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Raspberry Pi + Squuezebox + Speaker Client for Whole House Audio

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    Raspberry Pi + Squuezebox + Speaker Client for Whole House Audio

    Using HS3

    Ok i had a bunch of raspberry pi laying around the house and had some spare time over this 3 day weekend. I found this nice write up here how to install squeezebox on a pi: http://www.instructables.com/id/Rasp...ontr/?ALLSTEPS

    That is a step by step hand holding article Took me less then a hour to get this up and running. Load the HS3 squeezeplayer plug in and go.

    Now i have that up and running how can i integrate the speaker client? I have a usb sound card w/mic plugged into the pi. I am not a linux guy by any means but i can do basic stuff using command. If anyone has a step by step how to for this i would be much appreciated! If anyone is interested i will post up all the hardware you need to make this all work. Its a pretty cheap solution for whole house audio and hopefully speaker client!

    Thanks
    shane

    #2
    The speaker client is a windows only application, it will not run under Linux (unless the HS3 version has changed but considering it looks the same as the HS2 one I imagine most if not all of the code is the same).

    The closest I ever got was running HSTouch, HSTouch does support HSTouchSpeak on Linux so you can run HSTouch (with no project or just a blank project) and send it TTS phrases however the text was encoded at a frequency that was incompatible with SDL which meant the phrases came out all high pitched. I had hoped that a Linux speaker client was coming for this very reason as one of the downsides was that you needed to run a full PC per client, you could look at writing your own application in VB and then using Mono to run it and also writing a plugin also on the HS side of things to send the speech but that is going to get complex quite quickly.

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      #3
      There is also a tiny universal SqueezePlayerLite application that runs on anything these days. It is called SqueezeLite.

      http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...28alsa-only%29

      I am using it today and it works well.
      - Pete

      Auto mator
      Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
      Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
      HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

      HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
      HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

      X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

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        #4
        Originally posted by Pete View Post
        There is also a tiny universal SqueezePlayerLite application that runs on anything these days. It is called SqueezeLite.

        http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...28alsa-only%29

        I am using it today and it works well.
        That is exactly what I installed on the pi Works great. Since i cannot load a speaker client onto the pi does anyone have any suggestions for whole house microphone? I want to be able to do voice commands in the entire house. I am lucky enough to have a walk in attic over the majority of the house with the exception of one room upstairs but i can still get to it if i crawl a bit

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          #5
          Googling here about your endeavor put me in the virtual USB world of sound.

          That said though the mention of latency came up doing this with software, USB and the network; but it was related to 20 virtual microphones.

          This is similiar though to the same TTS proxy use of Squeezebox. I cannot ever sync up the audio pieces virtually no matter what I do (I get echos). This is where I just utilize analog; IE: my zoned analog audio. You can get a mixer and wireless microphones which might work better at what you want to do (well in real time).
          - Pete

          Auto mator
          Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
          Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
          HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

          HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
          HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

          X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Pete View Post
            Googling here about your endeavor put me in the virtual USB world of sound.

            That said though the mention of latency came up doing this with software, USB and the network; but it was related to 20 virtual microphones.

            This is similiar though to the same TTS proxy use of Squeezebox. I cannot ever sync up the audio pieces virtually no matter what I do (I get echos). This is where I just utilize analog; IE: my zoned analog audio. You can get a mixer and wireless microphones which might work better at what you want to do (well in real time).
            Thank you much for the info. I found 2 more Raspberry Pi on my junk drawer last night so will load those up this weekend and test out the sound. Here is my parts list if anyone is interested. I will install this in a Leviton Panel box in the walk in attic as that will be the center point of the install.

            1. Raspberry Pi For The Zones
            2. Case For The Pi
            3. Leviton Enclosures
            4. Wire For Speakers
            5. Speakers For Ceiling
            6. Amp For Speakers
            7. Better Sound Card For Pi
            8. Power Supply For Pi (you will need micro usb cables too)
            9. 12V Power Supply For The Amps
            10. Power Distribution (1 each hot and ground) For The Amp *I LIKE TIDY!
            11. Jumper To Send Power or Ground To All Sides Of Distribution Block

            From Your Local Box Store
            1. 12/2 wire
            2. Metal Boxes For Leviton Duplex Box
            3. Wire Nuts
            4. Duplex Plug (or buy the fancy Levition ones)

            Will update with pictures once i start

            Comment


              #7
              What amps are you using for the speakers? Not sure I understand how you get power between the USB card and speaker, but the following might be another route to go which will get you use of the speaker app.

