Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[kaiynne]

I am trying to get a multizone setup going in a doctors office which has three examination rooms, a waiting room and an office.  I have been trying to find the best way to distribute multimple sources to different rooms and I came across some interesting stuff that I thought some people might be interested in and possibly be able to share some more info as well.

This is the setup I am planning:

I am going to send the audio stream wirelessly using one of those usb to wireless audio senders.  I am looking at the RCA Lyra one, but it only supports 4 devices in the same location, so if anyone has a better product I would love to hear about it.
This elliminates the need for a bunch of sound cards, but I think that a plugin would have to be written to control multiple devices through MC (they suggest MM at the moment).

Then I am going to connect the receiver side to a T-amp, which is a cheap little digital amplifier which people are raving about. 

From there I will connect the t-amp to some cheap wall mounted speakers.

This would give me multiple zones, with each zone costing about $80.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions before I go out and buy all this stuff?

[cncb]

I haven't seen this RCA device before.  It touts crystal clear sound and "digital" quality but appears to be 900 MHz.  The 900 MHz would be good for my setup but I wonder if it is really as clear as they claim?

If quality is not such an issue, an alternative could be one of those FM broadcasters.  You could then have a cheap tuner in each room and would have remote volume control.

[kaiynne]

The problem with those fm broadcast devices is that they have no way of veryfiying the signal, no built in error detection.  So when a bit is not detected it is lost and you get crappy sound, the lyra device implies that it does have some sort of error correction thus the sound would be better.  It is not quite clear exactly what the lyra does though....

[cncb]

Other options I have found are X10 wireless audio/video transmitters.  I'm not sure how good these are but they operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency.  These run about $70 and up.

If cost is not a big concern, I found some interesting new stuff on Radio Shack's website.  They have "HomePlug" transmitter and receivers that send digital audio over power lines.  The receiver has a built-in amplifier or they sell speakers with built-in receiver and amp.  These look very interesting but relatively expensive: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=&product%5Fid=15%2D1938.

[Bill Kearney]

The problem with those fm broadcast devices is that they have no way of veryfiying the signal, no built in error detection.  So when a bit is not detected it is lost and you get crappy sound

You're talking background music here, not audiophile listening booths.  That and if it's office space it's usually VERY trivial to install in-ceiling speakers and wall controls.  Nothing to interfere or get 'fiddled with' in the exam rooms.  That and for certain medical situations what you can or can't put into a room has a fair number of restrictions.