PC to control speakers in all rooms of house, how to do?

[from808]

Here's the problem, I'm going to install speakers throughout my house(and outside) and I want to control what speakers get played where. Basically I will build a device(some type of control panel/remote control) that can will talk to my PC via bluetooth(thats my goal anyway). I'm hoping I can write an app for my cell phone, but if not I'll pony up some cash for a bluetooth compatible device. I would like to use 802.11 but it seems a little harder protocol to write software against(not sure if this is true?).

On the PC I plan to write a simple app that will keep track of what speakers are on etc.

Question really is... Given I may have up to 16 speakers throughout the house what kind of hardware would be able to do the "on/off" part of it? Im hoping that I can do some type of messaging from my PC to whatever device this is. Anyone know how I can address this problem?

Even better, has anyone done something similar without using ipod airport? Im trying to keep things centralized so I dont want to setup seperate recievers in each room(not to mention that would be expensive!).

 

[NokiaDude]

That sounds like a very expensive setup you want. I know it's possible because in some multi-million dollar homes I've seen speakers set throughout the whole house. I think you'll only be able to control which speakers are on by means of an amplifier and a audio switcher. Maybe you can control what's playing by using one of those wireless media players that hook u[p to an stereo amp.

 

[from808]

I have found devices that allow for manual speaker switching.. i.e.

http://www.smarthome.com/82646.HTML

That thing apparently lets you route 1 signal to 6 different zones and allows for push button activation of an individual line.

This doesnt solve my problem though as it doesnt look like ANY? of these types of products can be connected to a PC out of the box.

I guess the question now is, does anyone know of a product that does OR a way that I can mod a product ("speaker selector") so I can control it from a PC? It seems that I could use something that would simply turn off a signal. I'll try to describe as best I can.

PC -> Sends signal to Speaker Selector
Speaker Selector outputs(i.e. individual audio out) are connected to switches.
Switches are connected to PC somehow
PC can control whether switch is on or off.

Ignoring the cost of a speaker selector which I think can be had off ebay for under $100, it seems that it should be possible rig up the PC switch hardware/software relatively inexpensively.. Problem is I dont know how to do something like this..

I know X10 has PC to hardware API's but the way these signals are transmitted are not what I need. Perhaps there should be something else...

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Welcome to AT.

You might have better luck with an audio question like this over at AVSforum.

 

[from808]

Thanks for the welcome!

Thanks for the tip, I will definitely check that site out.