Actually the iPod Touch with XP3 would be the least expensive entry level two-way, $897. And that includes the price of a new iPod Touch 32gb and the RTIpanel license. :) You could go cheaper and get the 8gb Touch instead. Or for just $200 more give them an iPad2.

I say this tongue in check because I don't like the iPhone/Touch/iPad as a control system. BUT our clients do like this. With more receivers being able to stream music straight from the iPhone/Touch/iPad I'm liking the Apple devices more and more. But I still want a hard button remote in my hand, T2Cs+ is what I will probably use at my house soon enough. We have a T3 that my wife doesn't like using at all. She hates the size of it and the touchscreen. That and having to use two hands to use it.

Understood, however I was carrying on the conversation as discussing a processor+handheld. 

To compare above, the Prodigy PMC3 is (was) $800 msrp plus $99 for iphone or ipad license. Apples to Apples, the PMC3 smokes the XP3. However, if you don't need an RF gateway, crestron has another small processor that is $700 msrp.

Talking about the RTI 4 zone amp, AD-4, it's 20 watts per channel, 8ohm only, and 3.5 mm Audio inputs (just irritating to me for some reason) and sells for $900.
The Prodigy PAMP is 50 watts per channel, 4 ohm stable, 6 inputs and $1100. Pretty damn close and pretty easy sell from 900 to 1100 for double the power.

I'm not saying anything bad about RTI, i'm just pointing out that Crestron is (well was) very price competitive at that level. They will continue to be if they release a scaled back version of the MC3 or provide us with some good bundles.

Plus, I'd rather buy ANY product Direct with the manufacturer over distribution. Everyone knows the different perks of doing this. With RTI its not an option.

sofa
I forgot all about the Qm-RMC. I am going to by one of these this week to try with the the mobile app (stored on the device). I know the internal memeory is an issue for some but i bet if you have a really basic simpl file it could be Bitwise all by it self.

Why haven't they sent us a blast about that kind of solution.......must not work;0

I'm probably done with Prodigy. I was selling alot of it. Kind of scares me a little for all the systems I have out there if something goes wrong. My rep compared the prodigy system to similar products on the Crestron line and it was pretty close. About 10% more on the crestron line.

What processor and remote comes close?

I do RTI and Crestron so I don't care which way I sell it as long as I sell it. I know that you were talking about handheld and processor but I like being an ass. :)

The AD4 has RCA inputs. I too was a little leary of the 20w per channel. I did my first one the other day and was surprisingly happy with the audio output. I would've used a PAMP but it was a job that was a rush and I could get the AD4 the same day from the distributor.

I don't have any insider info and am not an employee of Crestron so what is about to be said is just my guess. Crestron probably was having problems with the Prodigy dealers. So they offload the Prodigy stuff to AVAD and get rid of the Tech Support nightmare. I've heard about some of the people that have been in AVAD's Prodigy training and it's actually pathetic.

I think this is exactly what the SurfIR is for.

im not a fan of urc's RF or RTI's zigbee.
they both suck.

i know we are talking about one room systems,
but expanding the range on rti's zigbee system sucks.

the fact is - the crestron system is the most powerful.
prodigy is not an option anymore once it goes disty only.
we'll have to see if they offer similar bundled pricing once prodigy is gone.

I sell both RTI and Prodigy and now Crestron. No doubt about it, pamp is solid preamp/amp and is almost required for a prodigy system. I was an early adapter of Prodigy and when I sold this system the pamp had yet to be released. I was forced to use something else, I used another company's matrix switch an a separate amp with Prodigy and it was nothing short of a nightmare. It literally took months to get this system to work properly. At the time of the install, I thought, Crestron is the world's best control company, how hard can it be to add a 8x8 matrix and amp to their system to Prodigy? Well, I found out the hard way. That job truly opened my eyes to the shortcomings of composer and sb and made me realize the value of RTI's Integration Designer.

I was in the same boat, luckily my first system didn't actually go live until we had our first PAMP.

You must have been programming in SB. I'm sure the system was nothing crazy using a 3rd party matrix, the trick is that SB doesn't have the ROOMS Logic and extenders that automically tie in when a PAMP is in the system. 

Honestly, SB would be SO much more powerful if they just let you add the ROOMS logic based on project needs instead of hardware. It's such a powerful tool once you understand it. 

I just did a system that was just a 2 zone video system:
 - 2 directv boxes
 - 1 bluray player
 - 1 calrad 4x2 hdmi matrix
 - 2 samsung TV's

That was it. I needed ROOM LOGIC to make this easy and to make the remotes easily be able to go from room to room. What I did was added a 2 Zone AVR and activated the Zone 2 settings. All this did for me was create ROOM LOGIC switching that I could add on the Matrix switch changes. I added each TV's VOL control commands to each rooms volume logic. It all worked out great (once I discovered some more twirks with SB).