What Kit? - Home Audio/Video System

[anonymous-user]

I have done some more research since my last post and THINK I know what I need for my new gaff but just wanted to be sure and ask the knowledgeable amongst you.

One wall of the living room has one (or two, need to check) HDMI cable and an aerial cable coming out along with a mains power outlet. These terminate back at a large silver junction box in the opposite corner of the room along with Cat 5, I believe, that spans the house.

For my home cinema/audio setup am I right thinking I need the following setup:

1 x AV Receiver which will send signals to the TV via HDMI and to the speakers in a 5.1 configuration. This will receive signals from:

Blu-Ray Player
FreeSat Box


Now the Q is... if I also want the music I have on iTunes to be playable to this and other rooms in the house what do I need? I know I need a hard disk server of some sort (not sure I want to add my iMac with iTunes to this as I like to keep that separate, but tell me if that's wrong and that transferring 8000 odd songs to a dedicated server is madness) which would connect to the AV receiver for the living room and utilise the 5.1 speaker system. But how then to get the music to the rest of the house .... ?

I know a Sonos system would do this but my understanding is that would be a completely separate solution rather than integrated into the above?

Thanks

[Driller]

Why don't you just get an Apple TV and a compact signal sensing amp per zone Gary? That way you stay totally integrated with Apple/iTunes and you can control it all with the remote app on iPhone/iPod touch/iPad.

I'm using this alongside other stuff and it works really well.

ETA It also means you get multi streaming ie each zone can be simultaneously playing different music all from the same Mac iTunes library.

[anonymous-user]

Damn and blast it - I'm trying to look at so much stuff I forgot I'd looked at Apple TV a week or so ago.

Cheers Driller - problem solved I hope

[Driller]

garyhun said:

Damn and blast it - I'm trying to look at so much stuff I forgot I'd looked at Apple TV a week or so ago.

Cheers Driller - problem solved I hope

No worries, give me a shout if you want any more info/ideas. Obviously there are loads of guys on here too like Vex and Hughjayteens who are in the business.

[anonymous-user]

Driller said:

No worries, give me a shout if you want any more info/ideas. Obviously there are loads of guys on here too like Vex and Hughjayteens who are in the business.

Cheers. These "compact signal sensing amp per zone" you talk about - what are they? Do you have examples?

[MagicalTrevor]

garyhun said:

Damn and blast it - I'm trying to look at so much stuff I forgot I'd looked at Apple TV a week or so ago.

Cheers Driller - problem solved I hope

Also the Apple Airport Express fits the bill, I've got both and use the AEX for Music with the ATV for movies

[Driller]

garyhun said:

Cheers. These "compact signal sensing amp per zone" you talk about - what are they? Do you have examples?

They are a low/medium powered amp that you install either locally or centrally (although if it was central it would make more sense to install one multichannel version rather than have many 2 channel stereo versions). They are normally in standby but as soon as you apply a signal to the input eg if you start to play a track on an Apple TV connected to the amp, the amp detects this and comes out of standyby.

It's just a convenient way of saving electricity and having to touch as few thiongs as possible to get to hear your music.

Russound for example do them but if you do a search for signal sensing amp on Google you will find plenty of others.

This is a 50w stereo amp you could install in the zone in question:
http://www.russound.com/product_detail.php?i=3267

Or a 4 zone (8 channel) model you could install in a central location (node zero etc) and have all the speaker wires for all the zones coming off from here:

http://www.russound.com/product_detail.php?i=1550

[anonymous-user]

MagicalTrevor said:

Also the Apple Airport Express fits the bill, I've got both and use the AEX for Music with the ATV for movies

Actually this seems a much better option as I can simply connect the express box to my AV Amp/Receiver and it's all sorted!

[anonymous-user]

Cheers Driller - I'll take a look at all that!

[Driller]

garyhun said:

Actually this seems a much better option as I can simply connect the express box to my AV Amp/Receiver and it's all sorted!

Wait! You don't have to connect your Apple Tv a telly if all you want to use is the music side. I don't have any of mine mine connected to TVs and simply control the audio side with the remote app.

With the Apple TV you can sync the remote app directly with the ATV itself, I'm not sure you can do that with an Airport express. I'm trying to find out the answer to this very question infact but haven't got round to sending Apple support an email yet.

If you can't sync the remote app with Airport express and have to go into Itunes and muck about each time then ATV is the only way to go.

[MagicalTrevor]

garyhun said:

MagicalTrevor said:

Also the Apple Airport Express fits the bill, I've got both and use the AEX for Music with the ATV for movies

Actually this seems a much better option as I can simply connect the express box to my AV Amp/Receiver and it's all sorted!

Of course it's a better idea!

