Yo,

I my recent state of retrofit bliss, I am coming acrosss an increasing common dilemna...houses that haven't been wired with forethought...imagine that!

Does anyone have any suggestions for multisource, multizone systems that use speaker wire only?

I know about and like the Matrix Audio system , but it is financially challenging to some of my customers who'd like to do a little bit of everything.

Thanks,

avdude

Check to see if there are unused wires in those rooms that are part of the phone wiring. 2 pairs in a CAT5 or anything even as crude as CAT3 will work great for IR and most keypads; check with the manufacturers for recommendations.

Or you could be bastards like us and charge thousands of dollars to re-wire everything and play the homeowner against the builder so MAYBE (I realize this is a big maybe) the builder will actually hire someone who knows what the f--k he/she is doing next time. Of course what will most likely happen is you'll court the builder... waste lunches on the turd and he'll sneakily have you train his sparky who will gladly drop trou on low voltage to keep you out of the loop.


There... I said it... cathartic that was!

Take a look at the ZON Audio stuff. You can adapt the 4 wires going to the volume control to the controller amplifier. ZON sells the adaptors. Perfect for retro jobs though the controller is unique.

SHOE

I KNEW IT!!!

We had been discussing Zon...and the guy won't stop calling us!

THANKS,

avdude

Matrix Audio has a pretty cool system that works over speaker wire only. Very affordable given the alternative of re-wiring the house.

Robbie S

I talked to the Zon factory guys at the EH Expo in Long Beach, and they said that it won't work over regular 16/4 speaker wire. It has to be twisted pair. I didn't really understand the whole thing, but I think that it is an impedance issue...

I would check first.

Very interesting. I talked to the Zon guys at EHExpo in Long Beach and they showed me the adapter to use speaker cable and gave the cost as $90/pr retail. They also gave me a preconstruction bracket for the controller/amp. Just goes to show you the interesting souvineers and total BS that goes on at these shows

shoe..

they told me the same thig at CEDIA Expo in Sept...that's why I kep tthinknig there was another way..

I'm meeting with our zone guy next week...to ge tthe full skinny (even though HE'S the one that confirmed it at CEDIA...

Gotta believe they go something going, since their wbsite says it too!

Thanks

avdude

At $90 for the adapter, $x for the keypad and $x for the controller, should price about the same as the matrix? not? I'm not familiar with the zon, but the matrix doesn't seem that out of line.

Here is an excerpt from an e-mail that I got back from a ZON sales and marketing director in response to this question. It is not a definitive NO, but it doesn't look like it was meant to be used over speaker wire. I was hoping that I had heard wrong, this would be a kick-ass system to be able to offer in a retro.

"Here's a quick blurb on the ZWA-2 wire adapter:


Minimum Requirements for the wire to be used:

1. Each wire run must consist of four (4) conductors, configured as two (2)distinct twisted pairs.
2. When using jacketed cable, each conductor of a
connection pair must be contained within the same jacket.
3. Each conductor must be a minimum of 18 gauge.
4. Each conductor must be continuous from end
to end and have no active or passive components connected.
5. No voltages present on any conductor (with respect to any other conductor or earth)

So, a good bet would be to say that four wires in a jacket with no distinct pairs will not work. The issue is that there needs to be two twisted pairs so that we can get the right electrical characteristics from the wire needed for our unique system.

If in doubt, the best way is to test it before doing anything drastic.

Hope this helps."

jritch...

it does help...and thank you..

They are a very expensive system to be shooting from the hit with!

as mentioned above, cost is similair to the Matrix...two major advantages though, if they can be made to work...POWER, and LCD Panel!

Could you send me the actual e-mail you got, so I can send it to my rep?

He swears they can do it no prob...but I'm hearing more along what you've got there!

thanks,

avdude

I think the butler did it.

what about just using a good rf remote --setup a pronto to control the system --

multiroom mystery lol i think it was Zon in the matrix area with the speakerwire best leave it there ;)

This message was edited by wolf359 on 02/14/04 21:14.