Greetings everyone! Question about home setups

[xblob]

Hello xlobby experts, and cheers to you Steve Hanna for great work!

I'm excited about this software and looking to setup a home theater and multi-room audio system. My concern is wires. I've invested in a large house and I don't think I can realistically run wires everywhere without making it look nuts . I've heard there are wireless speakers out there (for the other rooms outside the cinema room - like the kitchen, bedroom & gym)... Does anyone have any recommendations/suggestions for good wireless speakers? And is there a way to use them with xlobby?

Thanks and all the best!
Mike

[Twit]

Mike,

Welcome to xlobby

I do not know much about the wireless speakers except that the 'sender' unit should plug straight into your sound cards output.

There was a good discussion on avforum about them. Basically the cheaper ones transmit via FM (Ithink) and do not sound as nice. BUT if all you want to do is listen to a bit of music in the rest of the house then any one should do.

Check the range.

Later
Simon.

[xblob]

Hey Twit! =)

Thanks for the reply! I did find a linksys wireless radio that I might use.. Looks pretty decent to rest it on the counter and mobile enough to bring all over the house.

But here's another question just the same... If I'm gutsy enough to go for the wired solution, I was thinking of using turtle beach sound cards (USB thumb sized that output to RCA or line out I think)... There must be a way to direct audio to any given one of them from xlobby with simultaneous different songs playing to the different turtle beach sound cards - then out to an amp which determines the volume for the given room.... But is there a way to somehow control the volume through xlobby with this setup?

Thanks again,
Mike

[Twit]

Mike,

1 - Carefull - I have one usb sound card and the sound breaks up if i do to alot of USB stuff - Ie use my mouse and touch screen at the same time. Maybe its just a crap card (Zalman - RSSC).

2 - Xlobby controls either winamp/foobar OR the windows master volume.
Basically if winamp can control it so can xlobby.

I have 3 internal sound cards and can control all 3 via winamp/xlobby.

You may want to look at a soundblaster 5.1 card - if you use the KX drivers you can make the card ouput 3 different stereo channels. This only takes up one PCI slot.

Later
Simon

[xblob]

Hello again,

I think I will go for the wired solution - and I like your idea of having the soundblaster 5.1 for 1 PCI slot with 3 stereo outputs... But my concern again is volume - can i *separately* control the volume on each of these outputs? and will I have to buy amplified speakers? i.e., is the output from the 5.1 card already amplified? The wires run all over the house will be difficult enough - i don't want to have to plug in my speakers as well... Any other solutions better than the way I'm thinking? I'd appreciate any help at all.. I'm a music lover but don't know anything about good setups... and I think the market is a newbie on this as well, judging by what i've seen in stores... and the best way to go is definitely with xlobby i think. If I ever get this going the I want to, I will be a big evangelist for xobby!!

Best,
Mike

[Marbles_00]

can i *separately* control the volume on each of these outputs?

You can control the volume of each of these outputs serperately. You will set up three seperate instances of winamp. Each winamp will need to be configured for a specific output defined by the kxdrivers. In xlobby, you will create three seperate audio zones, each zone directed at one instance of winamp. When controlling that zone, you will be able to control the volume seperately from all the other zones.

For further info on the kxdrivers, please view my post here:
http://www.xlobby.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4704
I also discuss there how to basically set up each output, and even create a "partyzone" that combines all the stereo pairs of the CL card into one kx output.

and will I have to buy amplified speakers? i.e., is the output from the 5.1 card already amplified?

The outputs of the 5.1 card are not amplified. Even if they were, the amplification would not be suitable for a zoning enviroment. You could use amplified speakers. The one problem here is long cable runs of low level audio. If the cables are inadequate, you could get induced noise on the signal. The other thing to worry about is the capacitance of the cable could act as a filter and you could loose the upper bandwidth of the music. To get around that, you could build yourself (or buy) balanced cable runs. Now I'm talking cable lengths greater than 30' (some people have had success running greater than 50'). Not to mention that sort of cable is more expensive than simple speaker wire. Most people will have a multichannel amp close to the source then run speaker wire to the speakers. Big reason besides expense. The signal will not degrade as much. You just have to use the proper guage of wire for the length of run you require.

The big problem with wireless speakers is radio wave interference, and inadequate frequency bandwidth. Being a music lover, neither would do you any good.

Hope this was helpful.

[xblob]

Very informative reply, thank you very much for your help! Just the kind of information I need.

And congratulations on being a new dad!!! I just got back from my honeymoon in Greece and we're hoping she misses her period!

[Marbles_00]

I guess I should change that now.....since they're going to college .
No, my newborn is almost 4 months old....so I'm not really a new daddy anymore (they're getting big right before my eyes...my oldest is starting school in a couple of weeks).

Hey, good luck. It took my wife and I a while before it happened...but creating is the fun part.

[xblob]

First try! I can't believe it - I'm gonna be a dad!!!

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

First try! I can't believe it - I'm gonna be a dad!!!

Congratualations! I played a part of step daddy for a while. Start to prepare that its tough to be dad. Though it has its boons too, to wake up this little thing cuddled in your arm pit, its feeling which is hard to describe, it must be experienced, well u will soon...

Too bad step daddies have no rights when mommy says get lost... Im kidding ofcourse she belongs with mommy... but that doesnt mean that i dont miss her though.