Looking for a simple multi room system

davkav

Hey Guys,

A friend of mine has asked me to look into a multi room audio system for her salon.

I had a look around the internet but said why not ask the specialists.

Basically she is looking to be able to play the same music in all rooms or play different music in each.

Number of rooms is two for now but will probably expand out.

I was looking at one of Johns old posts about the Philips MCI500h. Would this be ideal as she can expand out or are there any other/better options?

Cheers,
Dave

Richersounds.ie: John

davkav wrote: »

Hey Guys,

A friend of mine has asked me to look into a multi room audio system for her salon.

I had a look around the internet but said why not ask the specialists.

Basically she is looking to be able to play the same music in all rooms or play different music in each.

Number of rooms is two for now but will probably expand out.

I was looking at one of Johns old posts about the Philips MCI500h. Would this be ideal as she can expand out or are there any other/better options?

Cheers,
Dave

dave,

thanks for the post and apologies for taking so long getting back to you..

There are a few options (you probably knew I'd say that!)..

The simplest is to use an amplifier with multi zone output - the simplest is the Teac AG980 - this allows you to set up to 4 zones in 2 groups - in other words you can play either the same or different sources in 2 different areas and each area can have 2 sets of speakers - so this will work for up to 4 salon treatment rooms and you can control the volume separately for two zones (or of course switch them individually) Confused yet?? have a look at the manual here: http://www.teac.co.uk/manuals/pdf/AG-980(EFSGIN).pdf

The AG980 is currently £219.95




Ok moving on - we have installed systems in a number of salons and the system we normally do is the Opus 300 as the site says - this is the simplest multi - room system you can imagine - but it's actually pretty powerful.

It has a small central hub with really nice wall keypads - the hub can take 6 inputs and you can use it in 4 zones and 4 sub zones - so it's expandable in stages up to 8 zones. If you take a 2 zone system to start you will need teh following:

Power supply
Central Opus 300 Hub
2 Opus 300 Wallpads
(speakers of course)



The keypad can be installed in wall and allows each room to change source and volume

The cost for a 2 zone system would normally be £810 - I can do it at £669.95 and I may actually have a B stock hub from a Customer who has upgraded to a 500 system and if your friend was happy with that I could do the 2 zone system at £499.95..

We have a few Opus 300 systems set up now with Apple TV's and the system just works a dream! (oh and there is a Video switching option available which would distribute video / TV!)

On the speaker front - we normally recommend in-ceiling speakers for this type of application - if you can give us an idea if you can take in-ceiling speakers I'll revert with a quote or if you need on-wall - please just drop me a line and again I'll throw out a few ideas..

Thanks as ever,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew

davkav

Hey John,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I was trying to get more info from her about the salon.

Ideally we would want in-ceiling speakers as you say, as they are the cleanest looking but she is not sure if there is access to the attic.

Also she is not sure if she has stud partition walls in the salon are solid ones.

I plan on calling over this week to suss it all out.


Having talked to her the other day she is actually after a system that does 6-7 zones. Don't know were I was going with 2 .

The Opus system looks very user friendly and professional.

Ill will post up later in the week as soon as I have an idea of what way the salon is structured.

Dave

davkav

Ok so blast from the past, hopefully you are still sub'd to this thread John.

I have checked out her salon to see what can be done wiring wise.

She requires 7 zones, one for each room and one for the reception area. I can easily run wires from wall plates to the ceiling of each room.

5 of the zones plus the reception are beside each other and wires can be ran from one to the other with ease.

The 6th room however is a bit further away and a bit difficult to run wires too but I reckon it can be done.

Looking at the Opus system again, do the wall plates receive power over Ethernet from the central hub?

Edit: I see it on the web page now that they are powered over Ethernet which is nice and neat.

So what can we do an Opus 300 system for with 6 wall controllers and the central hub?

Also in-ceiling speakers would be the best option, nothing crazy as this will simply be used for the radio, mp3 etc.

At a minimum we would be looking at 14 speakers so if you could price per speaker based on that that would be great.

Richersounds.ie: John

davkav wrote: »

Ok so blast from the past, hopefully you are still sub'd to this thread John.

I have checked out her salon to see what can be done wiring wise.

She requires 7 zones, one for each room and one for the reception area. I can easily run wires from wall plates to the ceiling of each room.

5 of the zones plus the reception are beside each other and wires can be ran from one to the other with ease.

The 6th room however is a bit further away and a bit difficult to run wires too but I reckon it can be done.

Looking at the Opus system again, do the wall plates receive power over Ethernet from the central hub?

Edit: I see it on the web page now that they are powered over Ethernet which is nice and neat.

