I made a long post yesterday looking for feedback on my proposed/potential products for a new home build. However, I thought it would be more helpful to separate out specific areas I need feedback on.
I’m still unsure of what route to take in regard to a whole home audio setup including what speakers, amps, and controllers. I’ve looked into Sonos and while it appears to be a great option, it is much more costly than what I’m looking to spend. I’m looking for suggestions on the following:
9 in-ceiling speakers for 3 bedrooms and a den
2 in-ceiling speakers for the living room for 5.1 surround
2 in-wall speakers (left & right) on each side of main TV in living room for 5.1 surround
1 in-wall sub in the living room under the main TV for 5.1 surround
2 outdoor all weather speakers on lanai (with ability to add more down the road)
1 amp to control everything if possible (hidden in a media closet)
1 smart platform such as Logitech Harmony Elite
Need whole home audio as well as individual zones
4 TVs will be connected (master, 2nd, 3rd, & den) all using firesticks with optional cable or satellite added if needed in future
1 desktop in den connected
Ability to access/stream media and music from NAS, desktop, laptops, and cell phones to whole home or individual rooms
Alexa voice control
Again, I’m at the early stage of planning and this topic is one that I really need an all in one solution. I appreciate any feedback from the community.
Look at Russound D850 and Audiosource AMP800VS. Never used these but something I might try.
I usually input independent source to the left and right channels to get to mono zones to reduce amp cost.
Atlas Sound MA40 I’ve used and like. It’s 70V however. It does have mix inputs so you may have music auto mute and output audio from HA for things like doorbell or AI responses
Thanks for the info! I’ll definitely check them out. Do you have any suggestions on ceiling speakers through the house, in wall mids, and an in wall sub for the living room surround setup?
70v speakers can work on regular (not 70v) amp
They are also big(8"hole for 6" speaker big)
Just FYI
Episode makes good 70v speakers
atlas sound 70v are good but very directional and a little tinny sounding for me (opinion)
Smarthome Select 82006. Really nice sound with beautiful rimless grill
Honestly, I’ve always felt speakers are a preference and I always buy a pair and test to see if I like. The (3) I mentioned are units I’ve used last 2yrs on projects. I do not like Klipsch (preference…I think they sound tinny).
I was a fan of M&K Subs
I like Denon and onkyo(TX-NRxxx) surround receivers.
Onkyo has nice component in HA.
I have 2 7.1 USB sound cards hooked up to my server, which pulseaudio then treats as up to 8 stereo outputs. I then have 3.5mm to RCA cables going from the soundcards to the amp.
I’m using pulseaudio as sort of a “matrix controller”- so i can route any input source to any output source on the fly. Pulseaudio has done a great job of synchronizing everything as well. Right now i have 2 mpd jukeboxes, 1 airplay emulator destination, and an input from my echo dot as my inputs. It’s kind of cool having alexa talk over the whole home audio system :).
I also have contributed a pulseaudio switch component for hass that allows me to control the sound routings from within hass of course.
The setup has worked very well for me for about 2 years or so. i had a custom UI for pulseaudio that i was using before hass (hass is WAAY better!!). It’s not a very popular setup because it requires hard-wiring the speakers, but i thought i’d mention it, as it’s been very solid.