I'm getting started on programming for our largest ever B&K system, and just want to make sure I'm not making it more difficult than needed.

The system:

18 zones of Audio Dist (3 x CT600.3)
3 zones of Video Dist (1 x HD6) (with options to add 3 more rooms)
Several Groups of zones (ie I've given each zone a separate ID, but also put them together in groups for certain types of event....ie Summer Party, Winter Party)

2 x K4 - Kitchen, Master Bed
2 x RK3 - Office, Gym
2 x T2C - Media Room, Master Bed
1 x M2 - Kitchen (for use with TV)
1 x U1 - Pool area.

All TVs connected to the HD6 have a hand held remote (T2C or M2)

I currently have 3 RP6 units in the rack:

1: XM tuner, CD player, DVD player, Escient, Security DVR

2: CT unit #1, CT unit #2, CT unit #3 (all using RS232)

3: Cable Box #1, Cable Box#2, Cable Box#3.... and the HD6

There is also a RP6 in the media room (all are connected)

So far, i've been working on RP6 #2 (the CT units).

I've been creating a macro for every source on every zone of each CT.

CT1 - A - Input 1
CT1 - A - Input 2
CT1 - A - Input 3
...etc
CT1 - B - Input 1
CT1 - B - Input 2
CT1 - B - Input 3
...etc
...etc

CT2 - A - Input 1
CT2 - A - Input 2
CT2 - A - Input 3

etc, etc

Each macro turns on the zone : (0,X,2,zzz=1;) ("zzz" = zone code)
Then, the macro selects the source : (0,S,I,zzz=A0;) for example.

As you can see I use the EXECUTIVE (X) commands to turn on the zone, and the IR (S,I) for input.

IS THERE A BETTER WAY TO DO THIS?

Also, since there are 18 zones, and 12 inputs (9 + 3 tuners) that means 18 x 12 = 216 macros Plus the OFF macros and the GROUP macros.

IS THERE A BETTER WAY TO DO THIS?

The client will probably never want individual control of every room. The system is designed as per his desire, to have very few wall controls... and basically he's a "press a button to turn on music EVERYWHERE" type of guy. Still, I want to lay the foundation now to do "anything" in "anyroom" so I just have to add pages to the touchpanels if he changes his mind in the future.

One thought I've had is to put 1 CT unit on each RP6.
Then I could make 6x12= 72 macros on one RP6, and clone those onto each of the other RP6s. Since each CT unit will "standalone" I can use the same zone codes for each unit. The other advantage is I will distribute the memory load amongst 3 RP6s, instead of all on 1.

What do you guys think?

Maybe I'm going about this all wrong.. so, I'm totally open to feedback. I've done 5 or 6 B&K + RTI setups now, and I've used the same method for each, but they were only 6 zone systems. We are still pretty new to B&K, and I am sure there are some tricks I'm missing or unaware of in the protocol. So, if you have found any useful functions or methods I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks and sorry about the long post.

Fluid: Does your email here work? I have yet to hear back from you?

I am working on a system that is kind of similar except for they didn't want any thing on the walls. Well we ended up getting one.
1 K4
1 T3
7 T2Cs
2 U1s
1 Rp6, 2 RM433s, 1 CB4

I am having a similar issue because remotes have to deal with the whole house audio and the local Monitor. There are 3 sources for the audio but 7 shared video sources.

My email does work.

I may have deleted it by accident (i'm pretty careful about emails I don't expect).

Send it again. Use the subject "From Springs on Remote Central" and I'll look for it.

FD, we are just finishing our first B&K install here is what I have;

2 CT600.3s
1 K4 (Kitchen)
1 T2C (media room only)
1 T1 (Master Bedroom)
1 RP6 w/ 2 RM433s
1 CB4

I also have 9 inputs (3 sats & 6 cameras (she wanted each camera on a different input and no DVR)) plus the 6 tuners.

I am using all IR, no RS232. I downloaded the codes from B&Ks website and everything works when I changed the settings in RTI (had to take off the repeats and sustains). I am able to control all zones from the K4. Plus with IR the macros pretty much build themselves. We finished yesterday, but the K4 has been working for a week. Only issue is that their cheap JVC LCD TV won't respond to any IR codes, even those learned from its own remote.

My project is coming along. We're still building the system in our lab.
3 CT600.3
3 AV1260
1 HD6

3 RP6 (in Rack) plus 1 in media room
1 CB4
2 K4
3 RK3

I'm using RS232 for all control of the BK stuff. It works very well, and I find the volume is much easier to regulate with RS232... also, the commands are much faster and tie up the control network less.



I've definately learned some things in the process... and I have some questions:

1. The new CTs have Ethernet jacks. Has anyone used these for control? About the ability to send programming to the units over the network? ANy issues? ie if the network flakes out, do the CTs freeze or hang etc?

2. Wouldn't it be nice if you could share ONE tuner (or THREE) between multiple CTs? Obviously, we could just throw in an outboard tuner....

3. I've read several people say that the CTs need a reboot occasionally. I've noticed in the protocol that there is a command to "cold boot" and "warm boot". Anyone tried using this instead of a hard "power cut"?

Overall, everything seems to be working (so far).... but certainly not the easiest 18 zone system I've put together.

