Hardware for 6 Zone Audio AND 7.1 Surround?

by **Aaron** on Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:45 am

I'm going to be putting together a HTPC soon and planning on using XLobby... hoping we get some serious DVB & HDTV tuner card integration so I can us it as a true HTPC!

I'm going to be needing to have 6 audio zones plus have it control my Home Theater room with 7.1 surround capabilities.

And want it all to be run from the same PC (yes I'm buying a serious machine!).

What sounds cards are recommended?

I'm thinking I'll need two SB Live (or something) plus a built-in 8 channel?

any other suggestions/advise is welcome!

thanks!

by **rhinoman** on Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:50 am

You coulkd use either 2 *maudio delta 410's or most of the newer rme which can have 2 *aeb8out added.

At the other end of the price scale, 6 seperate soundcards in 6 pci slots but that wont leave room for much else.

If you want synced play and use lossless music formats, dont skimp on the processor and ram, my sig setup only just copes with my 8 zones.

by **GFORCE** on Fri Sep 16, 2005 4:02 pm

Rhino,

it also depends on the Hard Disk Speeds.

I have 10 Zones, two Audigy2 Cards with KX Drivers and 4 elchepo USB Cards.

ive got a 800Gb Raid 0 Setup, I can watch a DVD While having 10 Zones going, all good in the hood.

ive got a A64 3000+, Asus NF4, 1Gb Ram, Radeon x600 PRO HDTV, Custom Casing

by **Aaron** on Fri Sep 16, 2005 5:09 pm

GFORCE,
I'm going to definitely have a powerful enough computer (AMD X2 w/ 2GB RAM) and HD will be SATA so no problems there.

What audio card you use with watching DVD?
Do you think the Audigy2 cards are worth the cost or should I go with something else that is cheaper like Live cards? The zones are just for background music so the speakers are cheap in-ceiling speakers, nothing that a "good" card will make sound better.

by **rhinoman** on Fri Sep 16, 2005 5:36 pm

I use a seperate HTPC in my living room for watching dvd's.

GForce,

Are you using lossless or mp3?

by **GFORCE** on Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:13 pm

i use lossless, OGG and Flac and abit of MP3s
im in the build process of another htpc, X2 4600+ Dual SLI Video Cards and Dual DVDRW Drives

by **GFORCE** on Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:15 pm

If you want 6 Zones AND 7.1 Audio,

Go for Two Audigy2 Cards with KX Drivers
and your choice of sound card, I use M-Audio Revolution cards

by **hjackson** on Sun Sep 18, 2005 8:22 pm

Aaron, what is your speaker and amplifier setup? Do all the speaker wires from your zones originate at the htpc? What are you using as an amp for the different zones? Are you using one amp by the PC, multiple amps by the PC, amps in each zone?

hjackson

by **GFORCE** on Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:09 am

I have RCA Cables run to Digital AMC Amplifers, which are mounted in the ceiling next to the speakers.

ive got a Denon AVR3805 Under the HTPC

All Zones use Speakercraft Inceiling/Inwall Speakers
Main Zone with Denon AMP uses Quad 8 Speaker Setup and Velodyne Subwoofer
Main Display is a Pioneer 50" Plasma

by **Aaron** on Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:55 pm

Everything I have is home run back to my AV rack so all my equipment and HTPC is there. I have one 12 channel amp for the 6 zones. separate equipment completely for my home theater.

by **btrcp2000** on Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:20 pm

hi all-

this is basically what i want to do as well. I would like to able to control everything only from the htpc, so I'm looking for a multi channel amp that would just stay on all the time. Doesn't need to be super powerful (i have a wife), but hopefully wouldn't generate too much heat. although i probably could stick it in the basement if i can control everything else from the htpc.

Questions:

1. Having never owned an amp before (just ht receivers), is it possible to have an amp constantly powered without shortening the life? Are there amps that have a "sleep mode"?

2. What about just using amplified pc speakers/subwoofers (one set for each zone)? Seems like a simple solution but i wonder if there any gotchas

by **hjackson** on Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:24 am

"1. Having never owned an amp before (just ht receivers), is it possible to have an amp constantly powered without shortening the life? Are there amps that have a "sleep mode"?

2. What about just using amplified pc speakers/subwoofers (one set for each zone)? Seems like a simple solution but i wonder if there any gotchas"

1) Yes. I just (just got it 3 days ago!) bought a 12 channel amp from Home Theater Direct (http://www.htd.com/12channelamp.html) based on the rec from one of the members here (I can't remember who, maybe you Aaron?)

2) You could, but most people aren't thrilled with PC speaker sound.

hjackson

by **CiXel** on Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:07 am

>>2. What about just using amplified pc speakers/subwoofers (one set for each zone)? Seems like a simple solution but i wonder if there any gotchas"

Another gotcha is running line level signal down a long line makes it especailly prone to noise and RF which will then get amplified by the amplifier. Your options for this are to 'balance" the line level run, or do a short run to an amplifier and let the speaker cable make the run. A speaker level run is significantly less prone to those problems, and you can run it a much longer distance without getting High Frequency Loss.

by **GFORCE** on Tue Sep 20, 2005 7:15 am

If you can find, Get the SpeakerCraft Cable.
Its one of the best cables made for long RCA Runs and also Speaker Runs.

We Use it when we do a whole house system with their equipment for customers

by **hjackson** on Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:54 pm

"I have RCA Cables run to Digital AMC Amplifers,"

Gforce, I have never heard of these amps. Could you give us some info about them please? And ofcourse, how much do they cost?

hjackson