trigger outputs, so such an amp would need to be left on all the time, or have line level autosensing (if you want to conserve power). I suppose you could stack a whole lot of ZP120's (the players with amps) one on top the other but this starts getting silly.So back to the philosophy. Sounds like your plan is a large central stack. Perfect for C4....but also possible with Sonos. Cost, whether slick itunes sync is a "must", music playback format issues, whether you want to "complicate" your system with 2 platforms etc. etc. then become considerations...If you are starting from scratch, with C4 2.0 coming along, you don't necessarily need Sonos!!! But if you want to start and experiment first with one room (you don't even need an installer), you aren't sure you need all the zones, you can't run long speaker wire, or even know if you will be in the same house in 12 months and want to pick up the system and take it with you when your wife throws you out then Sonos is perfect. Mind you C4 is perfect for that as well!I was late to home automation. I started with multiroom audio distribution first. Built up to 8 rooms. DIY. Then I wanted more, so shopped around for an equivalent video distribution/home theatre control system. C4 was the perfect match as it uses a surprisingly familiar network distribution method and has a similar philosophy. Including a great open forum! The two systems are very complimentary. After the 8th of Feb, they will even fit better together. :cool: Hope all this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3fingerbrown Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 all i have to say is there are a lot of smileys in that post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 all i have to say is there are a lot of smileys in that postHad another look...now the ludes have worn off...crikey. Did I write that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExtraVeg Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Hi thanks for your replies. Sorry to take time to reply - we've been demonstrating this at ISE in the Netherlands.Just to answer a couple of points raised.With regard to devices connected to the Line In inputs on any Zone Player. Within Control4 these simply become another place you can connect a piece of AV equipment. As such if you told C4 that a CD player was connected to one of these then C4 would provide the CD control interface. As long as you can get an IR bug on the device and back to a C4 controller you have full control. Again if you select Sonos in a Home Theater zone from a C4 device it will handle all the AV receiver switch on etc. Remember even with uncompressed audio switched off their may be a time delay with audio devices connected to the Line In on the Sonos.With regard to connections and system design you can either use the Sonos method of a ZP in every room or you could connect un-amplified ZPs to a multichannel matrix/amp. If you don't need a separate music stream in each room the latter might be more cost effective - but you will loose the ability to control volume from any Sonos controller.Zone linking is currently not supported from the C4 devices - although it still works from the Sonos controllers. If you use un-amplified ZPs into a matrix then you can use C4 Zoning. We are looking to see if we can make this work in general but no promises.Regarding the additional features. We will be adding the subscription music services when we can. The lack of a keyboard function within C4 hampers this a bit. Come C4 2.0 we expect our flash app will solve this. Coverart too will come, we can read it from the Sonos just fine but can't convert it into the format C4 wants at the moment. Again the app should solve that.We had eight people from Sonos come visit us during the show, some were at a pretty high level (nice suits, no name badges!) and all were impressed with how fast it was compared with certain other solutions that might be available!We all ready to release come Monday - time to call your dealers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Simon. Some feedback I am think your app is fantastic. My dealer had it up and running in no time. We had absolutely no hastles what so ever. I decided to take your advice and put it all onto an HC1000. I have NO regrets doing this It's quick. Responsive. It's awesome Simon.I've only just discovered your app is also embedded into the ControlUI iphone app as well. I mean icing on the cake or what?Simon this is terrific stuff. Full network distributed audio around 8 zones, all controlled from within one great home automation product.You guys are to be congratulated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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