Help me get started coding: Centrally Distributed Whole House Sound

[dh]

I'm taking the plunge.  Time to start building some interfaces... I'm attempting to develop a LinuxMCE 'proper' control system for a whole house audio system.

The ideal result would be the ability to select media from the core (or any media device) and route it through the central distribution system to any/all of the rooms.  Ideally this would be 'proper' in that you wouldn't get two devices fighting for the same output... and ideally you wouldn't have to have hard 'locks' on the devices such that you'd have to go to the other room to 'release' a zone before someone else could use it.

The central distribution system consists of:

Marantz SR6006 AV receiver (Main zone 7.1 speakers, two auxillary zones, each with volume control)

3 matrix 6x6 switches with RS232 control -> 3x12 channel amplifiers -> 2-4 speakers per room.

All 6 inputs on each will be mapped the same and at present include:

Input 1:  Marantz Zone 2
Input 2:  Marantz Zone 3
Input 3:  Airplay from the Core (hopefully)
Input 4:  Hard line input from MP3 players (ipod, etc) via 3.5mm stereo jack
Input 5:  Media Director #1 (master bedroom)
Input 6:  ?

Each of the 6 outputs will be hard-wired to a pair of amplifier channels dedicated to each room.

So, the questions:

1.  How best to design this for LMCE compatibility?
2.  Can I embed multiple RS232 controllers and the code to run each one into a single LMCE DCE device with 18 sub-zones?  Or do I need to frankenstein something up to make each 6x6 switch a separate 'zone controller' with 6 sub-zones?
3.  Anyone willing to tutor a bit if I get stuck working on it (I will)?

Thanks in advance,
Dh

[golgoj4]

spend some time in linuxmce-devel and they will be of help. Qorbiter is proof of that. I cant pretend that i have an idea of how to create it, but someone smarter than me will come along shortly i suspect and have better suggestions. But seriously, IRC is where the magic happens.

-golgoj4

[ggmce]

Thanks for the effort, I wish I had coding skills to support your effort, but I do not. I just wanted to offer another idea to get this done; would it be possible to use USB "soundcards" for each zone, and then use individual amps (might be more flexible and lower cost)?

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=216778522&sellerid=29345858

http://www.amphony.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=2

That way the distributed audio could be centralized (at the core location with speaker wires to each zone), or they could be separated to each Media Director in each zone (I would imagine synchronizing the audio would then be the hurdle). If the idea has merit, I'd like to help somehow; I can donate the hardware if it helped the cause...

[dh]

Thanks for the effort, I wish I had coding skills to support your effort, but I do not. I just wanted to offer another idea to get this done; would it be possible to use USB "soundcards" for each zone, and then use individual amps (might be more flexible and lower cost)?

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=216778522&sellerid=29345858

http://www.amphony.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=2

That way the distributed audio could be centralized (at the core location with speaker wires to each zone), or they could be separated to each Media Director in each zone (I would imagine synchronizing the audio would then be the hurdle). If the idea has merit, I'd like to help somehow; I can donate the hardware if it helped the cause...

It's definitely a good idea to support the use of multiple sound cards as 'sources'.  I think that sort of approach could be rolled into the concept.  As I figure out more about how this will be working I'll try to include that. 

Thanks for the idea!

[bulek]

Hi,

what is your choice for rs232 controlled switcher ?

I also think that using USB sound cards would simplify your system... I have two channel whole house audio with Marantz receiver...

Thanks,

regards,

Bulek.

[dh]

I have selected the MC-66 from Home Theater Direct.

http://www.htd.com/Products/mid-level-whole-house-audio/MC-66-Multi-Zone-Controller

Quite cheap and allows matrix switching (any source to any zone).

[dextaslab]

I like the idea of centralized audio, but wouldnt you get a fair bit of interfearance using speaker cables through out your house?

[WhateverFits]

The big source of interference is from signal cables, not speaker cables. Any interference on a signal cable gets amplified however the signal to noise ratio for a powered cable verses the interference is too big to care in most situations.

[totallymaxed]

I have selected the MC-66 from Home Theater Direct.

http://www.htd.com/Products/mid-level-whole-house-audio/MC-66-Multi-Zone-Controller

Quite cheap and allows matrix switching (any source to any zone).

So create a device template for the MC-66 or MCA-66 with the matrix switching logic and use Squeezeslaves as your input sources routed through a multi-channel audio card.

all the best

Andrew

[totallymaxed]

It's definitely a good idea to support the use of multiple sound cards as 'sources'.  I think that sort of approach could be rolled into the concept.  As I figure out more about how this will be working I'll try to include that. 

Thanks for the idea!

Dianemo supports partitioning a multichannel sound card into 'n' virtual sound cards; See the Dianemo S wiki page on Virtual Sound Cards; http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Dianemo_S#Using_a_multi-channel_sound_card_as_multiple_Virtual_Stereo_cards

So a single 7.1 Card can be partitioned into 4x Virtual Stereo Sound cards for example... add as man physical sound cards as you need and intermix usb, pcie etc.

You could take a similar approach.

All the best


Andrew