Russound, itunes and multiple soundcards

[slampt]

Hey Guys,

Quick question, I am looking at purchasing a CAS4.4 for use with HS2 and itunes, but what I want to be able to do is have either multiple soundcards or a soundcard with multiple channels feeding into the CAS4.4 and then from the HS2 interface select zone/source/whatever.
The reason I want to do this is so I can have a touchscreen in each audio zoned area, that can drive whats being played and show it on the screen.

So what we have is a CAS4.4 with all source outputs plugged into the soundcard on the HS2 machine and then rs232 from the HS2 machine to the CAS4.4 to control the zones volume etc and get appropriate information to display on the touch screens. (Itunes song or whatever its playing from the HS2 server)

Now the reason i didn't opt for the CAV6.6 is because I don't need that many zones and don't want to waste money on the zones I am not going to use, plus I am not going to be using the keypads with russound but rather some touchscreens running a web browser to HS2.

Well I hope this all makes sense and I hope there is someone out there who can help me before I invest the cash in all this :P

Cheers
Joe

[Uncle Michael]

Um, what's the question?

[slampt]

haha,

My apologies, well the question is, will this/can this work the way I have descirbed above?

Cheers
Joe

[Uncle Michael]

I'm afraid you'll have to add some detail. I don't understand what you are proposing. For instance, what purpose is the CAS serving?

[slampt]

Ok,

I basically want to do multizone audio, I will only have 3 zones tops.
I want to be able to perform the following using 1 PC, a multichannel sound card and HS2

1) control zones from a touch screen located in the respected areas.
2) be able to control the volume in each zone.
3) Be able to see the mp3 playing in a particular zone
4) be able to select a different song
5) have the ability to play different mp3s in different zones at the same time
4) have the ability to play the same mp3 in all zones at the same time.

Is this possible and if so how would I go about it?
My first impression was a cas could be used to amplify, control volume and source via rs232, then HS2 could list what song is playing to what source and some how map it out that way.

I appreciate your responses so far, thanks for taking the time to listen :P

Joe

[Uncle Michael]

I think I understand now. Correct me if I get this wrong.

You want to have up to three instances of an mp3 audio program running on your computer. Each connected to its own sound card (or pair of outputs on a multichannnel card). Those outputs from the PC would then act as input sources to the CAS. The CAS would drive speakers in each of the zones.

You want to control the audio programs on the PC, and the CAS, through HS with touchscreens in each of the zones.

You also want the touch screens to report the state of the appropriate audio source, including song information.

If I'm close, then I think what you want to do can be done, but it will require considerable work from you, particularly in integrating the desired functionality on the touch screens. (How proficient are you at programming?)

You may also need the CAM rather than the CAS to get the control you want.

I'm not aware of a prepackaged solution, but perhaps someone else is aware of one. (Main Lobby may come close, but I have no experience with it.)

I would also expect that the cost of the touch screens alone would dwarf the difference in cost between the CAS and CAV.

I have no vested interest in Russound, but I have had very good results with their equipment. You should at least benchmark whatever you plan to do with a CAV or CAM, Media Server, and UNO-TS2 keypads. The components are not inexpensive, but they are inter-operable out of the box, and they will come very close to providing the functionality you want. Plus, they will work independently of HS and a PC, but can be interfaced if you choose. Once you understand what such a system can do and how much it will cost, it should be much easier to decide how much money you can save and if the effort and potentially unreliable performance of a system built up as you describe is worth the trouble.