RE: New UK HA project - advice required for equipment please

["Paul Gale" <groups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I don't have the time to go into a full discussion of my setup etc - but a
quick bit of advice re the sound card - I've used SB Audigy 5.1 and 7.1's
on my HA server and MP3 machine. Using the KXProject sound card drivers,
you can enable the O/S to see the sound card as up to 4 individual stereo
devices. This means 4 individual, simultaneous playback sources with 1
sound card - works very well in my whole house audio setup (and yes, I do
have a central 6 source, 6 zone amp and wall panels etc).

Paul.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
> teddykitchebs
> Sent: 30 January 2006 16:07
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: [ukha_d] New UK HA project - advice required for equipment
please
>
> Hi to all from me, Teddy - new member.
>
> I joined the group because I'm real keen to get my home set-up
> sorted but I'm not sure where to start.
>
> I've got HAL2000 which I wish to use as the centre of my home
> automation and most importantly for music distribution through the
> house.
>
> Background - I have the PC in my upstairs spare room.  In my living
> room I have a good quality audio amp (yamaha dspA1) and 5.1 speaker
> setup.  In the bedroom I have a standard amp with 2 speakers.
>
> So really what I want is to get top quality sound from my PC to the
> two amps - I'd really like to be able to have them both on at the
> same time but if there's any kind of sound delay or problems then I
> can live with being able to turn one or the other on or off (using
> hal2000 appliance module to the power).
>
> So, back to the point, what kind of sound card should I get for the
> PC that will send good sound.  And what else do I need ? signal
> booster? pre-amp? amp? cable?
>
> I've asked before on other message boards but I get very general
> answers like - 'use cat5', or 'use wireless'. See, the nice thing is
> that I've got the budget for it, itching to get it sorted, but no
> idea where to start.
>
> I was thinking maybe the sound card would be 200 or 300+ pounds, no
> idea what else.  If all I need is a bit of wire, great!! but if the
> total thing costs me a thousand or bit more then then that's ok.
>
> I've seen some whole house audio solutions but they have control
> boxes on walls, remote controls, Ir distribution, etc, I dont think
> I need any of that (?!) as I'll do much of it through hal.
>
> Oh, the yamaha amp has "six Toslink optical digital inputs, three
> RCA digital inputs, and one RCA AC-3 RF digital input" and of
course
> regular phono input.  The other amp is a bog standard Arcam amp.
>
> If anyone can give me some pointers I'll be eternally grateful.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Teddy
>
> (sorry the post is a bit long!)
>
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