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Looking for some kind of mixer..?
I have a bunch of speakers. I'd like to set them up in various locations around the house, and be able to put through audio from two different computers that are right next to each other to all of them. But I want individual sliders for every speaker, or set of speakers, so that I can easily turn off the speakers not in use. If I wanna finish a podcast in the shower, or watch a movie, I can push two sliders up, mute the ones on my desk, and move to my desired area.
The ideal form factor for what I want is a mixer-board like thing with a bunch of sliders, outputs, maybe mute buttons and little else. I'd like putting this between the two computers on the desk so it could also be used to manage volume for the computer speakers.
Now, my question is; What am I looking for? I'm thinking somewhere around 20 outputs~
The ideal form factor for what I want is a mixer-board like thing with a bunch of sliders, outputs, maybe mute buttons and little else. I'd like putting this between the two computers on the desk so it could also be used to manage volume for the computer speakers.
Now, my question is; What am I looking for? I'm thinking somewhere around 20 outputs~
Comments
What you want is http://www.sonos.com/
I wonder if I'll have to make this myself, and if it would be easy or not.
Yes, Sonos is very expensive, but there's a reason for that. Like I said, no competitors. Building this yourself is possible, but will be a pain in the ass and will require many many wires.
What you should really look into is equipment from used public address systems. That's the most common use case where the same sound is played out of many speakers spread out over a wide area. They usually don't have the ability to centrally enable or disable different speakers, though. They are sort of an "everything is on all the time" system.
I have three sound systems, and here is how I handle it.
Computer plays out of its own speakers.
HTPC can stream music via iTunes/NAS/Internet to itself and play out of the big sound system.
In the bedroom the iPhone connects to an amp to the bedroom speakers with a wire, and I can stream music from iTunes/NAS/Internet.
Instead of doing the switching at the speaker level, I have all the music available on the regular old network. Then I just put a networked device where the speakers are.
If you can get computers for less than the price of a Sonos connect, like Rasberry Pi, you can put one of the computers on every amp. The problem is that you will have to write some software that allows you to control them centrally, or put a mouse/keyboard/display on each and every one.
Mixers have a small number of outputs: they won't do what you need.
So the ideal solution is to have a Rasberry Pi, and a powerplug -> USB adapter behind every set of speakers, set them up to be controlled remotely and then make a physical device with a bunch of sliders? Do you not think a day of effort is enough to make a centralized powering solution with a bunch of outputs with individual volumes?
Doesn't cut out the amps though.
I have seen other dongle based solutions at the local Hi-Fi shops but they are all in the same price range as Sonos.
I would go with getting a decent amp, wire all the speakers up to it and build your own physical volume control slider array through which all the speaker cables go.