              I use a Silex SX-3000GB for remote usb. you could hook one of these to a usb hub and x number of the usb cards you are using. You can then run multiple instances of the homeseer speaker app on the HS PC and connect each instance to a separate USB sound card. THis gives you zone control for announcements and you should be able to do mic's as well. Rupp has some posts on how to make sure each instance of speaker app connectes to the correct USB card somewhere on the board. Involves editing the .inf file when installing the speaker cards. I am pretty sure you can run multiple instances of squeeze*** software player and achieve the same effect for music. This is really the same as what you are doing with the pi except running on one PC and using windows.
              Last edited by heatvent; July 12, 2014, 10:28 AM.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by heatvent View Post
                What amps are you using for the speakers? Not sure I understand how you get power between the USB card and speaker, but the following might be another route to go which will get you use of the speaker app.

                I use a Silex SX-3000GB for remote usb. you could hook one of these to a usb hub and x number of the usb cards you are using. You can then run multiple instances of the homeseer speaker app on the HS PC and connect each instance to a separate USB sound card. THis gives you zone control for announcements and you should be able to do mic's as well. Rupp has some posts on how to make sure each instance of speaker app connectes to the correct USB card somewhere on the board. Involves editing the .inf file when installing the speaker cards. I am pretty sure you can run multiple instances of squeeze*** software player and achieve the same effect for music. This is really the same as what you are doing with the pi except running on one PC and using windows.
                Never thought about using a network USB like that :/ That is a much less complex way. I already got all the raspberry pi made so will go ahead and use them for the zones and just use that hub and run the mics off it. Will test it out! Thanks for the ideas!

                Comment


                  #9
                  So....how did this turn out?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by heatvent View Post
                    So....how did this turn out?
                    It worked out great! I installed it in 2 bed rooms 1 loft and outside by the pool. Networked in the raspberry pi, booked them to each amp and run Logitech Media Server on main pc. Everything plays nicely. I wanted to be able to pass voice in 2 bed rooms so used a 2 port printer server. Hooked in 2 usb sound cards to them then on the output used a splitter on the amp and feed it into each room. I run a speaker client for each room. I can pass voice to either of the 2. My PC wakes me up every morning with the temp and weather forecast, it all worked out exactly as planned!

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                      #11
                      Great! do you have any photos to share?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by heatvent View Post
                        Great! do you have any photos to share?

                        Box with the amps and the power and pi Still need to zip tie some of the wires


                        Switch for internet

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I do have a odd problem. I only had one speaker client going now that I have 2 I am getting the same message spoken over both bedroom speakers. Here is how its set up:


                          Notice the pi that says "Lexi bedroom" I have the output going to the amp straight across from it and the amp runs a splitter. This splitter runs up to the monoprice network hub that has 4 USB outputs. On 2 of these usbs I have a cmedia USB. I use the USBs for speaker clients. I have 2 extra speaker clients that I have running named masterbedroom and one called alexisbedroom.



                          My event looks like:



                          but it plays over both the masterbedroom and alexisbedroom :/

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Also the speaker clients look like

                            Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeSeer HS3\Speaker.exe" AlexisBedroom



                            Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeSeer HS3\Speaker.exe" MasterBedroom

                            and man those pics are wide :/

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Raspberry Pi + Squuezebox + Speaker Client for Whole House Audio

                              Did you edit the inf file for the usb sound card drivers when you installed them to give them unique names in windows? There is a post by rupp somewhere that explains how to do this

                              Btw thanks for sharing the pics. I was trying to visualize what you were doing. Basically you ended up with a virtual switch for each room that runs through a separate squeezebox.
                              Last edited by heatvent; September 21, 2014, 02:58 PM. Reason: edits

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