The most important reason, in my opinion, to distribute a central source to multiple rooms is so that you can have the same music playing thoughout the house. For instance, with a mega-changer CD player, or a one-zone music server. Additionally, I like to distribute a TiVo thorughout the house. The home owner can watch his TiVo recordings anywhere in the house, without having to go to each room to find which machine he recorded it on. Sometimes I even distribute two TiVos, such as his and hers. I also like to distribute music sources such as XM, Sirius, Music Choice, or DMX satellite or cable receivers, just for music.
The zones can also be controlled from multiple locations. For instance, when it's time to leave the house, one button can turn off all of the rooms.
I am, however, a proponent of having local systems throughout the house. For instance, the family room has a home theater system, the MBR has a dedicated system, maybe another dedicated system in the den. All of these dedicated systems could have dedicated local sources such as DVDs and VCRs, cable boxes, etc., but could also share some centrally-distributed sources, such as a CD mega-changer, music server, TiVo, or XM radio receiver.
Other rooms could share a central control box, since there often isn't room for equipment in each room. I have even used multiple stereo receivers, one for each zone, stacked in a central closet. Each of the receivers shares some common sources and yet has an independent FM tuner. The receivers are each controlled by kepads in the various rooms. Rooms that have dedicated systems with local components would receive the centrally-distributed, common sources via line-level audio cables and where applicable, composite video cable. A/V distribution amplifiers, such as the Xantech AV-61, effectively distributes a common source to each of the receivers. Sounds very "Rube Goldberg", but it actually works pretty well. It's not hard to find small receivers for $150.00, such as the Sony STR-197. Not real high fidelity, but very adequate for a secondary room for most people. The keypads can be programmed for "global" features, such as "all off".
I think that keypad control is almost essential. It should be as easy as pushing a single button to listen to music. If it's easy and convenient to use, the client is much more likely to actually turn it on. The value of something can be measured by how much it costs versus how often you use it. The cost of the installation can be divided by each hour used to determine it's value-- at least to some degree.
I don't like most of the pre-packaged keypad systems. They forget a few essential functions. The most commonly forgotten is direct numeric input. If you want to listen to satellite channel 821, do you want to push a pre-set, dial it in by digits, or push the channel up button about 800 times? Most would require you to push the button about 800 times. The same goes for CD changers. Just push the "next-disc" button a few hundred times to find the disc that you want to listen to. And remember, you probably can't tell which disc it is on at the miniute, so you'll have to wait for the disc to start each time so you can tell if you are on the right one. A few hours later, you should be able to find the disc that you're looking for. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like a better solution would be to provide numeric keys on the keypad to directly select the disc you would like. Some people's answer to this problem is to add an infrared sensor so that a combination of keypad and hand-held remote would allow better control. Seems less than desirable to me-- too many steps, to many things to deal with.
Just my two cents. Not everyone can afford a Crestron, ADA, or Via.
Something I would like to see more available is a small, high-quality LCD screen on a double-gang plate that could be used as a monitor for finding music selections with a keypad. The monitor could be mounted a few inches, or feet above the keypad. Sort of like the Elan Via, without the rediculous price. We should be able to find a 4" monitor builit in to a wall plate for about $120.00. Why not?
