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Hi Fi and Home theater set ups


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On 1/17/2023 at 5:55 PM, Not that Bob said:

I am moving in to a new, to me, house and the previous owner had a rather spectacular system set up. Wall/ceiling mounted speakers in at least 4 rooms. All controlled from one of two media closets. When he moved he took all the equipment, but obviously (I guess obvious) he left all the speakers and wires in the walls. I haven't been paying attention for several years and every thing seems to  have changed to wireless now, or at least most things. 

Is it worth it for me to have someone come trace and label all these wires? I don't have the time or patience to do it myself. If it's worth it who in Austin would do such a thing?

My first reaction is to just say fuck it and go with Sonos  or whatever is the flavor of the week. I no longer need T-Rex to shake the house, but don't want to just use the speakers in the TV. 

Have one person stand by a speaker and have another person touch the wires at the other end one-by-one to the terminals of a 9-volt battery and see which one makes the speaker move/pop.  9-volts are cheaper than contractors.  From there, get a speaker wall plate, label it, and attach the wires. 

Edited by dcbc
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5 hours ago, dcbc said:

Have one person stand by a speaker and have another person touch the wires at the other end one-by-one to the terminals of a 9-volt battery and see which one makes the speaker move/pop.  9-volts are cheaper than contractors.  From there, get a speaker wall plate, label it, and attach the wires. 

Pay attention to which way the speaker moves on a 9-volt battery.  Wire them up the same.  i.e., put a piece of tape at the end of the wire that causes the speaker to move "out" when hooked to the "positive" battery terminal.  Hook all the positives to your amp in the same way.  Otherwise, you'll have speakers fighting each other and diminishing bass response.

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5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Pay attention to which way the speaker moves on a 9-volt battery.  Wire them up the same.  i.e., put a piece of tape at the end of the wire that causes the speaker to move "out" when hooked to the "positive" battery terminal.  Hook all the positives to your amp in the same way.  Otherwise, you'll have speakers fighting each other and diminishing bass response.

I almost edited to add this.  Hopefully, whoever wired these up used some wires with obvious positive/negative terminals.

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Maybe there's a thread about this in CYHMWT, but it's definitely home theater related and there are some nice systems on display in this thread. My question is: are there any Logitech remote control users here who have found a suitable alternative for a UC now that Logitech has exited the market?

I've got a Harmony Elite w/ hub that has worked extremely well for years. Before that we used a Harmony One. My marriage is dependent upon me providing a simple remote for my wife to use for a straightforward living room system (TV, sound bar, STB, Apple 4K TV and a PS4 that gets used about twice a year (it's really just an occasional BR player at this point).

It seems like Sofabaton has a couple options that are the closest match to Harmony remotes, but their build quality is suspect and software still buggy. My Harmony still works, but it's getting quirkier and quirkier, e.g. pressing the channel preset icon for say TCM is channel 64 will often add multiple digits so it will call up 644, or 6644. The macro commands also don't always fire properly (it's RF so no issues w/ IR signals being blocked).

Anybody got a better solution?

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6 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Maybe there's a thread about this in CYHMWT, but it's definitely home theater related and there are some nice systems on display in this thread. My question is: are there any Logitech remote control users here who have found a suitable alternative for a UC now that Logitech has exited the market?

I've got a Harmony Elite w/ hub that has worked extremely well for years. Before that we used a Harmony One. My marriage is dependent upon me providing a simple remote for my wife to use for a straightforward living room system (TV, sound bar, STB, Apple 4K TV and a PS4 that gets used about twice a year (it's really just an occasional BR player at this point).

It seems like Sofabaton has a couple options that are the closest match to Harmony remotes, but their build quality is suspect and software still buggy. My Harmony still works, but it's getting quirkier and quirkier, e.g. pressing the channel preset icon for say TCM is channel 64 will often add multiple digits so it will call up 644, or 6644. The macro commands also don't always fire properly (it's RF so no issues w/ IR signals being blocked).

Anybody got a better solution?

I don't have an answer for you, but my Harmony One did the same thing after a few years of daily use and I ended up going back to multiple manufacturer remotes. Interested to hear if there are better options as well. 

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1 hour ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Maybe there's a thread about this in CYHMWT, but it's definitely home theater related and there are some nice systems on display in this thread. My question is: are there any Logitech remote control users here who have found a suitable alternative for a UC now that Logitech has exited the market?

