I don’t want to abandon our current system, but the big change we’ve made to it over the years is that we’ve placed the amplifier closer to the zone where the music is playing (to avoid the dance of turning it up, it being too loud, or turning it down, and it being too soft). We’ve left some zones without speakers, on purpose, to naturally allow quieter zones to emerge. The same has basically been true of our lighting - a mix of natural realities of the space and lighting fixtures that were already in place (or not) when we moved in means that some spaces are dim, others are brighter. People naturally gravitate towards areas they prefer.
The difference is that those quiet and dim zones are basically always quiet, or always dim. The brighter ones, and noisier ones, are as well.
With our new lighting, we chose a lighting pattern that gives us max flexibility and choice moving forward, allowing us to create different zones of bright and dim. One step further, everything can be dimmed/brightened by zone (approx 5 independently controlled zones throughout the space).
Just because a zone is bright doesn’t mean it always needs to be bright. By adjusting the dynamics of the zones that people prefer, self-selection turns into natural movement throughout the space.
That’s all a fancy way of saying: exactly like we currently have, just more zones (from 2 to 5) and the ability to adjust an entire zone of speakers from a single point in that zone.
Current research has me looking at 70volt systems which seem to max flexibility & min cost, with the ability to put volume controls (like this) in the zones.
Anyone else experiment with 70v systems? Stuff you love, hate, or that I should look out for?
-Alex
···
On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 10:04 AM, Tony Bacigalupo [email protected] wrote:
How does what you’re looking for differ from the setup you have now?
I’ve always admired it. Traditional wired speakers distributed across the space so everywhere has relatively equal low-level music playing at all times.
Can you simply replicate that approach for the new space?
On Jul 11, 2016, at 1:29 PM, Caner Onoglu [email protected] wrote:
Hey Alex,
You need active speakers with build in amplifiers. There are models with volume control on the speakers. All speakers need to be connected to a mixer. You connect your music source (computer, dvd player etc) to the mixer and you have sound in all zones which can be regulated.
You can buy a mixer for about 300$, speakers will cost around 80$ each x 5 makes 400. 200 meter cable will cost 50$…add another 50$ for connection elements…so in total it will cost you around 800$…
I am not an expert…just my 2 cents…
On Jul 12, 2016 00:00, “Alex Hillman” [email protected] wrote:
Hey gang!
I’m currently doing my homework on multi-zone audio for the system that plays music throughout Indy Hall, since we’re moving into a new space next month (!!!).
As with most technology, audio is a game of “easy to over-engineer” and I’m wondering if anyone has come up with a simple setup that they love.
Basic requirements in my mind:
1 - single audio source (in our case, we run a mac mini)
2 - minimum 5 “zones” each with with independent volume control
3 - the ability to put those volume controls in the zone itself, near the speakers it controls
It does NOT need to be wireless.
It does NOT need to be network enabled.
It does NOT need to be “state of the art.”
It DOES need to cost less than the same setup powered by Sonos 
It DOES need to be simple enough for someone who isn’t trained in the system to walk over to a knob and turn down the volume.
Suggestions? What research have you done? What have you tried? What DOESN’T work?
Thanks!
-Alex
The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
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