Home audio setup

Nutty_Death

Nutty_Death

Nutty_Death

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A new thread but with hopefully clearer and more specific requirements.

I want to set up a 4 zone home audio system. 2 zones will have 2 inputs of both music and TV, one of which will have 5 speaker surround sound. The rest are 2 speaker stereo. I want each zone to be controllable independently via Chromecast audio and for the TV volume to be controllable locally without having to use an app but still play via the speakers.

The approaches I think there are
  • Amp in each room with a Chromecast audio attached
  • Multi channel amp with multiple Chromecast attached. Not sure how surround sound or local volume for TV would work
  • Fancy amp like VSSL but this seems to limit my TV options
My preference would be something I can tuck away somewhere.

What would you suggest?
 
There are plenty of small T-class or D-class switchmode amps available from China. Just look up Tripath or Class D on Ebay. Be aware, to get halfway to the claimed power outputs you're going to have to upgrade the supplied wallwart transformer. Also, pair them with the most efficient in-ceiling speakers you can find to make the most of the limited power. Don't forget that any in-ceiling speakers below an inhabited space (e.g. a bedroom) will need firehoods. You'll need to budget around £50 per speaker for those.

For multichannel surround, I think you're going to need a proper AV receiver. I don't see a practical way with CA to take a digital feed from TV and decode either Dolby ProLogic/PLII or Dolby Digital 5.1 The smallest fully featured AV receivers on the market are the Marantz NR series. Start off with the Marantz NR1509 to see if that fills your needs.
 
What, in place of the multiple T-amps? Sure. But what you said was that you wanted something you could tuck away. For most people that equates to small boxes.

If you're talking about for the 5 channel surround, then no. As I outlined in the first reply, I am not aware of any way to combine several CA devices so that they work in unison to do 5 challenge surround.

I am using the industry-recognised definition of 5 channel surround meaning Center, Front Left, Front Right, Left Surround, Right Surround either as matrixed audio (Dolby Surround) or discrete multichannel audio in the form of a bitstream signal encoded as Dolby Digital. If you mean something different, such as 5 channel stereo, then you have be specific because that's not the same thing.
 
When someone says to be "to tuck away", that implies that this is not for serious audio use, just for background purposes.
If that's the case here, what about a number of Alexa units? We now have 3 in our house. They're dead easy to setup and my wife and son love them. For context, I've spent more on power cables for the main stereo than the 3 Alexa units cost in total.

For the OP, save money on the "background" units, and splurge it on a better "serious" system.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
If that's the case here, what about a number of Alexa units? We now have 3 in our house. They're dead easy to setup and my wife and son love them.
Click to expand...

I have stereo Amazon Echoes set up in my kitchen. They look fairly unobtrusive (I like the appearance of the newer Echoes), and sound about as good as I'd expect, which means okay without exactly punching miles above their price range. They do tend to need re-pairing every so often, which is a bit of a faff, but they are otherwise convenient.
 
I'm definitely not an audiophile. I like the thought of an integrated and seamless system. It doesn't need to be anything fancy.

If I do end up installing speakers I'd like to do it in a way where I can replace inputs in the future if required.

To be honest I'm debating the need for a lot of this. I think I'll scrap the surround sound as I'm really not that bothered. It simplifies things a lot just having stereo.

I'm not really a fan of the Amazon ecosystem and find Chromecast video and audio unobtrusive.

I could potentially get an amp with 4 zones and have it tucked away near my router etc but then I'd have to work out how to control TV volume or switch TV source.
 
mulpsmebeauty said:
I have stereo Amazon Echoes set up in my kitchen. They look fairly unobtrusive (I like the appearance of the newer Echoes), and sound about as good as I'd expect, which means okay without exactly punching miles above their price range. They do tend to need re-pairing every so often, which is a bit of a faff, but they are otherwise convenient.
Click to expand...

"Punching above their weight". Yuch, how I hate that phrase. Sorry, not aimed at you, more at the plebs at "What Vendor Has the biggest advertising spread" rag.

Back on topic. Yep, they're nothing special from an audio perspective, but keep people who are not interested smiley and as mentioned, hopefully save funds for the serious system.
 
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