I've got a Harmony Elite w/ hub that has worked extremely well for years. Before that we used a Harmony One. My marriage is dependent upon me providing a simple remote for my wife to use for a straightforward living room system (TV, sound bar, STB, Apple 4K TV and a PS4 that gets used about twice a year (it's really just an occasional BR player at this point).

It seems like Sofabaton has a couple options that are the closest match to Harmony remotes, but their build quality is suspect and software still buggy. My Harmony still works, but it's getting quirkier and quirkier, e.g. pressing the channel preset icon for say TCM is channel 64 will often add multiple digits so it will call up 644, or 6644. The macro commands also don't always fire properly (it's RF so no issues w/ IR signals being blocked).

Anybody got a better solution?

Your Apple TV should control the entire system for the basics.

I have Marantz receiver, ps5, Apple TV, hue bridge, switch. With HDMI CEC the Apple TV will power on and off, volume up and down, etc. It won’t change inputs on the receiver but HDMI does does that when you power on a device.

Most all the universal remotes suck unless you’re looking at a home automation solution from control4, Lutron, etc. and those are way way expensive for someone only looking at a single room control.

Also you should move away from a set top box and look at a streaming option. Can use your Apple TV to display YouTube tv, att, Hulu, or whatever service. Just don’t use that shit equipment that makes everything harder 

Edited by hobbes2702
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 Yeah, the Apple TV will but that remote is classic Apple: looks cool, does a few things really great, but makes what should be simple tasks amazingly cumbersome. And oh yeah, everyone loves a jet black remote with minimal tacticle buttons to let you use it in the dark.

Mrs GOTJ inheritted her dad's "why won't everything work when I push one button" gene. I don't mind using multiple remotes and prior to the Harmony I had printed up laminated cards for the different button pushes required to make things work. It's amazing how difficult it is for many people to understand the concept of changing inputs.

This $450 beauty is supposed to come out this spring. Overkill and sexy, but looks like they're trying to bridge the Apple - Logitech gap.

And yeah, I can use my Apple TV to run Spectrum cable and ditch the STB, but again it comes back to the shitty Apple remote and how do I make things simple and similar enough so my wife doesn't get frustrated with a different setup between the living room, bedroom, etc. 

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20 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

 Yeah, the Apple TV will but that remote is classic Apple: looks cool, does a few things really great, but makes what should be simple tasks amazingly cumbersome. And oh yeah, everyone loves a jet black remote with minimal tacticle buttons to let you use it in the dark.

Mrs GOTJ inheritted her dad's "why won't everything work when I push one button" gene. I don't mind using multiple remotes and prior to the Harmony I had printed up laminated cards for the different button pushes required to make things work. It's amazing how difficult it is for many people to understand the concept of changing inputs.

This $450 beauty is supposed to come out this spring. Overkill and sexy, but looks like they're trying to bridge the Apple - Logitech gap.

And yeah, I can use my Apple TV to run Spectrum cable and ditch the STB, but again it comes back to the shitty Apple remote and how do I make things simple and similar enough so my wife doesn't get frustrated with a different setup between the living room, bedroom, etc. 

That’s entirely my point about HDMI control. Everything will work with the push of one button if you cut out the STB.

I used to have a harmony remote on every TV in my house. Once I switched to HDMI control it was over for any universal. What tasks do you find cumbersome with the Apple Remote? The new version might solve that as well.

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Wow, I haven't chimed in on this thread?

Well.

Main living room setup is a pair of Meridian DSP 6000s (in a Meridian D6000 case). We have an Epson projector and screen, but they're not getting hooked up until we finish remodeling.

Photo is not from our living room.

IMG_0779.jpg

 

Now the real mess is my computer.

There, I have a PreSonus Audiobox 96 USB DAC

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going into a Roland MX-5 preamp.

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(My Synth also goes into the mixer.)

pzlgzi0z2emydbiuiaeh.jpg

THAT gets plugged into a Samson Servo 120a power amp,

image.jpeg.6adce62867391d781e07f6f0ee75e1be.jpeg

connected to a pair of Tannoy SBMs.

phbi5ogqaqfpjouxqu4b.jpg

...as you can see, most of my shit is from the 20th century.

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