I’m looking for a good music solution for a 5 story residential structure that will be used B&B style. The configuration of the space will be flexible and somewhat complex.

For example, one floor features two bedrooms that share a bath, one en suite, and a common room. All rooms - including the two baths - will have music. The space could potentially be occupied by three separate parties (one per bedroom), and each party needs to be able to control music in their own bedroom plus their assigned bathroom plus the common room. Ideally, they would not be able to control music in the bedrooms they do not occupy.

What’s the best way to meet these requirements? What I ideally need is something like Sonos with a permissions structure that regulates which users can access which zones. Anything like that out there? Any other thoughts on how to approach this?

A few notes:

- There are no particular music sources that are essential. The goal is to have a reasonable selection of music in each zone.

- There will be WiFi everywhere, and the WiFi setup can be implemented however is necessary to support the music solution.

- I mostly use Control4, but also use Sonos on occasion.


Much appreciate any thoughts.

May consider using Bluetooth Rx to aux in on amps, the set alarm to aux-in for reasonable hours (i.e.- 10:00am- 12hrs, 7 days a week). Would be nice if BT broadcast would reflect suite names too...

I think I would use different router for each area which uses its own ip adressing (could be done with AP too depending on system) and have each music system on that. That way the music system doesn't find the components in the other rooms. If using Sonos you would need different accounts as well for each area. I think any of the music systems would work for this.

I'm also sure you could come up with something with Control 4 that limits their selection of music and can only be used in a given arewa. Haven't used control 4 in a while but definitely possible with other control systems. A BT connection would also be nice so they can use their own devices for music.

If the people using the common areas know each other and have similar musical tastes, sure but if they don't know each other or their tastes differ widely, it's gonna get ugly.

A router, switch and access points that all together allow you to implement VLAN, multiple SSID'S and implement client isolation. Create a VLAN and wifi SSID for each room and then have whatever music device you like placed on each of those VLANS. With client isolation set up properly on your access points the guests should be unable to see any devices connected on the other VLANs and only be able to control the music in their suite.

The big challenge for all of this will be re-configuring the rooms for each new tenant lineup. Will this be done by the registration desk staff? A dedicated staff member? A contract external service?

Lots of people will want to play their own music, via AirPlay, Bluetooth, or whatever.

Will there be a help desk if things don’t workout?

What is the lease term?

C4 has a hospitality division, they will do this for you if you are planning on using C4.

The other option is what was posted above about each room getting a Vlan.

Take a look at https://vssl.com/

This sounds like a giant headache. C4 with a dedicated touch panel and streaming source for each room would be the most fool proof system for the user, but reliability for that type of system would keep me from sleeping at night. How about a Bluetooth speaker in each room with pairing instructions glued on the wall?

In a very simple form, just using a streaming speaker or amp/speaker combo would be best. Guest can then just go on their phone, open their favorite service like Spotify and select the room they are in.
But, this does not prevent them from accessing the speaker in another room and causing issues.
Being a B&B, do we think you will have guests that act this way?
If so, then a control system solution is your only option.
Some sort of in wall control to access the music in your room, controllable streaming box for each room / speakers, and a selection of music choices available from the touch screen keypad. Don't bother with allowing guests to play their own music, just give enough choice that they can enjoy.
A control system would also allow you to limit volume levels.