Solutions for whole house audio (voice alerts / information)

I looked around but did not see anything about this topic posted anywhere, so asking here.

I'm wondering what others are doing to push spoken voice messages / announcements throughout their house. I recently set up 2 google cromecasts and linked them to a cheap usb powered speakers I already had. At first I thought I had found a way to get reliable audio messages to any room in my house.

Problems with that architecture are chrome cast connections dropping out by themselves and long delays if I want to blindly reestablish links before pushing any audio messages.

Sonos is solid but to expensive to have throughout my house. I know a distribution amp and dedicated wiring / speakers would work but it is a huge task to run wires and speakers throughout my entire home.

Am I missing something simple that is 100% reliable and not to expensive and or difficult to install?

Any help would be appreciated .....

I'm using old Airport Express Wifi units (the kind you plug into the wall) purchased off of Ebay. Run an audio cable from the line out of the AE to audio in of the speaker. Then set up the devices in Airfoil. Works great, and not too expensive.

I do the exact same thing as Japple but have also added using the bluetooth capabilities of my many Amazon Echo devices to Airfoil as well.

Dang, C4W, never even thought about that, thanks!!! And I've got Dots in every room. Does Airfoil keep the BT in sync with the AEs?

I'm doing the same thing as japple, but I do it via AirPlay and use AppleScripts. Mostly though, that's to control volume to the AEs, as my wife finds spoken alerts creepy.

Dang, C4W, never even thought about that, thanks!!! And I've got Dots in every room. Does Airfoil keep the BT in sync with the AEs?

I would suggest doing just one, the Mac itself can have trouble syncing to multiple BT speakers so each time you add on it can hit or miss.

I use Sonos throughout the house, although when I move next I've thought of keeping Sonos for music, and doing a separate hard-wired conventional distribution system for voice announcements.

Terry


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I tried some airplay speakers but they kept disconnecting and messages would not work reliably so I gave up on airplay - I also tried BT but it did not have enough range to cover the whole house - Maybe the Airplay issue I experienced was a implementation issue with the speaker manufacturer and your apple Airport Express latch-up works better.

I'm not following the dot-Airport Express BT latch-up - I have dots in almost every room that I use to control lots of stuff - I wish I could send them text messages to speak. I'm assuming the Airport Express-alexa BT connection does not do/allow this somehow?

No doubt hardwired is the best way to go - but the horror of doing the wiring and finding a cheap distribution amp has kept me from taking the plunge....

Norcoscia,
Just for clarification, the Airport Express to speaker method is not Bluetooth. The AE transmits over wifi then outputs to any standalone speaker. Airfoil is the app that makes them work together. In my case, I had the same experience as you with AirPlay speakers (iHome - they're junk). But they work fine with a line-in connection from the AE if you disable the wifi. I believe C4W's approach is just using the BT from the Mac via Airfoil to the Echo/Dot devices, but you would probably still be rangebound by the BT.

Jim

No doubt hardwired is the best way to go - but the horror of doing the wiring and finding a cheap distribution amp has kept me from taking the plunge....

Same, plus I keep trying to LOWER my energy usage through automation not increase it and amps take a lot of power. I got a super tiny amp for just that purpose but it still used way too much power.

I believe C4W's approach is just using the BT from the Mac via Airfoil to the Echo/Dot devices, but you would probably still be rangebound by the BT.

Exactly.

I'm using AE's and Airfoil as above.


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Sonos direct for speakers to patio
Sonos zone players for living room and sunroom (via Dolby 5.0 receivers)
Sonos zone players (x2) with feeds via Monoprice 6 zone amp in the attic for stereo ceiling speakers in Kitchen, Master Bedroom, Master En-Suite, Guest Bed, Main Bathroom. All or none controllable by RS232 connection from Mac Mini (indigo)

Sonos Play 1, custom mounted behind a grill in the hall in the wall as announcement player. Backed up by UPS and currently used for door open, alarm countdown, welcome messages, doorbell, 'take the bins out', weather forecast etc.

If you wanted to group via the Sonos app, you could but I prefer to have announcements only in my hall.

Sonos application can be used by wife/family with buttons programmed on a kiosk iPad mini or ZWave remote for switching the Monoprice amp.

The only issue I have is that if I want to register a sonos player but not have it switched on all of the time, as soon as I switch it off, it kills the other players in indigo and alarms, doorbell etc get screwed up.

'take the bins out'.

Apologies to all in Silicone Valley - I meant trash.

Digging a massive hole, sorry - Silicon Valley. Thank you for the nice software.

I have been trying to get a whole house system working through AirPlay for many years. Never been able to get it reliable. However, when Airfoil started supporting Google Chromecast things got much better. Added the £20 audios to good amp/speakers and it was reliable. Also, now using the Echo Everywhere command for playing Amazon Unlimited Music around the house. It is working really well. A very nice free function bump, thanks Amazon!


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