Networked music playback

Ancalagon said:
How would you achieve multi room audio with only a single networked receiver?

Right, my thinking is:
Kitchen - 1 x MK808B powering the current home theatre setup.
Lounge/loft - 1 x Ouya games console driving a new amplifier/receiver and new speakers
bedroom - 1 x PC serving up content wirelessly to the two clients.
Click to expand...

A (single) multizone amplifer can output audio to multiple locations. All you need to do is run speaker cable from the amplifier to the required zones and select the input you want to output at each location (zone 1, 2, 3, etc). If you want to watch a movie in zone 1 (Lounge), and listen to music in zone 2 (Loft), the amplifier will restrict Zone 1 to 5.1 and give the other 2 outputs to Zone 2.

Make sense?
 
jacksback said:
A (single) multizone amplifer can output audio to multiple locations. All you need to do is run speaker cable from the amplifier to the required zones and select the input you want to output at each location (zone 1, 2, 3, etc). If you want to watch a movie in zone 1 (Lounge), and listen to music in zone 2 (Loft), the amplifier will restrict Zone 1 to 5.1 and give the other 2 outputs to Zone 2.

Make sense?
Click to expand...

That isnt what I want though. Then I might as well just get a normal non networked receiver and run cables.

What I want is that, when I play a movie on the Ouya in the lounge, the audio is confined to the lounge. When I play music, it must be played at all available locations simultaneously. So, one zone, multiple rooms. All synchronized of course.

I could probably do this with cables anyway, but A) they are a bit messy, B) doing things this way will be more fun.
 
Ancalagon said:
That isnt what I want though. Then I might as well just get a normal non networked receiver and run cables.

What I want is that, when I play a movie on the Ouya in the lounge, the audio is confined to the lounge. When I play music, it must be played at all available locations simultaneously. So, one zone, multiple rooms. All synchronized of course.

I could probably do this with cables anyway, but A) they are a bit messy, B) doing things this way will be more fun.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what a multizone amplifier will allow you to do

You can simultanously watch a movie and play music in seperate locations using ONE amplifier. Home cinema amplifiers come with 7.1 as standard. You can use the 2 extra outputs for 2 x front reference speakers, 2 x Surround Rear speakers, or 2 x Other Zone Speakers

And networked would be better because you can control the volume, input selection, etc. from your phone, iPad tablet
 
But I'll never want to do that though. Its just me in the apartment, I'll either be watching a movie or listening to music, not both. All I want is synchronized music playback.

With your one amplifier, I still need to run cable between the rooms, which, again, is not what I want. Plus it means buying a more expensive amplifier, and more speakers. I want to reuse what I have as much as possible.

My solution is cheaper and fits my needs better.
 
But I'll never want to do that though. Its just me in the apartment, I'll either be watching a movie or listening to music, not both. All I want is synchronized music playback.

With your one amplifier, I still need to run cable between the rooms, which, again, is not what I want. Plus it means buying a more expensive amplifier, and more speakers. I want to reuse what I have as much as possible.

My solution is cheaper and fits my needs better.
 
Ancalagon said:
But I'll never want to do that though. Its just me in the apartment, I'll either be watching a movie or listening to music, not both. All I want is synchronized music playback.

With your one amplifier, I still need to run cable between the rooms, which, again, is not what I want. Plus it means buying a more expensive amplifier, and more speakers. I want to reuse what I have as much as possible.

My solution is cheaper and fits my needs better.
Click to expand...

Oh, sorry, pictured your partner watching a movie while you were listening to music in the loft :)

It make sense then to just split the audio and send it to the loft using a normal amplifier
 
Ha ha, no!

One question though, regarding passive vs active subwoofers. Which is better?

And, what do I do if I end up getting an active sub? It seems difficult to find a passive sub actually.

Oh, and another question. Lets say I buy a home theatre speaker setup which consists of floor standing front speakers and satellite rear speakers. But now, both speakers can cope with different amounts of power. How do I ensure that I dont accidentally blow the rear speakers?
 
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Ancalagon said:
Ha ha, no!

One question though, regarding passive vs active subwoofers. Which is better?

And, what do I do if I end up getting an active sub? It seems difficult to find a passive sub actually.

Oh, and another question. Lets say I buy a home theatre speaker setup which consists of floor standing front speakers and satellite rear speakers. But now, both speakers can cope with different amounts of power. How do I ensure that I dont accidentally blow the rear speakers?
Click to expand...

You'll need a more powerful amplifier if going passive so work out which route is cheaper

Regarding blowing your speakers, your amplifier will take care of the required levels per speaker during the intitial setup phase. If you're worried because you want to connect additional speakers to the same ports, yes, that will be a bit more difficult to get right

Were you planning on buying a 5.1 or 7.1 amplifier?
 
Just 5.1, the loft is too small for 7.1. As it is I'm not sure what I can do with the rear left speaker. I'll mount it to the wall, just a little worried about positioning.

I see the Sony receiver I am looking at produces more power in the front channels anyway.

EDIT: Oh, how do you match amp power to speaker power?
 
It doesn't have to match, just make sure the amp is more powerful and then use the distance and level feature to adjust the output levels to match your speaker's power requirements. I think 7.1 might be a better option for you because you can use the two extra outputs to wire the two speakers in the loft
 
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No, remember that there will be no wires between the loft and the kitchen. So the receiver only powers speakers that are in the loft.

