[linux-audio-user] Feasibility of Crestron like Linux Based Whole House Audio System - Multisource / Multizone Capable????????????

Steve Vanechanos stevev at comcast.net
Sat Jan 1 21:13:28 EST 2005


New to the group.  Please forgive any unintended breaches of protocol.

I just built a house and had it prewired for stereo speaker pairs in 6 
rooms / zones in addition to cat5 in each zone.  My intention was to 
purchase a
multisource / multizone audio system from a high end integrator.  After 
reviewing several options - Crestron and Niles primarily - I ended the 
review dismayed
with the cost and overall approach of the "main stream" solution providers.

I'm a UNIX guy going back to 1983 - Altos8600 running a 5Mhz Intel 8086 
with 512Kb RAM, 20Mb 8" Winchester hard drive and Microsoft's version of 
Xenix.

I'm wondering if the present state of the Intel/AMD powered PC with 
Linux is robust enough to control multiple sources (4, 6 or 8) like 
digital cable box,
directv receiver, XM radio, CD player(s), etc. and route the output to 
multiple zones/rooms (4, 6 or 8) in an effective and cost efficient manner.

The Crestron approach would cost me around $10K - so I've got some money 
to invest on development if necessary.

Once again, my apologies if I've breached any list/group protocol with 
this post.





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