Home Assistant direct control of Control4 AMP and Tuner (no plugin needed)

@Dangeryeen you have a matrix switch, not a matrix amp. The code will not work with what you have specifically. The code can be modified to control the matrix switch, but without an amp integrated there is no way the code would work in a meaningful way.

This is a pic of a 16 matrix amp.

@bigmac I know I have a matrix switch :slight_smile: I asked @Hansen8601 above if there was any code for a matrix switch he said he hasn’t tried it with a switch, only the amp with his code but a good chance it might work so I should try anyways, he’s the one who wrote HIS code and said try it to see

Actually, his code is derived from my code, and yes, there are commands that can be sent directly to your matrix switch from HA to control it.

If you search through the code you’ll find:

“send_udp_command(“c4.amp.out 01 0” + amp_input, “192.168.5.11”, 8750)”

This tells the switch/amp to select channel 1 output (c4.amp.out 01) and the 0" + amp_input (selected by code created for a input of some sort) tells the unit to select that input from the switch/amp.

I hope that clears things up for you.

Sharing this from the logs on the update to media controls that are coming @Hansen8601

* Entity media_player.kitchen (<class 'custom_components.control4-media-player.media_player.Control4MediaPlayer'>) is using deprecated supported features values which will be removed in HA Core 2025.1. Instead it should use <MediaPlayerEntityFeature.VOLUME_SET|VOLUME_MUTE|TURN_ON|TURN_OFF|VOLUME_STEP|SELECT_SOURCE: 3468>, please report it to the author of the 'control4-mediaplayer' custom integration and reference https://developers.home-assistant.io/blog/2023/12/28/support-feature-magic-numbers-deprecation

Thank’s for sharing the log warning. I’ll get that cleared up.

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Hi everyone,

I created an integration for a Triad Audio Matrix. I have tested on my 16x16 matrix and I assume it would also work on an 8x8 matrix as well.

I used Hansen8601’s media_player component and modified it for the matrix.

You can see it here: GitHub - tim-weiler/triad-audio-matrix: A Home Assistant integration for a Triad Audio Matrix

The main difference with the interface to the matrix is that it uses TCP and the commands are binary. However, the matrix_commands.py file in the repo has a list of all possible commands, so adding more should be trivial. Right now ALL I’ve had to implement is the ability to select a source for an output and change the volume.

However from Control 4 there were many other features, such as setting equalizer settings, stereo, mono, delays, and gains, etc. So when I finally pull the plug on the Control4 controller, I’ll have to implement those if I want to change those settings.

I’ve totally replaced my Control4 Core5 controller now with this integration. Controlling my home audio was the last thing it was doing.

Now, for my setup, everyone in my family has their own Spotify premium account. I installed an instance of the Spotify Connect integration for each person’s account. E.g. “Dad’s Spotify”, “Mom’s Spotify”, etc. Then I bought some USB audio outputs and wired those to the input channels of the matrix. Each Spotify Connect instance uses a dedicated audio output. I have HASS running on an old laptop.

To play music, go to HA, turn on the room using the media player card, and select a source. The integration will then send the command to the matrix to connect e.g. input 2 to output 4, which might be playing my Spotify Connect instance in the kitchen.

I also have developed a Lutron Audio Pico automation that controls the audio in a room, exactly like it did with Control 4, but better. It has pause/play, next track, and volume up/down. If anyone’s interested I could share that, it’s really just an automation and a python script. But it was just as much work as the matrix integration.

@Dangeryeen

Nice job keeping it going. Glad to see it.

@bigmac, Thanks for your original work and inspiration for this!

Great work @Dangeryeen!

Hi everyone

First - @bigmac and @Hansen8601 - really appreciate all your work here!

I managed to configure my 4 zone C4 matrix amplifier using @Hansen8601’s version.

But one issue I am running into is that the Media Card does not wake up the C4 matrix amplifier from a Power Save state. But once I turn it on manually, I am able to change the source/volume controls etc. using Home Assistant.

Any ideas on how to wake up the amp from Power Save state? Is there wake-on-lan option? Or do I just need to disable power save mode?

Thank you

Can’t help you there, as I’ve never had powersave mode enabled.

Thanks @bigmac.

I ran wireshark to capture packets from C4 and I think I figured it out.

The command to bring it out of power save mode is -

send_udp_command("c4.amp.psave 00 00", self._host, self._port)

@Hansen8601 - this line of code could be added to control4Amp.py under the turn_on() function if you think it appropriate.

@tweiler great work, shared a link to this post in other Triad Topic,
will try it out when I get some spare time
Directly Controlling a Control4/Triad Audio Matrix via SDDP

Nice find. I added the code to the github.

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@Hansen8601 @bigmac - Has anyone tried operating/controlling the Control4 IR Emitter module using something similar? I was looking at IP based IR blasters that work with HA, but thought I’d ask if someone had found a way to use the Control4 IR emitters. :slight_smile:

Can’t help you there either. I got rid of the control 4 system 4+ years ago and never looked back. I’m 100% HA now and just have the C4 amp and tuner now.

I’m moving away from C4 to HA as well. I got the CA Amp in play now with HA.

My next (and last) step is to solve for a few devices triggered (on/off) by IR , so was trying to see if I could co-opt the C4 IR emitter to work as a dumb IR blaster controlled by HA.

If not, will probably go with an IP based IR blaster like Broadlink or Global Cache that work with HA and I should be done.

Then I won’t need the EA3 anymore and everything will be within HA.

@bigmac - I’m assuming you went with some IR emitter? Unless of course, all your devices are IP based.

Yes, I use Broadlink RM4 IR/RF emitters (currently have 4). They control my mini split A/C heatpumps, TV’s, window shades, ect.

Were you ever able to find a way to get it to work on the switch? Just curious, as I have the same model.

No, but you can get hack things so you can program it yourself: https://www.reddit.com/r/C4diy/