I'm in the process of building a new house, and am trying to do whole-house audio on the cheap. At this point, I'm most concerned about getting the wiring in place, and less concerned about buying equipment and making things work. My biggest fear is to close up all the walls and realize I forgot some wiring that I need.
In addition to playing music througout the house, my major requirements are the ability to announce callers and security alerts from my ELK (will do both through HomeSeer). I'd like to have two different audio sources...the homeseer computer to play announcements and my MP3 collection and a stereo tuner to play the radio (I only need one station).
My current thought is to use the AB8SS and later upgrade to the ESS line when available.
What I'm thinking is putting an IR Receiver in every room that will have speakers. I'll then get some universal remotes to control on/off, the source, and eventually volume (when the ESS is ready). I'd also need IR out to my main TV room and to the basement (where the tuner is).
I'm getting pretty confused at this point as to how the IR reception works. If I put an IR receiver in every room that has speakers, what would these IR receivers connect to? I'm guessing the best bet would be an Ocelot, but looking at the Ocelot, I can't figure out how to get all of the single IR signal cables into the Ocelot.
So, am I crazy? Am I making this way more complicated than it needs to be? I was trying to avoid individual volume controls in each room, but maybe I should be looking to do that instead?
I was trying to avoid individual volume controllers in each room in anticipation of the ESS. That way, if a phone call came in, or there was a security announcement, I could use HomeSeer to set the volume rather than worrying about what level each individual volume controller was set at. That being said, is anybody taking the output from the AB8SS and feeding them through separate volume controllers?
I'm pretty much brand new to this stuff, so please be as descriptive as possible.
Thanks,
Scott
In addition to playing music througout the house, my major requirements are the ability to announce callers and security alerts from my ELK (will do both through HomeSeer). I'd like to have two different audio sources...the homeseer computer to play announcements and my MP3 collection and a stereo tuner to play the radio (I only need one station).
My current thought is to use the AB8SS and later upgrade to the ESS line when available.
What I'm thinking is putting an IR Receiver in every room that will have speakers. I'll then get some universal remotes to control on/off, the source, and eventually volume (when the ESS is ready). I'd also need IR out to my main TV room and to the basement (where the tuner is).
I'm getting pretty confused at this point as to how the IR reception works. If I put an IR receiver in every room that has speakers, what would these IR receivers connect to? I'm guessing the best bet would be an Ocelot, but looking at the Ocelot, I can't figure out how to get all of the single IR signal cables into the Ocelot.
So, am I crazy? Am I making this way more complicated than it needs to be? I was trying to avoid individual volume controls in each room, but maybe I should be looking to do that instead?
I was trying to avoid individual volume controllers in each room in anticipation of the ESS. That way, if a phone call came in, or there was a security announcement, I could use HomeSeer to set the volume rather than worrying about what level each individual volume controller was set at. That being said, is anybody taking the output from the AB8SS and feeding them through separate volume controllers?
I'm pretty much brand new to this stuff, so please be as descriptive as possible.
Thanks,
Scott
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