Which multi-room audio to go with?

[bphillips]

I've been living in this house since it was built back in 2005 (right before Hurricane Katrina, but thankfully we had almost no damage) and I'm in the middle of automating everything. I've done the lights, irrigation, thermostats, alarm, and locks so far, and I'm looking to do the multi-room audio now.

Fortunately, my house was wired for multiple (4 I believe) zones of audio, but speakers/amplifiers were never put in. I will most likely be putting the rest in myself, but would like a recommendation on which system to go with. Here is what I would like:

- Control from HomeSeer (control/using HS as a source)
- A system that doesn't use Keypads (all the speaker wires terminate to one central location behind the TV in the den)
- A system that can play multiple zones at a time, and doesn't necessarily require being hardwired to HomeSeer
- A system that is reliable

I'm guessing my only option would be Sonos in this case.

My first question is, if the Sonos zone players (or whatever they are called) are downstairs, and my HS box is upstairs, how would music/announcements from HS be sent to the Sonos amps?

My last question is, can HomeSeer override/pause what is currently playing in any zone and announce something on all zones?

Thanks for any/all support!

- Brandon

[dcdelong]

Brandon,

I am using the squeezebox technology to drive 7 zones in my home. Have a combination of most all the different devices. Look here for all the different types : http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speake...-music-systems. Most of the systems are the Logictech Receivers that I picked up on eBay with a local amp paired to them and POLK in-wall speakers.

The Logitech server running on an old Mac-mini that was on the shelf (it will run on most anything). It leverages my Itunes Icloud, Spotify, XM and all sorts of internet radio.

Most of the time we play Jazz over three zones for background on the main floor and have the other zones controled as needed.

As far as remotes go, I use several HS Touch screens designed for each zone but am also very pleased with how the IPeng application works on the IPad/IPhone.

Hooking it all together is the Squeezbox plugin from PCP. It has worked flawlessly. Other then the plug-in no part of the music system resides on the HS system.

There are several foram threads on using speech with the plug-in. I have had good luck as well with it, but one of the project that I have yet to get to is to really leverave that feature.

Best of luck, let me know if I can add any additional details.

Chris

[LeoS]

@brandon: If I'm not mistaken, with the HomeSeer plugin, the announcements should be sent via IP to Sonos bridge (the part of sonos that connects to your home network w/ a network cable) through Sonos' API.

I just got my Sonos system a few days ago and have yet to try it out with my HS.