Browse Forums Home Theatre & Automation 1 Dec 10, 2009 9:44 am Firstly apologies if I sound like a noob but I'm not quite up with all the tech talk in regards to audio set up etc. Background, I've been researching ipod docks for home use and the best I came up with was the bowers and wilkins zeppelin docking station which I can get for just under $1,000. After thinking about this I'm wondering if I'm better to set up the whole house with speakers etc and run a multi zone system, obviously the cost will be higher but I think in the long run it will be the better option. A quick run down of requirements..... Front lounge - used for movie watching etc (although not set up like a home theatre and doubt it could be), would like to be able to have surround sound and thinking in ceiling and or wall speakers. Have Panasonic Viera plasma tv and Pioneer Video HDD / DVD Recorder in here. Main living/dining/kitchen area - would like in ceiling speakers for general music listening. Pergola area - speakers for music and or setting up our projector for outdoor movie watching. Ideally it would be nice to be able to watch movies in front lounge and also listen to music under pergola so not sure if multi zone is best option or if it's best to set up the front lounge on a separate system? Would anyone be able to give me a rough costing for this type of thing? I'm thinking around $3,000, would that cover it or am I dreaming? Edited to add, it's a single story house and only moderate size.... Re: Setting up from scratch - multi zone?? 2Dec 10, 2009 10:16 am I'm assuming you don't want to go down the custom Home Theatre PC path with streaming audio and video ? So, at first look, it seems like you just need a AV Receiver that will do multi-zone (up to 3 zones in your case)... Front Lounge - 5.1 surround Main Living/Dining/Kitchen - 2ch stereo (as it is just for music) Outdoor - additional 2ch stereo (for music) That means you need a receiver that will have 10 speaker outputs. Here's the dilemma - I'm not sure if a receiver like that exists. Plus you said: "and or setting up our projector for outdoor movie watching." That makes the whole thing trickier and rules out any simple music streaming type of device. Your best option to meet all of the needs that you identified is to buy two AV receivers... One that will be for indoor use (multi-zoned, 5.1 for the Front Lounge and 2 ch stereo for the music in the main living area). Then buy a separate amp that you can have outside for 2ch stereo and the ability to connect to a projector (for 5.1 surround - but doesn't need to be able to do multi-zone or have many input connections). You can attach an ipod docking station to the outdoor amp or I would suggest simply plug the ipod directly into the AUX input. The indoor AV receiver should be a decent one (looking at around the $1000-$1400 mark for Denon, Marantz etc...) Depending on what sort of projector you want to connect to outside, the dedicated outdoor AV receiver can be either a second-hand or run-out model (no multizone and only needs to be 5.1 capable) - may be able to find something for under $500-$600. What does your budget need to cover ? (That's about half of it gone on the two Receivers/amps) If you want to buy indoor and outdoor speakers and a projector as well - your budget will be stretched. Can anyone else think of how to do this another way ? Re: Setting up from scratch - multi zone?? 3Dec 10, 2009 10:53 am Hi Mdmack. I would recommend the following: 5.1/7.1 AV Receiver for Front Lounge. If you get a 7.1 that has multi-speaker options then you can use it 5.1 in the lounge and run a 2nd 2-ch zone. If you mean to have more than one video source for the pergola (ie. DVD Player + STB for TV broadcasts) then you will really need an AV Receiver for there, and the same rule applies as above (and therefore covers you for the 3 rooms you mention plus a potential 4th depending on going the same as Front Lounge). What you will need to do, however, is any source (eg. the iPod dock...) you want to be able to have available through both AV Receivers will (unless those sources have their own mutiple outputs that allow it) need to run them first into a signal splitter (possibly powered like a distribution amplifier) and then from the splitter to both AV Receivers. This means a bit of extra cabling and at least one extra device (splitter) but is not really over-the-top. Your budget will need to include: AV Receivers or amplifiers ALL Speakers Sources cabling any extra devices like splitter/distribution amplifiers You will also need to at least think about how you'd like to be able to