Looked at a job today where new people have moved into a house. the old home owners or the builder (house is 5 years old) had installed two dedicated 4 zone systems within the house. The first system for the main floor and second floor, the second system for the basement and outdoor pool area.

The old home owners removed both multi-room amps and 4 keypads (but left 4 keypads on the main floor and second floor). From looking at the existing keypads the old systems installed were NilesAudio ZR4.

The first system is installed in the living room and the second system is installed in the basement.

From what I can tell there is no wires between the two systems and getting wires between the two systems is pretty much impossible as they are on opposite sides of the house with the areas in the basement completely finished.

I would put Sonos in but the new home owners are adamant about only using the prewired wall controls to control the system and don't want to use any wireless devices.

At each multiroom head end I do have one Cat5e back to the demark (which are currently being used) and I can get more over to the basement audio head end if need be.

Is there a system out there that will allow for a network connection and transmit audio between the two areas on one cat5e? Each keypad location has a cat5e prewired to it

Other than that it is looking like they will require two dedicated systems.

After doing some research I have found a Russound XZONE4 with XTS wall mount touch screen controls.

From what I can tell this is the only option that allows for expanding a system without having to have connections between the two areas other than a network connection.

Has anyone used this Russound system or is there an alternative brand that is capable of the similar features?

Any chance you could do in wall ipads and Sonos? It keeps the wall occupied and would do what you want - or are they totally against anything that isn't dedicated solely to the music system?

URC Total Control can do this.. Connect the two systems with audio over the single network connection. Ideally you would want to directly jump one cat5 straight through between the systems to run off the URC mac filtering switch for the audio streaming devices then have a second cat5 for your network only devices.

This^^^

+1

They are totally against anything wireless. The house was prewired and they want to use the wires that are in place.

All the keypad locations are in spots that are close to light switches so if anything I would have to do iPods, but again they are against a wireless solution. "He uses his cell phone enough for work and doesn't want to use it when he is home" are his exact words to me.

So this can be done on one cat5 or would I need 2 cat5s at each location to support this?

One cat 5 to each location to feed a DMS amp. The amp needs to be filtered from the rest of the network, so if any equipment at those locations need a hard line, you will have to have a second cat cable there

Thanks,
that pretty much eliminates this as an option as I only have one cat5e at the one location and can't get a second there.

Looks like the Russound system is the only option I have unless I can convince the home owner to go wireless (at which point I can do Sonos), which I don't think will happen.

If I were you, I think I would consider going the Sonos route and if need be with in-wall ipod touches or ipads. It will be more flexible. All of these systems have a shelf life that last a certain amount of time, while Sonos just keeps chugging along without any EOL equipment. The problem I see in going with a solution that like the Russound is that if and when it gets disco'd, and if the clients system sh1ts the bed, what then?

So how is he going to select what to listen to?

Clare Controls can also do this as well, btw. Just need to use the cat5e lines from each head end for cobranet.

Might have to let him know that nobody uses wall keypads anymore and they will all eventually be outdated in the near future.

I don't understand your question, he is wanting us to install in room keypads as he doesn't want to rely on his phone to control his house. Each keypad has a cat5e ran back to the head end with the speakers.

The cat5e lines are currently being used to provide ethernet connections to devices installed in these areas so the system has to be able to utilize one (1) network cable to transmit internet AND audio between the two head end units.

I understand this however he wants to use wall keypads so that's the solution I am looking for. If he didn't spacifically state he doesn't want to use his phone or wireless device then I would be suggesting Sonos and being done with it.

I like the Sonos route and understand the Sonos route. The home owners are adamant about not wanting to use their phones or tablets to control the music system and I am not going to provide them with a system that they have specifically stated they don't want.

I understand the failure rates of equipment and the fact that most of this stuff becomes obsolete within a couple years, however the home owner is asking for something that is still available in one way or another and he wants this type of system.

If I really wanted to I could quote him a Crestron system with two amps, two tuners two streamers and 8 Crestron keypads, but I think that may be overkill.

Actually, you can use one cat. Just have a managed switch and set up the DMS stream accordingly. Done it a few times. No issues. Forego the MFS switch and use an Araknis (or other capable switch) to segment off the DMS stream. The arkanis is just a couple clicks and youre done.