[anonymous-user]

Driller said:

garyhun said:

Actually this seems a much better option as I can simply connect the express box to my AV Amp/Receiver and it's all sorted!

Wait! You don't have to connect your Apple Tv a telly if all you want to use is the music side. I don't have any of mine mine connected to TVs and simply control the audio side with the remote app.

With the Apple TV you can sync the remote app directly with the ATV itself, I'm not sure you can do that with an Airport express. I'm trying to find out the answer to this very question infact but haven't got round to sending Apple support an email yet.

If you can't sync the remote app with Airport express and have to go into Itunes and muck about each time then ATV is the only way to go.

See, now I'm getting way out of my depth in understanding or we're at crossed purposes

I will have all my boxes (Amp/Blu Ray/FreeSat) in the corner of the room with a single HDMI to the TV on the wall. I was going to connect the Apple device just to the amp - not to the TV.

However, what exactly do you mean by "remote app" and syncing to it - I'm not sure I understand how this allows you to not have to go into iTunes?

Yours, a "confused duffer" !!

[Driller]

Do you have an iPhone or an iPod touch or an iPad Gary?

[Driller]

MagicalTrevor said:

Of course it's a better idea!

Don't agree.

ETA Unless I'm wrong about being able to sync Remote app with Airport express of course.

Edited by Driller on Tuesday 13th September 14:13

[anonymous-user]

Driller said:

Do you have an iPhone or an iPod touch or an iPad Gary?

iPhone - YES!

[Driller]

garyhun said:

iPhone - YES!

Ok, I'm off home from work, I'll be there in about 30mins. In the meantime go into the app store on your iPhone and find and download "Remote" (it's free!).

I'll post up a bit later.

[anonymous-user]

Driller said:

garyhun said:

iPhone - YES!

Ok, I'm off home from work, I'll be there in about 30mins. In the meantime go into the app store on your iPhone and find and download "Remote" (it's free!).

I'll post up a bit later.

Ooh err missus!!! Just downloaded the app, sync'd to iTunes and now my iPhone is a remote for my iMac. MARVELOUS

[Driller]

Good isn't it?

Do you see what I mean about not having to muck about in iTunes? Now you can sync to each Apple TV in exactly this way so you have the remote interface to control the music. You call each Apple TV a different thing eg lounge, kitchen etc and you can either use the same i product to control it all or have one iPhone/iPod touch/iPad permanently in each zone.

I'm not sure that you can sync Remote to Airport express in this way though hence why I said above that Apple TV is better.

This also where having the signal sensing amps or one multichannel amp comes in attached to each Apple TV and speakers in that zone.

[anonymous-user]

Driller said:

Good isn't it?

Do you see what I mean about not having to muck about in iTunes? Now you can sync to each Apple TV in exactly this way so you have the remote interface to control the music. You call each Apple TV a different thing eg lounge, kitchen etc and you can either use the same i product to control it all or have one iPhone/iPod touch/iPad permanently in each zone.

I'm not sure that you can sync Remote to Airport express in this way though hence why I said above that Apple TV is better.

This also where having the signal sensing amps or one multichannel amp comes in attached to each Apple TV and speakers in that zone.

Got ya!!!

So this means that my iMac will be permanently on (not a problem though)? Is iTunes able to play different tracks to different Apple TV units so you can have different playlists playing in different rooms at the same time or is that a step too far?

[Driller]

garyhun said:

Driller said:

Good isn't it?

Do you see what I mean about not having to muck about in iTunes? Now you can sync to each Apple TV in exactly this way so you have the remote interface to control the music. You call each Apple TV a different thing eg lounge, kitchen etc and you can either use the same i product to control it all or have one iPhone/iPod touch/iPad permanently in each zone.

I'm not sure that you can sync Remote to Airport express in this way though hence why I said above that Apple TV is better.

This also where having the signal sensing amps or one multichannel amp comes in attached to each Apple TV and speakers in that zone.

Got ya!!!

So this means that my iMac will be permanently on (not a problem though)? Is iTunes able to play different tracks to different Apple TV units so you can have different playlists playing in different rooms at the same time or is that a step too far?

It does have to be permanently on if you get the new Apple TVs but that's not a problem, alot of folksay computers should be left on anyway. My Mac mini is on all the time and has been for 3 years. Also you can still get refurbished ATV1s off Ebay and they have a built in 160GB disc which means they are autonomous and don't need the Mac to be on to work.

As far as different music playing on each one-yes!, that's the beauty of it they are all totally independent. You could have 10 Apple TVs playing ten different tracks, playlists, songs etc in different rooms all at the same time each controlled by their own Remote app on an i-device.

Like I said, I still haven't found out for sure if Airport/Airport Express can do this but from reading on the Apple site you need to go into iTunes and muck about each time you want to listen to music.