Great deal on a 6 channel amp

[scottw]

What do you guys think about 18-gauge wire. My runs are going to be around 20-25 feet from the amp. I was going to use 16-gauge but this:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=109-155

is an awesome price.

Can I use this???

Edit: nevermind, I just saw it is sold out. oh well.

[Marbles_00]

If your not going to run the wire in walls, then 18AWG zip cord from Home Depot will be just fine (but that price at partsexpress is really good). If running within walls, then you will want to use CL3 or CL2 rated wire, 20-25 feet you could still get away with 18AWG.

[scottw]

Just curious as to why it's different in the walls??


I will be running it thru the attic.


Thanks,

[Marbles_00]

It's to do with fire hazard. CL2/3 rated wiring adheres to national standards for in wall wiring, based on such criteria as fire, chemical and abrasion resistance.

Check your codes in your area but you may be better off running CL rated wiring in your attic.

If you don't, and there is ever a fire, and the insurance company catches wind that you didn't use it...you know where I'm going with that. For the small amount extra that it costs, to know that you won't be dropped by the insurance company in the event of a fire...even if the wiring has nothing to do with the fire itself, it's worth it.

Up here in Canada, Home Depot sells 16AWG CL3 rated wire for about $1.00/metre, or around $0.30/ft. Partsexpress sells it at a pretty decent price...and along with the speakers you looked at the other day, will now justify the shipping. Below is the link on partsexpress to their inwall wiring:
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm ... oup_ID=376

I only found more about it from reading on AVSforum, and with my wife being an ultra-paranoid type when I start working with electonics/electrical (don't know why as I've never had anything go "POP" when she's been around ) I figure going that route when running wire from the basement to the attic will set her at ease.

[sharp_1]

I ended up taking an old Radio Shack mixing board and converting the back panel to this:

Zones 1 - 3 are wired to amp 1
Zones 4 - 6 are wired to amp 2

I was thinking about mounting it under my structured wiring box with the amps below it.

What a fun project!!!

[ph0n33z]

Hey guys. I stumbled upon this thread and could not be happier about it!

I am going to do a 13 or 14 zone whole house setup, and this may be just what I need. However, I had a question:

1) Can each "zone" (channel) have a different volume control/level? or would I need a separate amp for each volume level.

For instance, could I have say the hallway, bathroom on the same amp (2 different channels) and have separate volume control in each?

Also, are you guys all using winamp to control this? What soundcards are you using?

[scottw]

I am using winamp to control this but I think some people have a volume knob in each of the rooms, not sure exactly what it is called but I think you hook it up between the amps output and the speaker itself.
I am planning on getting a SB live that is complatable with the KX drivers.

Hope that helps.

[sharp_1]

Marbles is the zoning expert...see his thread here

[Marbles_00]

Can each "zone" (channel) have a different volume control/level?

I think Winamp/Foobar can only control volume in stereo (unless the source file is a mono source, then you would only have to worry about one channel and not care about the other). If you want to control the volume of each channel individually, then you would require a volume pot (potentiometer) in that particular zone. There are other ways of doing it, but that is the easiest. Essentially it is a variable resistor placed between the amplifiers output to the speaker. It can be mounted in wall panel next to your light switch if you wanted.

Also, are you guys all using winamp to control this?

Winamp is one of the two native music software that Xlobby can interface with. The other is Foobar. People have had success with zoning using either type. You just have to remember that each zone will be a different instance of winamp, and each instance of winamp is setup to a different soundcard output.

What soundcards are you using?

Personally I'm using an Audigy 7.1 card with the KX Drivers. This is for three zones plus a party zone. I'm also using the motherboard onboard audio and an extra stereo pci card. This gives a total of 5 zones and one party zone.

I am going to do a 13 or 14 zone whole house setup

To do this you will need a decent computer. From experimenting I tried the Audigy, a Live5.1, and onboard audio for a total of 7 zones with a P4 1.7Gig, 512 Ram, IDE drive. I noticed when driving all 7 zones, I was getting skipping in the music tracks across all the zones...hence I reached the limit of the computer.

Hope this was helpful.

[scottw]

To do this you will need a decent computer. From experimenting I tried the Audigy, a Live5.1, and onboard audio for a total of 7 zones with a P4 1.7Gig, 512 Ram, IDE drive. I noticed when driving all 7 zones, I was getting skipping in the music tracks across all the zones...hence I reached the limit of the computer.

Is that a limit of the CPU or the Hard Drive, just wondering??

[Marbles_00]

Good point, and I can't really answer that. I would almost first look at the drive because all the music has to come from there. If looking at device speeds, that would be the bottleneck. Since the motherboard has a SATA port, I'm planning on getting a SATA drive soon. That should help out. I just wanted to get everything up and running to try and I had a 40gig IDE drive available at the time.

[ph0n33z]

Thankyou so much for your quick responses!

I am sorry that I miscommunicated what I was trying to say. I meant to say each stereo zone (thus 2 channels), not each individual channel.

The problem I have is that the speaker wire is already run in the house, and it does not go down to where a volume control knob would be. Is there any way to do this solely on the software side of things, or does it have to be a physical control?

My other question regarding these amps was whether or not I can have multiple sources going to each. I would most likely only have 1 (the pc), but I was curious none-the-less.

Thanks guys!

[Marbles_00]

Once you set control to a particular zone, you will be able to control that particular instance of winamp, meaning you will be able to control that instance of winamp's volume and none of the others will be effected. Overall system (master) volume can also be adjusted.

For the amp, are you talking about multiple sources switching into the amps inputs, or one source going to one stereo pair, another source going to an other etc?

[ph0n33z]

I was referring to the former because I assumed the latter is not possible. Since the amp only has one input, it would not be possible to have each stereo pair have a different source, correct?

I assume the only way to have each zone able to play a different source simultaneously would be to have a dedicated amp to each zone, correct?

[Marbles_00]

Actually the amp has six inputs, they share one DIN connector and also share a common return (in this case the shield). The AIP (Audio Input Processor) is only one stereo pair. It branches the one pair into six channels. As I've said before, it you don't use the AIP then the amp should be six independent channels or three stereo pairs.

To play different sources would require some sort of switch inbetween the amplifier and the sources to select which source to play from. It would take some intuitive, but you could get Xlobby to control and select the sources. It would take careful planning and equipment considerations. Most of us (will in my case...myself) am just using a computer with multiple winamps. All my CD's ripped to mp3, and I also use shoutcast, so any winamp instance can select between the two. If I had a TV card with a FM tuner, then I could add that into the mix as well.

Hope this was helpful.