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Cost Effective & Robust Multi-zone Audiophile quality Option


RayinLA

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Hi all - 

This question may have been posted already.   

Background:  

  • 60% through new construction build
  • House is wired with Cat6, HDMI, Coax, and speaker wire.  
  • 9 Zones of multi-room audio
  • (1) 7.2 in ceiling setup
  • (1) 5.1 in ceiling setup
  • Lighting switches are Lutron.
  • CCTV wire is in - (8) cameras
  • Security wiring completed - recessed into every window and door.
  • doorbell wiring completed
  • Extra wiring in place to add voice control devices, sensors, or even touch pads if we decide.
  • Speakers selected and purchased. (Episode 7 series and Klipsch 160's)
  • Subwoofers (2 in floor), (1) in ceiling installed
  • All wiring to a Home run space.

So - Most important elements for us are:

  • multi-room audio.  I am a fan of the Sonos user experience - but Sonos amps do deteriorate sound file quality.  Work around could be for 7.2 and 5.1 - separate control experience but it's clunky that way.
  • I have thought about the Yamaha Quad Musiccast - great listening, but app control has horrendous reviews (google and IOS stores).  But - all sources and speakers are hard wired which mitigates much of the challenge most people are complaining about.  We would control via wifi through voice control or app.  No need for touch screen - they never get used.
  • What about Savant or Control4? Can it be done without installers?  or cost effectively?  We don't need an All in one solution although it's a nice to have.  Alexa and/or Google can solve much of that today.

 

We are in Los Angeles - Looking for some advice and even some local help.

 

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28 minutes ago, RayinLA said:

Hi all - 

This question may have been posted already.   

Background:  

  • 60% through new construction build
  • House is wired with Cat6, HDMI, Coax, and speaker wire.  
  • 9 Zones of multi-room audio
  • (1) 7.2 in ceiling setup
  • (1) 5.1 in ceiling setup
  • Lighting switches are Lutron.
  • CCTV wire is in - (8) cameras
  • Security wiring completed - recessed into every window and door.
  • doorbell wiring completed
  • Extra wiring in place to add voice control devices, sensors, or even touch pads if we decide.
  • Speakers selected and purchased. (Episode 7 series and Klipsch 160's)
  • Subwoofers (2 in floor), (1) in ceiling installed
  • All wiring to a Home run space.

So - Most important elements for us are:

  • multi-room audio.  I am a fan of the Sonos user experience - but Sonos amps do deteriorate sound file quality.  Work around could be for 7.2 and 5.1 - separate control experience but it's clunky that way.
  • I have thought about the Yamaha Quad Musiccast - great listening, but app control has horrendous reviews (google and IOS stores).  But - all sources and speakers are hard wired which mitigates much of the challenge most people are complaining about.  We would control via wifi through voice control or app.  No need for touch screen - they never get used.
  • What about Savant or Control4? Can it be done without installers?  or cost effectively?  We don't need an All in one solution although it's a nice to have.  Alexa and/or Google can solve much of that today.

 

We are in Los Angeles - Looking for some advice and even some local help.

 

Just at first glance, sounds to me like the A/V zones, versus straight Audio would be best served by 2 AVR's.  There is a way to integrate those zones into an audio matrix and programming to tell those zones how to handle audio.  There are many options, but the Triad option is best if you end up doing Control4 (highly recommend!).  Both Control4 and Savant require a dealer for many good reasons (ultimately great support and access to the latest equipment), but once you're setup, you can buy the end user version of Composer for Control4 (Composer HE) and you can do anything a dealer can do pretty much (with the exception of adding devices and doing bindings for devices), but your dealer or any certified C4 tech here can remote in and add your devices, troubleshoot any issues etc.).  The cost of the great guys here is usually 1/3 of what a local dealer charges by the time they execute changes in 1/2 the time a local dealer might.  

I'd also trial Roon for the audiophile user experience.  Sounds like you may be an audiophile and Roon is designed for you.  Full Disclosure: I am a dealer, but if you trial though my link and decide to go ahead with it and wish to integrate with C4, I will discount the cost of the required Nucleus.  I think you'll really enjoy the platform, the metadata and it's ability to blend various audio endpoints (Including Sonos).  Here's the link.  (During your trial you will be using a laptop/desktop as your core.  Once setup, you'll have an iOS or Android app and when you eventually choose a control system, you will have the interfaces also).  https://roonlabs.com/r/RQeEz3CN30ulNwifCuTtNg

 

28 minutes ago, RayinLA said:

 

 

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1 hour ago, RayinLA said:

Hi all - 

This question may have been posted already.   

Background:  

  • 60% through new construction build
  • House is wired with Cat6, HDMI, Coax, and speaker wire.  
  • 9 Zones of multi-room audio
  • (1) 7.2 in ceiling setup
  • (1) 5.1 in ceiling setup
  • Lighting switches are Lutron.
  • CCTV wire is in - (8) cameras
  • Security wiring completed - recessed into every window and door.
  • doorbell wiring completed
  • Extra wiring in place to add voice control devices, sensors, or even touch pads if we decide.
  • Speakers selected and purchased. (Episode 7 series and Klipsch 160's)
  • Subwoofers (2 in floor), (1) in ceiling installed
  • All wiring to a Home run space.

So - Most important elements for us are:

  • multi-room audio.  I am a fan of the Sonos user experience - but Sonos amps do deteriorate sound file quality.  Work around could be for 7.2 and 5.1 - separate control experience but it's clunky that way.
  • I have thought about the Yamaha Quad Musiccast - great listening, but app control has horrendous reviews (google and IOS stores).  But - all sources and speakers are hard wired which mitigates much of the challenge most people are complaining about.  We would control via wifi through voice control or app.  No need for touch screen - they never get used.
  • What about Savant or Control4? Can it be done without installers?  or cost effectively?  We don't need an All in one solution although it's a nice to have.  Alexa and/or Google can solve much of that today.

 

We are in Los Angeles - Looking for some advice and even some local help.

 

Well you have come to a C4 forum.  C4 and Savant are custom installer products.  So you will need a dealer.  And it is an “all in one app” solution which you are saying you do not need.  At least C4 has some software you can use that can do 90% of what a dealer can do, but you still need a dealer, cannot get around that fact.  You can do C4 cost effective if you are techy - sync up with a remote dealer here.  Buy some equipment from them and/or look at eBay or the for sale forum here and piece together what you need.  They can remote in and get your project up and running.  Or get a local dealer, by everything new and when you need any tweaks in the future get a remote dealer for quicker more affordable help.  What is “cost effective” varies from person to person.

I am sure some people can pop in here but AVSForum.com may be better and its more DIY oriented.  

For the surround zones get AVRs that are local.  For the other zones get a dumb multi channel amp plus some sort of streaming device.  Can be Nuvo, Russound or VSSL.  Just 3 options that are streaming music ecosystems that may have better DAC/Hardware than Sonos.  End of day, to be frank - I would not over analyze sound quality for non critical zones such as kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.  the music there is background music.  Put time/money/focus into the 5.1 and 7.2 rooms, the rest you can use average stuff, otherwise you are just throwing away money - that’s just my two cents.

Keep in mind depending on your wiring you’ll need to make sure your audio and video sources are in sync - if the video sources are local that is not a problem.  But if there are audio only zones do you want the ability to play the audio from a TV playing in another room.  Example: hosting a super bowl party - if the game is on in the theater room do you want the audio feed also playing in the bathroom or the kitchen so as people move around the house they hear everything in sync?

 

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