Jump to content

New House


Guest confused and hungover

Recommended Posts

Guest confused and hungover
Posted

hello!

it's been ages since i posted on this site, been so busy with work lately, anyway...

i've come across a pretty tricky problem in my new house and i know there are some very technical people here so i thought i'd rack you brains :)

i'm installing a system where i can play music in 4 different rooms from a central PC/server. i'm putting speakers in each of the rooms and will run the cable down to the sound card on the PC/server. i want to install 2 interfaces, one upstairs, one downstairs... with me so far?

the problems i'm having are, a) what type of interface to use, and ;) how to control the sound card to allow me to turn different rooms on and off through the 2 interfaces.

preferably the interfaces should be touch screen so they can be cleanly installed in the rooms without keyboards and mice.

any suggestions of interfaces, sound cards, hints and tips etc....

cheers!

  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Palindrome
Posted

Hmm... interesting problem. In my kitchen I have speakers and an amp connected to my M500 which streams music using WIFI of my PC. Granted, that's not exactly similar to yours but if you're using cables to attach the speakers to your soundcard how about this:

The stereo lineout lead from your soundcard goes into a four way splitter. The outputs from the splitter goes into each of the four rooms using the cables. Each cable then goes into a volume controller (with an mute or volume on/off switch) which finally goes into your speakers. As long as you only have only one of the volume controls switched on at any time you won't get any loss of volume, plus you'll be able to control the volume in each of the rooms.

It's a bit cruder than touch screens but it should work.

Guest confused and hungover
Posted
It's a bit cruder than touch screens but it should work.

nice ideas, thanks :)

recently i've been looking at these http://www.rokulabs.com/products/soundbridge/ ...install one in each room with a set of speakers and stream the music through wifi...

high tech and user friendly ;) A friend of mine works for pinnacle sys who brand the eu version of the soundbridge... i'm hoping to get my hands on one on loan for this weekend, we'll see how it goes :D

cheers

C&H

Guest nevawlkalone
Posted

Touch Screen . Lilliput 7" touch screen...it poons...

Will there be a PC in each room???? :) ;) :D

Guest confused and hungover
Posted

SWEET! those lilliput touch screes are well nice! and 109 euros each.... affordable.

i'm speaking with the manufcturer by email to help find the best units.

The plan is to have one main PC, with these touchscreens as an interface.

Guest nevawlkalone
Posted
with these touchscreens as an interface.

So one main PC and a load of touch screens...hmmmm

Mite be akward to connect them all me thinks!

As for the sound, no idea pal sorry

Guest confused and hungover
Posted
Mite be akward to connect them all me thinks!

As for the sound, no idea pal sorry

the sound is the easy part- independantly powered logitech speakers in the room, hooked up to the sound card or splitter.

with these touchscreens i could control some kind of software which governs which speakers are turned on at any one time.

just been on the phone with carcomputer.co.uk they have 3 in clearance stock for 150 pounds, including shipping and everything it would set me back 560 quid to get them to holland... now i just need to convince my girlfriend that we need them

Guest nevawlkalone
Posted
the sound is the easy part- independantly powered logitech speakers in the room, hooked up to the sound card or splitter.

Like to see that working, sounds intreguing! never new it was possible!

with these touchscreens i could control some kind of software which governs which speakers are turned on at any one time.
Possibly, that would be useful but again i know of none sorry

carcomputer.co.uk they have 3 in clearance stock for 150 pounds, including shipping and everything

Hmmm mite be down to two soon pal. lmao

Guest confused and hungover
Posted
They look great. :) Would you let us know how they performed?

i'll be testing the pinnacle soundbridge tonight.... i'll keep you posted ;)

Guest nevawlkalone
Posted
i'll be testing the pinnacle soundbridge tonight.... i'll keep you posted :)

So how do they work? Do u just buy one?

Its not clear to me from the site, but it is first thing in the morning... lol

Guest confused and hungover
Posted
So how do they work? Do u just buy one?

Its not clear to me from the site, but it is first thing in the morning... lol

i tested it out last night and it works pretty much as suspected. it finds the wireless router, uses a microsoft program to find the music on the PC, then you just play it with the remote control.

upside: it's wirelss

downside: it's not as pretty, or configurable as the touchscreens.

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.