Music playback elsewhere is accomplished wirelessly.
 
I think I might be able to get this working after all, using Logitech Media Server, XBMC, and XSqueeze.

I only have one XBMC player at the moment, but I should be getting my android media player tomorrow, so I can test it out on that. At the moment, XSqueeze is running in XBMC and playing music served by my LMS. If you have more than one player connected to LMS, you have the option to synchronize them, so I think I should be good.
 
Ancalagon said:
I think I might be able to get this working after all, using Logitech Media Server, XBMC, and XSqueeze.

I only have one XBMC player at the moment, but I should be getting my android media player tomorrow, so I can test it out on that. At the moment, XSqueeze is running in XBMC and playing music served by my LMS. If you have more than one player connected to LMS, you have the option to synchronize them, so I think I should be good.
Click to expand...

Cool. Where are you getting the MK808 from and how much did it cost?
 
jacksback said:
Cool. Where are you getting the MK808 from and how much did it cost?
Click to expand...

I ended up buying this:
http://www.avsupply.co.za/product_info.php/droidtv-with-android-422-and-xbmc-p-437

I did in fact order an MK809, but never received it. It has been more than a month now. At least this company has SA stock, and I should get it tomorrow. Order placed yesterday.

EDIT: Just to clarify, my home PC is running both the Logitech Media Server and the XBMC client with XSqueeze. That is the only XBMC instance I have at the moment. When I get the DroidTV MX tomorrow, I'll see if I can make synchronized playback work between the PC and the DroidTV.

Then, next year, I might buy either another DroidTV or an HTPC.
 
Ancalagon said:
I ended up buying this:
http://www.avsupply.co.za/product_info.php/droidtv-with-android-422-and-xbmc-p-437

I did in fact order an MK809, but never received it. It has been more than a month now. At least this company has SA stock, and I should get it tomorrow. Order placed yesterday.

EDIT: Just to clarify, my home PC is running both the Logitech Media Server and the XBMC client with XSqueeze. That is the only XBMC instance I have at the moment. When I get the DroidTV MX tomorrow, I'll see if I can make synchronized playback work between the PC and the DroidTV.

Then, next year, I might buy either another DroidTV or an HTPC.
Click to expand...

Excellent choice, I have the same unit and love it!

Let me know how the synchronization works out

Thanks
 
Thanks!

Will do!

I dont know if you saw my other thread, as far as sound goes, I ended up buying a Denon AVR X500 and a Wharfedale Diamond 10 HCP.

How does it cope with 1080p decoding?

That is pretty much the only reason I am considering building an HTPC next year - from reading up on the Ouya, and these other Android devices, it seems that all of them struggle with 1080p playback. And XBMC on PC seems much more stable than on Android. However, if this little guy can handle 1080P fine, then I dont really need an HTPC. Could save me a bunch of cash.
 
deepdiver said:
Um What about Subsonic?
http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp

You have one music server and stream this to all your players around the house
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll look into that, seems like it does exactly what I need. Well, it means I now have two ways of accomplishing what I want. The only thing I am not clear on, is whether synchronized playback is supported. I'll do some digging.

EDIT: Subsonic will not work for my needs:
http://forum.subsonic.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4588
 
Ancalagon said:
Thanks!

Will do!

I dont know if you saw my other thread, as far as sound goes, I ended up buying a Denon AVR X500 and a Wharfedale Diamond 10 HCP.

How does it cope with 1080p decoding?

That is pretty much the only reason I am considering building an HTPC next year - from reading up on the Ouya, and these other Android devices, it seems that all of them struggle with 1080p playback. And XBMC on PC seems much more stable than on Android. However, if this little guy can handle 1080P fine, then I dont really need an HTPC. Could save me a bunch of cash.
Click to expand...

My 1080p 35GB Avatar file played fine on my MX so decoding isn't an issue. I don't know if it upscales the movie because the MX XBMC interface can only display at 720p. Matricom are busy testing a 1080p firmware version which should be released soon. If a 1080p XBMC interface is a must, the standalone Linux version supports it

A friend of mine suggested you look at "squeeze lite". He says it's much more stable than Xsqueeze

Matricom forum link http://matricom.net/forums/#/discussion/792/g-box-mx2-1080p-teaser-screen-shots
 
jacksback said:
My 1080p 35GB Avatar file played fine on my MX so decoding isn't an issue. I don't know if it upscales the movie because the MX XBMC interface can only display at 720p. Matricom are busy testing a 1080p firmware version which should be released soon. If a 1080p XBMC interface is a must, the standalone Linux version supports it

A friend of mine suggested you look at "squeeze lite". He says it's much more stable than Xsqueeze

Matricom forum link http://matricom.net/forums/#/discussion/792/g-box-mx2-1080p-teaser-screen-shots
Click to expand...

Thanks!

That is a pity about the resolution. It probably means I will have to buy an HTPC next year - sadly, although they are the most expensive, they are also just the best in terms of features, support and stability. But the DroidTV box will do for now.

35GB Avatar! Damn!

I'll have a look at Squeezelite, thanks!
 
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