Audio for every room.
Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:52 pm
Sorry for the long post but this was my project for the last 2 months.
I hope you enjoy it.
What was my goal?
Listen to audio throughout the whole house and audio only in rooms that are occupied.
What do I have?
1 House with many rooms.
1 Server on the 1e floor.
HomeSeer 2.x
Small budget.
Patience, lack of knowledge and an understanding wife.
Fase 1 - The conception
Because I had no idea of the problems I will face I thought that starting small isn't a bad thing. The kitchen, situated at ground level will be the first room to fix. I had already a wired coming from the 1e floor to the kitchen. On the server end I made a 3.5mm jack plug and plugged that into the soundcard of the server. The sound coming from the soundcard isn't strong enough to get a descent volume so in the kitchen I placed a small amplifier with a bass speaker and two smaller speakers. A small speaker set used for the PC for only 16.95 euro. I added a 'KlikAan KlikUit' YC-1000 switch and a MS13a motion detector to complete the setup. After I made an event and a trigger in HomeSeer I was set. When I enter the kitchen the amplifier turns on, WinAmp start with an internet radio url and music is playing in the kitchen till the motion detector doesn't see motion for more then 10 minutes.
Fase 2 - Exploring
This taste for more. Next would be the bathroom, laundry and the dress room. Since the bathroom and the laundry are all tiles and glass the acoustic is terrible. Even a good quality speaker set won't do well here. Another point is that a bathroom tends to be a wet place so electric wall sockets are sparse and the one I have there is already in use. The dress room on the other hand muffles sounds badly. Adding these points up I decided to place a speaker into the ceiling without an amplifier, I found a waterproof ceiling speaker for 7,- euro that would fit in to a hole for a standard halogen spot. I pulled some wired from the rooms to the 1e floor. First obstacle ahead. Remember that the output of the sound card was the low and that I had to amplify it. I came to a point that I had to rethink what I was doing.
Fase 3 - Understanding the system
I had to find a way to distribute audio to the different rooms. To do this I came up with an SpeakerSwitch box. With a few relays and some other components is made a control to switch a stereo audio line on and off. Control is coming from the server via the printer port. I made a small application that can control the SpeakerSwitch and can be addressed by HomeSeer. I had 8 relays but 2 of them proved to be defect so I ended up with a 6 channel SpeakerSwitch. One audio channel in and 6 switchable audio outputs. So, back to the ceiling speakers. They need an amplified sound to be heard. Since I had 3 rooms with ceiling speakers I disconnected three channel in the SpeakerSwitch and I had to put an amplifier in between. I only need a small amplifier and making one would cost about 10,- euro of parts, work, time and there would be a change of failure. Back to the PC shop for another speaker set. This time a small 2 speaker set, 6 watt output and only 7,- euro. I ripped the print out of the speaker set, placed it in the SpeakerSwitch and connected the wires. Adding 3 extra MS13a motion detectors in the different rooms added also so much complexity that HomeSeer couldn't cope with it. I had to write a control script that handles the input and take the right actions by switching on the right channel(s) and if needed the amplifier in the kitchen. Four rooms done, more to come.
Fase 4 - Zen, and the art of bus addressing
Playing around with the audio system this far turned out to be fun and is adopted by my wife very quickly, she is pleased with it. I got permission (read: I was ordered) to do the other rooms also. With 4 out of the 6 channels already taken I had to make a choice with rooms to do. I had to pick two of these, the attic, the bedroom, the library, the living room and the basement. I didn't like the idea to pick just two, I wanted to have them all. So back to the design table again. Still remembering the wire from the server to the kitchen? That one is passing the living room too so I could split it there. Doing so I can turn on the amplifier in the living room and the kitchen separately while still using 1 channel... I took this idea further and extended that wire throughout the whole house. Just 3 wires (left, right and ground) from the attic to the basement. You just tap into it where you need it. The AudioBus was born and put in use. Now all are connected to the audio system. The ceiling speakers have an address of 1,2,4 on the SpeakerSwitch. (address 1,2,4,8,16 and 32). I gave the AudioBus the address 64 so the script will know that a YC-1000 switch need to be switched in this case. All rooms have audio now.
Fase 5 - loose ends
Those 3 unused channels on the SpeakerSwitch were bugging me. I removed the bedroom wires from the AudioBus and added those as a separate channel to the SpeakerSwitch. Another channel was taken by an wireless weatherproof speakerset from Alecto (39,- Euro action price at Praxis). The have a range of 150 meters and now I have music in the garden too. Only one channel left. I can live with that for now.
Fase 6 - Fun parts
The doorbell. Just a bell at a fixed place in the house. That could be done better so I did. When the doorbell knob is pressed a trigger fires in HomeSeer. Now things get into motion. First a snapshot is taken from the current state of the whole audio system. Then WinAmp is silenced (killed) when playing. Next all speakers in all rooms are turned on and a gong sounds in every room. After that a gentle voice tells that there is a visitor at the door and that it is best to have a look. After this announcement the audio system reverts back to its previous state and WinAmp starts playing again if it was on previously. If that wouldn't impress the visitor then nothing does. Now I am experimenting the same concept when a important email triggers the system. But in this case only in the occupied room(s)
I hope you enjoy it.
