RE: Was: Paging Comfort CWI Gurus... Now: TTS & WHA

["Paul Gale" <groups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I use a whole house amp - Kustom KHS6640. The ACE TTS output feeds into the
paging circuit which automatically mutes the sources and plays the TTS for
as long as needed. This can also be achieved in a similar way in software
using ACE.

Multiple sound cards - to save some cash, you can use a single Sound
Blaster Audigy (value range I think - or any of the more expensive) and use
the kXAudio drivers (do a search). This allows you to see the 4 x stereo
outputs of the card as separate cards in software such as Winamp and ACE
TTS. This means you get 4 x stereo outputs in one card - works very well :)

I think you'll find the control part of your plan the most difficult to
implement - a LOT of work. But it would be very flexible.

Think carefully about how you might control the sources - would
remotes/iPaq etc be OK (frustrating when you loose or misplace the
remote/iPaq). Wall controllers have some advantage here plus mine also form
a distributed IR network so I can use any IR remote (HomeVision forms the
backend control here).

The definite advantage with a whole house system is that it provides a
great deal of out-of-the-box functionality that you can supplement with
other HA control methods (especially if you have an RS232 controllable or
IR controllable to a lesser extent, system like the Russound). Creating
this all from scratch with a PC based system will be a lot more difficult.

Just my early morning thoughts!

Paul.

-----Original Message-----
From: rb_ziggy [mailto:richard.boreham@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 13 February 2005 20:11
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Was: Paging Comfort CWI Gurus... Now: TTS & WHA



Paul (or anyone else who want's to comment)

Having been playing around with ACE TTS and Neospeach (works very well
thanks), I've not decided to go the whole hog and start the kitting
out for whole house audio.

A few years back, we put in speaker cable star wired back to node 0
(well the loft) plus runs of shielded cat 5 to light switch positions.
The aim (before running out of cash) was to install some type of
central WHA system (e.g. QED Systemline /Russound).  However, things
WHA have moved on but we are constrained a bit by this wiring so we
can't use some of the newer versions like A-Bus etc.

Notwithstanding this, my own ideas have changed and I want to go with
a PC Server based system along the following lines:

- PC server running ACETTS etc and acting as home entertainment
server. Running multiple soundcards as a multisource for WHA.  Volume
control, source selection etc all PC based.
- Power amp (6 x stereo) purely to boost line level to speaker level.
Each soundcard stereo pair mapping 1:1 to one power-amp input pair
(i.e. there is no matrix switching here yet - although it could be
added later).
- In ceiling speakers.
- All remote control by (probably) web based control on wireless PDAs.
(e.g. something like XLobby etc).

Aim is only for audio distribution.  Video is otherwise catered for.
I think this setup will actually be more SWMBO friendly than
propriatory wall controllers and will be a fraction of the price. I
don't think the lack of a matrix switcher will be too much of an issue
for the present although it does constrain a bit.

Now, I'd be most interested how you manage your audio distribution and
TTS overlay. Playing around with Windows media player running music,
TTS just neatly mixes in to the music (gets lost in reality but it is
there).  I think it may be different with other servers (e.g. Winamp -
which ACETTS can control directly it seems).

You may have noticed from the Comfort forum that I'm also thinking
about distributing TTS back to the Comfort keypads.

Regards

Richard




--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Paul Gale" <groups@s...> wrote:
> Just ask away re the whole house audio stuff when you have questions
:)
>