Hello all.

I have a client who is doing a large renovation on his house and he has a request that I feel is a bit strange, but it's a real hot button for him so I need to make this work.

What he wants:
-main floor living room with a 5.1 system. (living room is open to kitchen/dining/office as part of open concept design)

-he has parties where friends will connect a laptop/mixer into this main system and DJ, sometimes adding live instruments like a guitar or keyboard - he already has the set up he uses for this, with an analogue audio output that will go into the receiver, which he currently uses.

-the adjoining office will have a receiver and bookshelf speakers

-the adjoining kitchen/dining will have four speakers, how they will be powered is TBD, likely with a simple 2 ch amplifier.

-the basement will have a bathroom with a JBL blue tooth speaker (with AUX in)

-his bedroom will have a Bose Wave Radio which has an AUX in

-the garage will have a receiver with a pair of tower speakers, which will eventually be expanded to include some outdoor speakers.


-he wants all zones of the system to be included, including the Wave Radio and the Bluetooth speaker (although these two are nice to haves - not deal breakers)

When we first started talking I was thinking that this was easy... 6 zones of Sonos/HEOS/Musicast and we call it a day. The issue is that because he wants the ability to hear a live instrument being played along with music that there can be absolutely no delay between any of the systems, at least the three zones on the main floor. It's my belief that as soon as we introduce multiple zones of networked audio there will be delays.

What he wants me to do is take an analogue output from the back of the receiver and distribute it around the house to the various systems so that he can feed them all with as undelayed a signal as possible.

We discussed the caveats of this including complicated control, dueling volume controls etc. It doesn’t bother him. This is his dream, so I'm going to help him get there.

So here's what I'm thinking:

Main Living Room system based on a new Yamaha receiver which has Z2 and Z3 capabilities.

Z2 feeds the Living/Dining powered by a 2ch amplifier.





Z3 feeds a distribution amp, here are a couple of options.

This is a 1x8 distribution amp from RDL:

[Link: rdlnet.com]

I can probably convince him he doesn't need to fee the signal to the JBL speaker in the bathroom. Then we can use the 1x4 from RDL which is WAY less expensive)


This is a 1x6 head phone distribution amp from RDL.

[Link: rdlnet.com]


ART makes a 1x6 head phone amp:
[Link: artproaudio.com]


To be honest I don't know if a head phone amp will work in this application but they are a lot cheaper than the 1x8 from RDL.


From there I would feed each receiver/alternate system through some Baluns over CAt6. These ones include ground isolation and IR so he can use a universal to turn all of the receivers on and off from the one location. (I'm planning a ProControl Pro24r for control of the main system and will address the outputs to the other receivers to be part of a party macro). Runs of cable will mostly be about 40-50ft.

[Link: store.calrad.com]


For regular non-house party music on the main floor he can use the App and Musicast and group together Z1 and Z2 to include the main system and kitchen/dining. Pretty easy as far as control goes.


I feel like this is the simplest way to do this. It's a bit of a trip back in time as far as audio distribution goes but it will accomplish what he wants. Its just been so long since I've come at a system from this angle that i thought I would throw it out to you guys.


Here is a list of equipment that he currently has and plans to use. This is all gear that he really likes.

Garage: Angstrom tower speakers and sub-woofer, Yamaha RX-V750

Basement Bathroom: JBL Extreme Blue-tooth speaker

Basement Bedroom: Bose Wave Radio

Office: pair of Elac Debut B5 bookshelf speakers, Yamaha RX-V673

Kitchen Dining: 2 pairs Elac Debut B5 bookshelf speakers, power TBD

Main Living Room: 5.1 system based on new Yamaha receiver with Z2/Z3, speakers TBD, his mixer and laptop.

Thanks.

Craig