So what can we do an Opus 300 system for with 6 wall controllers and the central hub?

Also in-ceiling speakers would be the best option, nothing crazy as this will simply be used for the radio, mp3 etc.

At a minimum we would be looking at 14 speakers so if you could price per speaker based on that that would be great.

Dav,

apologies for the delay getting back to you..

I may be your lucky day! I have one complete brand new Russound Abus system which I can do you at a crazy price - its pretty much exactly the same as the Opus 300 system - I can do 7 keypads (model A-KP EU) and the main hub (which will allow you to have 4 main zones listening to different things - and 3 sub zones which will be 'paired' with one each of the main zones and will 'follow' the main zones) and the power supply at just £599.95 which is a completely bonkers price! If you wanted all 7 zones to run independently and be able to play different things in every zone (unlikely!) I can add a second hub at an additional £199.95.

I would recommend the new Monitor Audio SC165 trimless which look great and sound great - if you went for the 4 main zone/3 sub zone / single hub system with 14 of the SC165's I could do the total at £1369.95which works out at less than £200 per zone!

If you wanted to add a Teac 5 Disc CD player I'll do the excellent PDD2620 at just £109.95 as a source or of course you could just add an Apple airport express and you could stream wirelessly straight to the system which makes it look brill and sexy!

Thanks again and keep us posted if you are interested,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew

davkav

No probs in getting back to me John, sure I only posted yesterday evening.

The Russound Abus system does sound like a great deal all right. I will get in touch with my friend and see what she thinks.

davkav

John,

Looks like we are good to go with the full kit. Two changes to the setup though, she only wants 1 speaker per treatment room and then 2 in reception. So 8 speakers all together. And the second change is that she wants to be able to have 7 completely seperate zones.

So,

8 SC165 speakers
Teac PDD2620 
Russound Abus System with 7 keypads
additional hub to allow for the 7 zones

Also how much would a spool of speaker cable be to suit and what length does the spool come in.

If you want to post/PM me on the full price and I will give you guys a ring.

Dave

Richersounds.ie: John

davkav wrote: »

John,

Looks like we are good to go with the full kit. Two changes to the setup though, she only wants 1 speaker per treatment room and then 2 in reception. So 8 speakers all together. And the second change is that she wants to be able to have 7 completely seperate zones.

So,

8 SC165 speakers
Teac PDD2620 
Russound Abus System with 7 keypads
additional hub to allow for the 7 zones

Also how much would a spool of speaker cable be to suit and what length does the spool come in.

If you want to post/PM me on the full price and I will give you guys a ring.

Dave

Dav,

thanks for that - she would be bonkers not to go for that deal as it's a completely mad price!

On the one speaker per zone - as I know you know, this really just wont work very well as she will just be getting Mono and it will sound pretty awful (even for background music) However I would have a really great option for you - Monitor Audio do a twin stereo version of the CT165 Trimless which is exactly the same size as the standard speaker but has 2 tweeters / Mid range units to allow stereo playback - the downside is of course that they are slightly more expensive ( don't panic not as expensive as 2 speakers per zone :eek: ) Have a look at the CT165 T2 stereo here: http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/products/ci-series/trimless-100/ct165-t2/ 

So if you went with that the system would look like this:

Russound Abus Hub * 2
Teac PDD 2620 CD Player * 1
Russound keypads * 7
Russound remote * 1 ( I found one of these as well - I'll throw it in!)
Power supplies * 2 ( You need one per Abus system)
Monitor Audio CT165 T2 StereoTrimless In-Ceiling speakers * 6
Monitor Audio CT165 Trimless In-Ceiling speakers * 2

I can do all that for £1599.99 - which really is an excellent price - on the speaker cable - I can do the Cambridge Audio Symphony 100 cable at £0.59/ Meter if you are buying it with a system ( its normally £1/Meter) - If you give me a shout to tell us how much you need I'll get it rolled off a drum for you ( the drum is 400 mtrs) alternatively we can charge you for a full drum and you can return what you don't use for credit..

If your sparks need any assistance getting the system installed - just give us a call - we know the Abus stuff well..

Thanks again and if you drop us a PM or a mail to sales@richersounds.ie  with your contact details I'll get one of the guys to give you a call to arrange the delivery..

ATVB,

John Mc

davkav

Sorrry about this John. I didnt get a email to say that you replied to the thread. Email Sent.

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

Hi Dav,

I believe you were just chatting to Ciaran. 

If you require anything else just let me know.

Chris

davkav

Hey Guys,

In the middle of fitting this system. Have to say the speakers are very tasty and very easy to fit. 

I have 2 questions though:

1) Were can I find wall plates and mounting brackets for the keypads? I thought they would have come with the units to be honest?

