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Difference between "Triad 8-Zone Power Amplifier" & "8-Zone Matrix Amplifier"


mujos

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Hi,

Am new to Control 4 and I am setting up a home with audio distribution (8-zone). 2 questions:

1. What is the difference between "Triad 8-Zone Power Amplifier" & "8-Zone Matrix Amplifier"?

2. I would like to attach 8 chromecast (coupled with HDMI splitter) to the 8 inputs and allow real audio distribution, since chromecast can run in both Android & iOS. It will offer good flexibility. What do you think?

Thanks

 

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14 minutes ago, mujos said:

I would like to attach 8 chromecast (coupled with HDMI splitter)

The triad has no volume or input switching. So depending on your setup you will likely need a matrix amp or an amp and triad matrix for control4 source switching and volume. I haven't tried but I am guessing the hdmi audio out after being extracted will not be variable so the triad amp by itself will probably not work.

I'm assuming this is for audio only or are you putting hdmi extenders and going to tvs as well?

 

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Overall, what would be a good option when I need to setup 8 Wi-Fi audio sources to attach to Triad matrix? Chromecast is not really an audio device but it has the "Google cast" protocol and all mobile devices (smartphone, tablets, iOS, etc) are compliant therefore will be able to stream music. Thanks

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On 2/21/2021 at 5:39 PM, cshepard said:

...send the audio outputs of the TVs back to your audio matrix or matrix amp.

What's the best way to do this?  Analog stereo baluns? Digital coax over ethernet?  Do you need baluns to send digital audio over ethernet or can you just use "bare wire", as in use the orange pair for signal and the blue pair for ground, or whatever?

One complicating factor is that it seems to me that TVs are less likely to have digital coax audio outputs than analog or optical.  You can use optical but then you need a converter or balun for sure.

And when you are doing this do you need to use an additional ethernet run or are there other ways of combining the signal on one drop, kind of like ARC?

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14 hours ago, zaphod said:

What's the best way to do this?  Analog stereo baluns? Digital coax over ethernet?  Do you need baluns to send digital audio over ethernet or can you just use "bare wire", as in use the orange pair for signal and the blue pair for ground, or whatever?

One complicating factor is that it seems to me that TVs are less likely to have digital coax audio outputs than analog or optical.  You can use optical but then you need a converter or balun for sure.

And when you are doing this do you need to use an additional ethernet run or are there other ways of combining the signal on one drop, kind of like ARC?

Audio baluns are the way to do this—we sell lots of Samsung TVs which have optical audio outputs, so we use Cat5/6 extenders that also do the D to A conversion. For TVs like Sony that have analog audio out, a simple analog audio balun can be used. You’ll want a dedicated Cat cable for this. Try not to call a Category cable an Ethernet cable unless it is actually being used for Ethernet. There are systems/devices that carry video/audio over Ethernet, but those are a completely different animal than what is being discussed here.

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