Hi all

My names Damon. been using remote central for a number of years and this is my first post on a forum. I run a small AV business is Brisbane Australia and need some assistance.

I have an old ABUS multiroom audio system that was installed for a client a long time ago. I now want to upgrade the system for them and bring it into the digital age.

The biggest issue I face is the current cabling configuration. The speaker cable runs from speaker to ABUS keypad, and a CAT5 from Keypad back to central distribution point. Obviously most current Multi-room systems require the speaker cable to be run from the speaker to the central distribution point.

The residential property is mostly concrete slab and running new cables is not an option.

2 questions
1. Does anyone have a work around for the current cabling setup? IE using CAT5 as speaker cable?
2. Are they any better systems out there that work in a similar way.

Sonos, and forget the wiring.

If the ABUS system is working, yes.

What if it's not? Do they make ABUS systems anymore? If they do you could put a current one in and use Sonos or Heos or MusicCast as the source.

eta: looks like ABUS is still alive and kicking at Russound !

Look at Tio. They make small zone player/amps/streaming devices kind of like a Sonos Connect amp, but they go in the single gang hole in the wall where the key pad was. They also make a touch screen version. . Power supply can be down in the rack and feed the amp over the existing cable that used to feed the Abus. Then it uses the speaker wires to feed the speakers. You add as many as you need. One per zone. They are controlled by an app. Etc.

[Link: my.tiohome.com]

Craig

That looks like an excellent option but I'm struggling to find much technical info on it. Can you tell me what kind of power supply it requires?

Sounds tempting. I got 11 audio zones all on the ground level. Finding 11 homes for sonos connect amps near the speakers might be a challenge!

The current ABUS system is half dead. Some replacement parts needed. Would prefer a full upgrade, but beggers cant be choosers!

Called my local ABUS dealer today...they never got back to me.

Does Tio support Pandora? It is not on the list of music services.

Why can't you take a Sonos connect line out into the ABUS system as a source? It's my recollection that the ABUS has a hub at the head end with a line input or two. Do you really need 11 independent zones? What they currently have is a glorified electronic volume control system in each zone with source(s) fed from an ABUS hub. Are you trying to mimic that or go full independent zones?

Is the ABUS wiring home run to each pad or daisy chain?

Just doing my basic math, if you turn the existing cat5 into 2 speaker feeds, you have 20guage wire after doubling up the pairs. Not ideal for running speaker level but it works.

I wasn't talking about using connects. I meant play3's and play5's. Forget the cat5 all together.

Replace it with a newer Abus system and call it a day.



Abus IS still being made, so it makes no sense to mess around with something cobbled together science project that could be a problem child.

Like our Trunk-Slamming friend said, replacing with a newer A-Bus system would be the easiest. Then add a SONOS (or whatever streaming device) as a source for the updated user experience.

Since whoever wired the home, didn't have the foresight to properly put speaker wire in with the cat5, not much else you can do. Doubling up the pairs on the cat5 to get 18-20awg speaker wire out of it, still isn't going to be a high powered system anyway.

Depending on the decor of the home, Fins's suggestion of adding SONOS PLAY3s or 5s to the house instead, might be a good option. Although not much money for you in that and not much in the way of future upgrades either. As they will market directly to the customer with special deals and he can add things himself if he wants.

Replacing the ABUS products with new ABUS gear is an easy option to reuse the current wiring. Russound has anything you might need. Adding a Bluetooth receiver is an easy update as a source because it will automatically switch sources to the Bluetooth source whenever it is active.

If you add a Russound XSource to either the main hub or as a local source in any room, you can have streaming audio and app control. When connected to the main hub, the user will have to select the source manually using their ABUS keypad in their room, but if you connect one as a local source for a room, it can automatically become the active source just like the Bluetooth source.