Deadfan
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2004
- Posts
- 37
- Likes
- 0
Hi,
I'm a huge music fan and have been a head-fi member for a while, but am not as tech capable as others.
My wife and I are renovating a new (to us) house and need to make some decisions about audio options. I've enjoyed head-fi and learned a lot, but tend to get mired in the forums. Now, its crunch time and I need to take some action. Any head-fi members near Philly with some hands-on experience or knowledge who is interested in helping me make some progress? I'd be interested in talking stuff through informally with a fellow member, arranging for a consulting fee of soprts if that makes sense (or if you are professional), and would also look for some input in sourcing gear (TV, receiver, speakers, etc.) Of course, if anyone wants to offer some guidance here based on the info below, that would be very welcome.
I may end up going to Bob and Ron's Worldwide Stereo or someplace similar, so also if you have any suggestions in the area, please let me know.
Basically, I'm thinking about setting up a home theatre in the family room (main system), home theatre in the basement (kids), and modest TV/music site in master BR. I'd also like to hook the main computer (which will be in the family room) up to our TV in the family room for stuff that gets streamed (youtube?).
As far as music, I'm interested in music zones in the family room, kitchen, basement, master BR, patio, garage, and possibly the two kids' rooms (or the upstairs hallway between their rooms).
So, I'm leaning toward separate gear (home theater receivers, I guess) in the family room, basement and master BR (along with DVD players or whatever at those locations). Then for the various music zones, I'm leaning toward using Sonos zoneplayers. I have an opportunity right now to run wiring here and there for power, data (possibly CAT5 or whatever between those three main locations, if that makes sense for now or later), as well as speakers, etc.
I have talked with a couple of whole house audio professionals and it seems that the ones that install Niles, Russound, etc. either aren't familiar with Sonos, or they recommend options other than Sonos for various reasons.
My sense is that I'm looking for a pretty basic solution, but one that takes a little expertise to think through.
I also have a slew of newbie-type questions - like, how do you incorporate a DAC, how do you wire left/right home theater speakers so they can also be used to play 2-channel music through the Sonos; how do you rip CDs and get album art etc. I've resisted using Apple products for many years in the hope of higher end audio, ability to use a basic file structure, etc., and have ended up limping along a very limited well worn groove of a Cowon IAudio X5 with a single playlist, some Etymotic ER4P/S canal phones, and CDs ripped to FLAC using EAC (I never figured out how to deal with album art etc.). Once in a while, I plug the X5 into a line in to an old receiver and that's how we listen. I also do listen to Pandora, LastFM, etc., normally through the laptop headphone out into headphones or into the line-in of an old receiver.
I think it is time to break down and just use Itunes and a ITouch or whatever. My wife and kids are already using Macs, Ipods, Itunes, etc.
Please feel free to respond here, or drop me a message if you are local and interested in helping. This will be really fun to figure out as I can get some input and help.
Thanks very much in advance, Mike
I'm a huge music fan and have been a head-fi member for a while, but am not as tech capable as others.
My wife and I are renovating a new (to us) house and need to make some decisions about audio options. I've enjoyed head-fi and learned a lot, but tend to get mired in the forums. Now, its crunch time and I need to take some action. Any head-fi members near Philly with some hands-on experience or knowledge who is interested in helping me make some progress? I'd be interested in talking stuff through informally with a fellow member, arranging for a consulting fee of soprts if that makes sense (or if you are professional), and would also look for some input in sourcing gear (TV, receiver, speakers, etc.) Of course, if anyone wants to offer some guidance here based on the info below, that would be very welcome.
I may end up going to Bob and Ron's Worldwide Stereo or someplace similar, so also if you have any suggestions in the area, please let me know.
Basically, I'm thinking about setting up a home theatre in the family room (main system), home theatre in the basement (kids), and modest TV/music site in master BR. I'd also like to hook the main computer (which will be in the family room) up to our TV in the family room for stuff that gets streamed (youtube?).
As far as music, I'm interested in music zones in the family room, kitchen, basement, master BR, patio, garage, and possibly the two kids' rooms (or the upstairs hallway between their rooms).
So, I'm leaning toward separate gear (home theater receivers, I guess) in the family room, basement and master BR (along with DVD players or whatever at those locations). Then for the various music zones, I'm leaning toward using Sonos zoneplayers. I have an opportunity right now to run wiring here and there for power, data (possibly CAT5 or whatever between those three main locations, if that makes sense for now or later), as well as speakers, etc.
I have talked with a couple of whole house audio professionals and it seems that the ones that install Niles, Russound, etc. either aren't familiar with Sonos, or they recommend options other than Sonos for various reasons.
My sense is that I'm looking for a pretty basic solution, but one that takes a little expertise to think through.
I also have a slew of newbie-type questions - like, how do you incorporate a DAC, how do you wire left/right home theater speakers so they can also be used to play 2-channel music through the Sonos; how do you rip CDs and get album art etc. I've resisted using Apple products for many years in the hope of higher end audio, ability to use a basic file structure, etc., and have ended up limping along a very limited well worn groove of a Cowon IAudio X5 with a single playlist, some Etymotic ER4P/S canal phones, and CDs ripped to FLAC using EAC (I never figured out how to deal with album art etc.). Once in a while, I plug the X5 into a line in to an old receiver and that's how we listen. I also do listen to Pandora, LastFM, etc., normally through the laptop headphone out into headphones or into the line-in of an old receiver.
I think it is time to break down and just use Itunes and a ITouch or whatever. My wife and kids are already using Macs, Ipods, Itunes, etc.
Please feel free to respond here, or drop me a message if you are local and interested in helping. This will be really fun to figure out as I can get some input and help.
Thanks very much in advance, Mike
