I haven’t been able to find a reasonably priced speaker selector that I can control from ST. I can easily enough handle the switching via ST controllable relays if I can just find a speaker selector that doesn’t require physical switches… I’ve seen someone else in the forums mention “Alton” but they are crazy expensive. Mechanical devices are like $25, so I figure I’ll happily pay like 10x for something, but 50x is getting a little nuts…
Maybe think Harmony Hub and a Speaker Selector with IR Control…Should be able to find both for around your budget…
$180-OSD Audio ATM7 Automatic 7-Zone Speaker Selector w/ IR Remote Control IR Code
$70-Harmony Hub
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I really like that idea and it is totally reasonable on price (at least, relatively speaking!).
Any chance there are models that have volume control as well? That seems common on the physical-switch based units at relatively low prices.
So I have the Harmony now, but I’m a little confused about the best way to integrate with ST. Over the past few years there seems to have been some times where official integrations were supported but others have made custom SmartApps and DTHs… so what’s the best way to handle this now in 2017?
Official Integration!
Goto Marketplace and then remotes and buttons. There you will find the Harmony Connect.
Just to follow up on my own topic, I got the ATM7 and it works great! The instructions are crazy confusing but I worked my way through them. The only real downside is that the way I want to use it (basically a single input then you can choose any combination of the seven outputs to route that signal) isn’t quite as elegant as I want because there are no absolute commands - each output signal requires a toggle code, thus things can easily get out of sync and I had to setup “toggle kitchen” “toggle living room” “toggle family room” set of Harmony commands.
Overall I’m quite happy with the purchase, though!
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Please elaborate a little on the toggle function…If I am hearing you right, with Harmony, each time you turn on one activity, it turns off the previous activity…
However, the best approach might be scenes…This way each scene has a different speaker configuration…
For “Total” control, you can use KuKu Harmony. You will need a Sever to run it on. A little Pi3 works great! $50 and about 2 hours and you will be set!
Sure - when I say “toggle” I’m referring to the IR codes (and associated behavior, of course) that are possible with the ATM7. For example, I want a code that says “output #1 on” and no matter what (presuming the unit is active) the output will be ON when completed. If the output was previous off, it switches state to be on. If the output was already on, the command is essentially ignored. This is necessary to guarantee state when there is no feedback (meaning no way for the Harmony system to check state before or after).
Companies like Onkyo do a fantastic job with their home receivers that actually have three IR codes for on/off (more correctly; on/standby): a dedicated power-on command, a dedicated power-off command, and a toggle command.
Aww I see. Why not just leave it on (powered) and ignore the power function? That way the unit is always active and therefore all codes will be received…
Just thinking out loud l. The power draw from this unit should be minimal.
ah… sorry, you’re getting confused: The power on/off was an example of the kind of IR command I want, not the actual command I need. On a related note, the ATM7 only has a physical power button, so I already just leave the thing on 24x7x365!
The problem is that the ATM7 only has toggle-type commands for the output audio zones. Don’t worry about trying “work around” my problem (I’ve already got it handled via individual “activities” in Harmony that toggle an audio zone without trying change the powerstate of the ATM7) - I only posted here so people understand this is something they’ll need to prepare for.
ATM has
- output zone 1 toggle
- output zone 2 toggle
- etc…
ATM7 needs these IR commands
- output zone 1 ON
- output zone 1 OFF
- output zone 2 ON
- output zone 2 OFF
Make sense now?
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Totally understand now. I’m glad you got it worked out!
Hello!
I know this is a bit old topic… but very relevant still!
I just got my ATM7 & harmony hub set up, all 7 zones in use. works great. but like you’ve mentioned, trying to tie the Zones 1 - 7 into activities is confusing. Trying to get google home mini to turn them off/ on and all she does is flip a bunch of lights on them off haha … because when one activity goes off, another goes on.
Wondering what your specific solution looks like for this problem? I was playing around with Activity details for Start / End commands, but still having some problems…
thanks!