2) I have 2 * CT165 for one of the rooms but I am now thinking that I will swap them for one of the CT165 T2 if that is possible? The speakers are still in the original Monitor Audio packaging and are unopened.

Thanks,
Dave

Richersounds.ie: John

davkav wrote: »

Hey Guys,

In the middle of fitting this system. Have to say the speakers are very tasty and very easy to fit. 

I have 2 questions though:

1) Were can I find wall plates and mounting brackets for the keypads? I thought they would have come with the units to be honest?

2) I have 2 * CT165 for one of the rooms but I am now thinking that I will swap them for one of the CT165 T2 if that is possible? The speakers are still in the original Monitor Audio packaging and are unopened.

Thanks,
Dave

Dave,

the Russound don't actually come with templates - they fit into a US standard backbox ( which you would generally be able to get in a decent specialist electricial wholesaler) if not CPC will almost certainly have them available.

no problem swapping out the 165's for 165T2 - we have the 165t2 available from stock if you want to grab one - if you want to get the cut out sorted in the meantime - it's exactly the same size as the standard 165 ( it just has an extra HF unit, neat!!)

Keep us posted,

ATVB,

John Mc

davkav

Hi John,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I don't know why I do not get an email when you have replied to this thread....

In relation to the keypads, the instructions mention a standard 45mm back box and a lagrand wall plate. Can these be got handy enough or do I need to order from the States? From looking at the keypad it definitely needs a wall plate to cover the unit as there would be electronics on show otherwise.

As for the speakers, brilliant thanks. Ill give you guys a bell over the next few days.

Dave

Richersounds.ie: Dave

Hey Davkav.

I reckon the box that you are looking for is this type of box : 

http://www.cyberselect.co.uk/product/1362

I'm not exactly sure of the model of keypad you have but this is the type of box needed.

I hope this helps but keep us posted.

ATB


Dave

davkav

Thanks Dave. 

I am not really concerned about the wall box to be honest. It is more the faceplate for the keypad that I am after.

If I were to fit the keypad to any wall box at the moment the electronics of the keypad would be seen. There is no faceplate (facia) with the keypad to 'finish' it off. I will try and take pictures when I am next over in the building were I am installing them.

Dave

Edit:

Although my keypads are square they look identical to this one in the picture below. I have no outer facia to fit to the keypad once it is mounted in the wall

Richersounds.ie: John

davkav wrote: »

Thanks Dave. 

I am not really concerned about the wall box to be honest. It is more the faceplate for the keypad that I am after.

If I were to fit the keypad to any wall box at the moment the electronics of the keypad would be seen. There is no faceplate (facia) with the keypad to 'finish' it off. I will try and take pictures when I am next over in the building were I am installing them.

Dave

Edit:

Although my keypads are square they look identical to this one in the picture below. I have no outer facia to fit to the keypad once it is mounted in the wall

DK,

I've sourced some of the faceplates for you - just mail or PM me how many you need and an address and I'll pop them in the post today for you,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew

cwboy

Hi John

Just wondering if you had anything similar to this? Have speaker cable and cat 5 to rooms. Not looking to spend big money though.

Thanks

Richersounds.ie: John

cwboy wrote: »

Hi John

Just wondering if you had anything similar to this? Have speaker cable and cat 5 to rooms. Not looking to spend big money though.

Thanks

Cwboy,

I'm completely out of stock of the Russound system now ( I do have a few spare keypads and bits and bobs left but no complete systems) However if you are looking for a deal on a system at a deal price I do have a Cambridge Audio Incognito system with 6 * BK10 Freestanding keypads at £179.95 each - have a look here:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/multi-room-components/cambridge-audio/incognito-bk10/camb-incognito-bk10

These are partnered with the Incognito AH10 hub which retails at £479.. and an incognito Power supply at £80 - I even have the matching Video Hub the VH10 (£149.95)

http://www.richersounds.com/product/multi-room-components/cambridge-audio/incognito-ah10/camb-incognito-ah10

If you wanted a deal on my last one of these ( all brand new boxed ) I will do you a 4 zone system, including 4 keypads, the Audio Hub and the power supply at £699.95 / €849.99 and I'll even throw in the Video hub free of charge!

If you wanted to add extra sub zones - I will do the extra 2 BK10's and the necessary additional Power supply for £249.95 / €299.99.

If you are interested and you need speakers please just drop me an email to sales@richersounds.ie or a PM and tell me what type of speakers you are looking for ( ie in-ceiling / in-wall / on wall / freestanding ) and I'll have a look to see what deals are around for you and package it all up for you..

Thanks again and keep us posted if we can assist,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew