Hello. First post here, but I am looking for a simple network ceiling speaker that I can put throughout my multi level home that integrates with HA. I saw that there is integration with AXIS but before I spend around $290 I wanted to be sure the C1410 will do what I want with HA. The C1410 looks nice and simple to install as it gets powered via one network cable (PoE) and that’s all.
I have strong doubts this will ever work as you expect without a huge amount if work. Even then it will be limited and implemented in hacky manner. But i havent looked closely just expect they design with least effort and used same methods as camera design to implement and if your ever try to pass audio to axis cam through HA it was not a simple thing or something I would want to do long term
They may be using something that works like one way voip to pass audio but that will never work as easily as standard audio played to speaker.
If you can run wires to location standard in wall speakers powered by an app will provide better audio and easier integration at half or same price. You will have much more reliable and standardized methods of integrating to HA. This is also much more future proof and expandable.
If you have existing axis or this is enterprise evvironment there may be value in the axis speaker. Id never put this in a home.
Good to know! I wonder if the next best alternative would be some kind of always on network capable amp that can fit in an onQ enclosure. Trying to find something off the shelf and not hack together a multi component solution, but a standard ceiling speaker and amp isn’t an issue.
I bought some network amps and realized it was a huge waste of money and had no purpose. I didnt need the audio control and didnt use the equalizer function.
-regular amp is enough
-i run some zone stereo and some mono. I dont need stereo outside in the pool or even in my kitchen but my surround in living room is multichannel. This means a left channel can be kitchen and right channel pool. This allows combining multi zones.
-if you have space, used surround receivers are good. They have network control, bluetooth, airplay and wifi. Many ways to send it audio. Yiu can find these on ebay under $50USD with (no HDMI) but since you only require audio they work great. Otherwise a rack mount amp or something simple works well.
I found a spec sheet for the axis speaker. As i expect it uses voip to pass audio im guessing based on the specs. The mic option is nice so if intercom in home was a need it could be good but again…voip implementation in HA is a bit messy and although possible it just not a simple and clean process vs standard audio.
I have a Sonos Play:1 that I bought way way back, you can find them on eBay now for under USD 100, see link below. The Play:1 ‘plays’ very nicely with Home Assistant and stand alone via SoCo python app via WiFi. I have had it in use for over 3 years with no issues. And it is still kind of supported by Sonos, plays Apple Music and other streaming services directly. If you search here, I think you will find even modern Sonos devices work well with HA. However, I am not sure about your POE requirement. Good hunting!
We have discussions on how to FFMPEG here Support for speakers as media_player entity in HA · Issue #126 · Kane610/axis · GitHub
I haven’t played much yet with speakers so don’t know all their APIs but shouldn’t be impossible, but when I would come to implement it is a different thing
Going to try setting up a ESP Muse Mn with a small Fosi TB10A amp
I know, I know… I’m resurrecting a topic from the dead, but only because there’s no need make another topic.
@demetri90, adding a C1410 is probably something that you didn’t do based on the posts about how hard it must be. It’s really not hard at all to make this device work with HA the way you describe. I’m a certified Axis Engineer and I’ve got tons of product deployed. I’m also an avid HA user with multiple Axis speakers connected to HA.
Axis requires no cloud and camera station would not be needed to do this simple config. No license would be required either.
Z-Wave speakers are notoriously bad for chimes because of the delay. That’s where a local network based speaker like the C1410 works great. I have 2 of them setup on my system and I do door, window chimes, presence monitoring at my gate, call box notifications and more. When you create the URL you have the option to set number of repeats if you wish, volume and more.
Here’s an example of the shell command:
shell_command:
axis_door_chime: curl --digest -u user:pass -k "https://IP_ADDRESS/axis-cgi/playclip.cgi?location=ding_dong.mp3&repeat=0&volume=100&audiooutput=1"
In the shell command you’ll need to pass the username and password. You can also use a password file for this if you would like. The -k is necessary otherwise you’ll throw an insecure SSL error. The other option would be to enable HTTP access on the speaker and use http instead of https.
Here’s the documentation on how to use the Media Clip API.
If anyone comes across this and needs helps setting it up let me know. Be more than happy to help.
You answered OPs #1
What about #2? Broadcast from phone.
Is there a way to broadcast a live voice message from the HA Mobile app to a zwave speaker or a Sonos? If there is then link it and I’ll look into it.
The easiest way would be to deploy camera station (free) on the network and use the Axis Mobile app. It will allow for 2-way voice comms over the speaker. Another alternative would be to use a home assistant VoIP integration to directly connect (call) the speaker. This is what we do in paging scenarios from VoIP phones using the SIP protocol. The speakers can auto answer direct dials to facilitate two way comms.
I think most people use speakers in home automation for pre recorded clips or alerts. In my opinion using Axis speakers is by far the most reliable and quickest for those scenarios vs z wave, CATT or push to Google home etc.
I also forgot to mention that if you prefer to use MQTT, Axis devices are fully MQTT capable. You can also monitor virtual IOs through the native HA Axis integration and you can create any number of rules on the Axis device to toggle those IOs.
Hello! All learnings of this I would appreciate a write up on the Axis library GitHub as well 
In case this helps anyone, I was trying to use this shell command to have my HA talk through my Axis C2005, and I kept getting an error 127 in the debug log (with no audio output). I didn’t notice that the password I was using had an ampersand in it; escaping it with a backslash fixed it (quotes might have worked too, but the backslash worked too).
Yes, the shell command language applies to the aforementioned shell command like all other shell commands.
For reference here’s the documentation on that: Shell Command Language