control this/these systems (IR Repeating kits, etc.). Re: Setting up from scratch - multi zone?? 4Dec 10, 2009 11:12 am Rodda ... If you mean to have more than one video source for the pergola (ie. DVD Player + STB for TV broadcasts) then you will really need an AV Receiver for there, and the same rule applies as above (and therefore covers you for the 3 rooms you mention plus a potential 4th depending on going the same as Front Lounge). ... Well there you go - you learn something new everyday. I always thought the "multi-zone" only referred to the audio output capabilities. Then looked at the back of my Denon AVR and it has a "ZONE 2 Video Out" (never had to use it or even thought about using it - but good to know about it). Re: Setting up from scratch - multi zone?? 5Dec 10, 2009 12:07 pm Thanks all for the replies, they are greatly appreciated I'm still trying to dissect them with my non technical brain, but I'll get there As for the budget, we already have the projector so need the receiver/s, speakers, cables etc (pretty much all that Rodda suggested...). I think it's all a little over my head so I might get someone in. Re: Setting up from scratch - multi zone?? 7Dec 11, 2009 1:16 pm mdmack Firstly apologies if I sound like a noob but I'm not quite up with all the tech talk in regards to audio set up etc. Front lounge - used for movie watching etc (although not set up like a home theatre and doubt it could be), would like to be able to have surround sound and thinking in ceiling and or wall speakers. Have Panasonic Viera plasma tv and Pioneer Video HDD / DVD Recorder in here. Main living/dining/kitchen area - would like in ceiling speakers for general music listening. Pergola area - speakers for music and or setting up our projector for outdoor movie watching. I've got a Yamaha 5.1 with zone 2 support (this means it has another internal stereo amplifier with zone 2 speaker output.) This is pretty common these days. This is my home theatre amp, but for parties etc, I ran 2 long speaker cables out to my alfresco area and mounted some nice speakers. You can adjust the volume and input via the amp independent of what is going on in the actual lounge room (could be watching a DVD). Sounds like you want this, but with an additional 2 channel output. You _could_ do this if the amp has both A and B channels on the main amplifier (mine does) - all it means is that whatever is in the lounge room, you will hear in the kitchen. I am considering doing this so you can listen to movies/TV shows in the kitchen while cooking/preparing food. Another option you could do is have a completely separate amplifier in your pergola area. If you want to play the same music as inside, just run a stereo RCA out from the main amp to the pergola one. BTW there is nothing stopping you just getting a stereo phono out from your IPOD to a stereo RCA plug into your amplifier, you just have to change the songs on your IPOD when it plays. These new IPOD docks are really expensive for what they are. Outdoor area for projector? I wouldn't bother. At the best of times projectors need darkness to get a good contrast ratio. Go an LCD or plasma instead. If you're going to do this, you'll need 2 x 5.1 amplifiers, one for inside, one for outside. Re: Setting up from scratch - multi zone?? 8Dec 13, 2009 2:02 am gully I've got a Yamaha 5.1 with zone 2 support (this means it has another internal stereo amplifier with zone 2 speaker output.) .. BTW there is nothing stopping you just getting a stereo phono out from your IPOD to a stereo RCA plug into your amplifier, you just have to change the songs on your IPOD when it plays. These new IPOD docks are really expensive for what they are. May I ask which Yamaha amp you have? I've been looking at setting up exactly what you've described and the Yamahas seem to be good value for money. How are you finding it for music and movies? If you want the streamline flashiness of ipod connectivity without running an RCA cable (which is a good solution), Yamaha also sell a seperate iPhone dock that plugs into the amps for not too expensive. I think the idea is that it lets you control the music through the amp's remote. That said, if its not a proprietry plug on the Yamaha side, you could probably get an 'imitation' adaptor on eBay. Generally, the texture that you listed will have a 2mm size stone chip in it which is dragged with float to give the lines Any patch work needs to be 2mm less than face… 2 1828 Yes it had a house on it. But Melbourne water only wanted something the original size of the existing house. 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