I'm using 1 CM232 for EACH CT and 1 for the HD6. Its sorta too bad that you can send RS232 commands to ONE CT and have it 'reach' all of the CT units. (unless I'm missing something, this is only possible with IR)

I don't think the IP control/programming is available yet.


Why? I think one of the great features is that you get 3 tuners. The wife can be in the bathroom listing to radio station A, the dad can be on the back deck listening to radio station B, and the kids can be in the bonus room listeing to radio station C. If you want just make the presets the same on all 3 units and just send a command to go to that preset.



It was the easiest 12 zone system I have done. Like I said, except for some issues that were related to RTI and JVC, the B&K worked great. Sound is incredible, and the client is very happy.


This is one of the reasons I choose IR over RS232.

You can, but it won't xmit the eXecutive commands. Only IR over RS-232 will transmit to the other B&K pieces.

Of course, you can make IR codes trigger RS-232 macros from the B&K, and have those RS-232 strings be more executive commands.... but that gets hairy quick. I never got that working, although Peter@B&K couldn't find any reason in my setup that would stop it from working.

I'll keep track of this thread if you have any questions for me.

I did discover one little trick which worked well for me.

By default the zones are 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

But in Hex, the 11 becomes 0B, 12 = 0C.

I changed the zone codes on the CT so that zone A = 10 , B= 11

Now, the hex for output A is 0A (or just "A"). Alot easier to keep track of whats going on (i found)

There are definately lots of things I like about the system.
1. The sound
2. 9 inputs PLUS the local inputs.
3. The flexible nature, with regards to creating groups etc.
4. The HD6 works like a hot damn, and the transcoding seems pretty darn good.
5. The RS232 is quick.

I wish that you could send input commands to a zone that is turned off.... and THEN turn it on. That would be nice.

I have lots to learn, as the protocol is pretty deep. I think, like most people I want to spend time to figure out all the details of the presets. I think these can be very powerful, but I've yet to utilize them to their fullest.

I'd love to hear of any neat tricks that people have found.

fluid-druid,
How are you liking that compaired to Nexus. (Audio only)

Well I think it sounds better.
It has 9 inputs + 3 tuners + 1 local input per zone, so thats a huge plus over Nexus' 5 inputs + 1 tuner

You can have more zones, and all will be using the 60watts per channel. Nexus only offers the 60/ch for the first 6 zones.

Any zone can also feed into a separate power amp. Nexus requires a high level>line level adaptor. With the B&K, you can have the speaker output be variable, and the line level can be fixed OR variable.

You can set zones to run in mono which is quite useful in some applications.
If you run a zone in mono, each channel can actually become a separate and independent ZONE !


The Nexus has its place though:
Very easy to setup and install, and no programming (other than the basic learning of IR commands).
You get Tuner Freq and Volume level feedback on the keypads. (this is also possible with B&K if you use the B&K keypads, but I don't)
Sometimes, I just like a small (decora) keypad. And the Nexus has one of the nicest looking.
However, when the RK1 finally arrives, it will be huge for us.

No, they don't work. I think they're only available for the design people. Hopefully, they'll be available, in the future, for music server input.

Yes and No, I like the 1 to 3 on board tuners, but if I had my choice I would first choose a CT 600.X amp without the composite video to bring the price point down a little bit,similar to the way the Russound product line up is structured. Other than CCT feeds I don't or wouldn't use the video on a CT amp. Second on my list would be an out board tuner with swappable/configurable cards for AM/FM/Weather or XM/Sirius options. I would not want to give up the preset database feature that currently exists on the CT amps. All of my installs, to date, have been single unit installations so this hasn't been a problem for me. The want or requests for an itegrated weather radio has been surprising high. Now if it was only $500.00 option (CDN) I'd be all set.


Like you, I'm fairly new to B&K, needing to re-boot systems hasn't been a problem even with the newer CT amps. A lot of my CT amps are several hours away so, I'd know about it and would be cursing the extra travel for service calls. The only problem I have on one site is the cable box that needs re-booting.

I use the composite video in/outs for digital audio.
Coupled with a HD6, I can send Component, Analog audio, and digital audio to 6 rooms (or more)....plus with the HD6, it transcodes S-vid and composite to component.... so together these two pieces can handle all my A/V dist.

Hi I was reading the thread and I have a simlilar customer with RTI and B&K HD6 and T4's. Is it possible to see 1 or 2 commands of how you sent the RS232 commands? I am having trouble with how to have the proper command lines for zone on then input.

For Zone ON I use the Execute commands. The RS232 looks like this:

(0,X,2,ZZ=1;)

the first character is a Zero (not an "oh")
the ZZ is replaced by the hex value for the zone you want to control.

By default, output "A" on a CT is zone id 11 (decimal) which equals 0B (hex) so the command would be :

(0,X,2,0B=1;) to turn on zone and (0,X,2,0B=0;) to turn off

For input, I use the RS232 version of the IR commands.

You'll have to look up the manual but it is something like this:
(0,S,I,0B=76;) again I'm not sure exactly of this one, without the protocol in front of me, but again the 0B would be the zone and the 76 is the specifix hex code for the input in question (see the protocol)

Perfect Thanks!
Also do you know if it is possible to send RS232 Via IP with RTI?