On July 24, 2007 at 23:08, fluid-druid said...
My project is coming along. We're still building the
system in our lab.
3 CT600.3
3 AV1260
1 HD6
3 RP6 (in Rack) plus 1 in media room
1 CB4
2 K4
3 RK3
I'm using RS232 for all control of the BK stuff. It
works very well, and I find the volume is much easier
to regulate with RS232... also, the commands are much
faster and tie up the control network less.
I've definately learned some things in the process...
and I have some questions:
1. The new CTs have Ethernet jacks. Has anyone used
these for control? About the ability to send programming
to the units over the network? ANy issues? ie if the
network flakes out, do the CTs freeze or hang etc?
No, they don't work. I think they're only available for the design people. Hopefully, they'll be available, in the future, for music server input.
2. Wouldn't it be nice if you could share ONE tuner (or
THREE) between multiple CTs? Obviously, we could just
throw in an outboard tuner....
Yes and No, I like the 1 to 3 on board tuners, but if I had my choice I would first choose a CT 600.X amp without the composite video to bring the price point down a little bit,similar to the way the Russound product line up is structured. Other than CCT feeds I don't or wouldn't use the video on a CT amp. Second on my list would be an out board tuner with swappable/configurable cards for AM/FM/Weather or XM/Sirius options. I would not want to give up the preset database feature that currently exists on the CT amps. All of my installs, to date, have been single unit installations so this hasn't been a problem for me. The want or requests for an itegrated weather radio has been surprising high. Now if it was only $500.00 option (CDN) I'd be all set.
3. I've read several people say that the CTs need a reboot
occasionally. I've noticed in the protocol that there
is a command to "cold boot" and "warm boot". Anyone
tried using this instead of a hard "power cut"?
Like you, I'm fairly new to B&K, needing to re-boot systems hasn't been a problem even with the newer CT amps. A lot of my CT amps are several hours away so, I'd know about it and would be cursing the extra travel for service calls. The only problem I have on one site is the cable box that needs re-booting.
Overall, everything seems to be working (so far).... but
certainly not the easiest 18 zone system I've put together.
I'm using 1 CM232 for EACH CT and 1 for the HD6. Its
sorta too bad that you can send RS232 commands to ONE
CT and have it 'reach' all of the CT units. (unless
I'm missing something, this is only possible with IR)