What was my goal?
Listen to audio throughout the whole house and audio only in rooms that are occupied.
What do I have?
1 House with many rooms.
1 Server on the 1e floor.
HomeSeer 2.x
Small budget.
Patience, lack of knowledge and an understanding wife.
Fase 1 - The conception
Because I had no idea of the problems I will face I thought that starting small isn't a bad thing. The kitchen, situated at ground level will be the first room to fix. I had already a wired coming from the 1e floor to the kitchen. On the server end I made a 3.5mm jack plug and plugged that into the soundcard of the server. The sound coming from the soundcard isn't strong enough to get a descent volume so in the kitchen I placed a small amplifier with a bass speaker and two smaller speakers. A small speaker set used for the PC for only 16.95 euro. I added a 'KlikAan KlikUit' YC-1000 switch and a MS13a motion detector to complete the setup. After I made an event and a trigger in HomeSeer I was set. When I enter the kitchen the amplifier turns on, WinAmp start with an internet radio url and music is playing in the kitchen till the motion detector doesn't see motion for more then 10 minutes.
Fase 2 - Exploring
This taste for more. Next would be the bathroom, laundry and the dress room. Since the bathroom and the laundry are all tiles and glass the acoustic is terrible. Even a good quality speaker set won't do well here. Another point is that a bathroom tends to be a wet place so electric wall sockets are sparse and the one I have there is already in use. The dress room on the other hand muffles sounds badly. Adding these points up I decided to place a speaker into the ceiling without an amplifier, I found a waterproof ceiling speaker for 7,- euro that would fit in to a hole for a standard halogen spot. I pulled some wired from the rooms to the 1e floor. First obstacle ahead. Remember that the output of the sound card was the low and that I had to amplify it. I came to a point that I had to rethink what I was doing.
Fase 3 - Understanding the system
I had to find a way to distribute audio to the different rooms. To do this I came up with an SpeakerSwitch box. With a few relays and some other components is made a control to switch a stereo audio line on and off. Control is coming from the server via the printer port. I made a small application that can control the SpeakerSwitch and can be addressed by HomeSeer. I had 8 relays but 2 of them proved to be defect so I ended up with a 6 channel SpeakerSwitch. One audio channel in and 6 switchable audio outputs. So, back to the ceiling speakers. They need an amplified sound to be heard. Since I had 3 rooms with ceiling speakers I disconnected three channel in the SpeakerSwitch and I had to put an amplifier in between. I only need a small amplifier and making one would cost about 10,- euro of parts, work, time and there would be a change of failure. Back to the PC shop for another speaker set. This time a small 2 speaker set, 6 watt output and only 7,- euro. I ripped the print out of the speaker set, placed it in the SpeakerSwitch and connected the wires. Adding 3 extra MS13a motion detectors in the different rooms added also so much complexity that HomeSeer couldn't cope with it. I had to write a control script that handles the input and take the right actions by switching on the right channel(s) and if needed the amplifier in the kitchen. Four rooms done, more to come.
Fase 4 - Zen, and the art of bus addressing
Playing around with the audio system this far turned out to be fun and is adopted by my wife very quickly, she is pleased with it. I got permission (read: I was ordered) to do the other rooms also. With 4 out of the 6 channels already taken I had to make a choice with rooms to do. I had to pick two of these, the attic, the bedroom, the library, the living room and the basement. I didn't like the idea to pick just two, I wanted to have them all. So back to the design table again. Still remembering the wire from the server to the kitchen? That one is passing the living room too so I could split it there. Doing so I can turn on the amplifier in the living room and the kitchen separately while still using 1 channel... I took this idea further and extended that wire throughout the whole house. Just 3 wires (left, right and ground) from the attic to the basement. You just tap into it where you need it. The AudioBus was born and put in use. Now all are connected to the audio system. The ceiling speakers have an address of 1,2,4 on the SpeakerSwitch. (address 1,2,4,8,16 and 32). I gave the AudioBus the address 64 so the script will know that a YC-1000 switch need to be switched in this case. All rooms have audio now.
Fase 5 - loose ends
Those 3 unused channels on the SpeakerSwitch were bugging me. I removed the bedroom wires from the AudioBus and added those as a separate channel to the SpeakerSwitch. Another channel was taken by an wireless weatherproof speakerset from Alecto (39,- Euro action price at Praxis). The have a range of 150 meters and now I have music in the garden too. Only one channel left. I can live with that for now.
Fase 6 - Fun parts
The doorbell. Just a bell at a fixed place in the house. That could be done better so I did. When the doorbell knob is pressed a trigger fires in HomeSeer. Now things get into motion. First a snapshot is taken from the current state of the whole audio system. Then WinAmp is silenced (killed) when playing. Next all speakers in all rooms are turned on and a gong sounds in every room. After that a gentle voice tells that there is a visitor at the door and that it is best to have a look. After this announcement the audio system reverts back to its previous state and WinAmp starts playing again if it was on previously. If that wouldn't impress the visitor then nothing does. Now I am experimenting the same concept when a important email triggers the system. But in this case only in the occupied room(s)