Is there any way with the 990 to have a different speaker setup configuration for each of two different rooms??

For example, to run the autosetup for one room, save it, and do the same for the second room (say, a home theater room, and an audio only room).

Also, how could one get the rs232 specific codes to control the various parameters of the 990? I figure that the different room configurations could be sent from a computer, if the 990 couldn't save them by itself as separate configurations.

Any thoughts on this???

The second zone is stereo only, so auto setup (or manual calibration) only applies to the main (multichannel) zone while the stereo zone is purely a two-channel setup. Also, the second zone is analog only - digital inputs are not passed to that zone (per page 39 of the manual).

Outlaw mentioned a couple weeks ago that they would be publishing details on the RS-232 interface, so once that's available we'll know more about the options available there.

There are very few pre/pros out there, aside from dedicated multi-room units, that configure channel settings for more than one room, and even fewer that route digital signals to second/third rooms. Even much pricier pre/pros (i.e., the $6K Halo C1) only send out analog signals for their configurable outputs.

There's good reason for this - since the signal has to be in a format that will support both 990 volume control or secondary volume control (wall volume control, 2nd pre/pro or music distribution system), analog is the only way to accomplish this.

To my knowledge, the only one-box unit that configures speakers for two separate rooms is Denon's ridiculously huge AVR-5805 multiroom receiver.

Appreciate the responses.

What I would be doing is simply changing the parameters for each room (ie spkr distances, number of speakers, etc, and perhaps even using the autosetup for each room (Gonk...as if each room were the ONLY room).

I have in place NILES switching devices, to make the change to each room, so as far as the 990 is concerned, it only knows about one room.

Thus, I want to change the parameters of the 990 "on the fly" either directly with discrete remote codes or via the 232 interface, using direct commands.

With specific 232 commands (or discrete ir commands), hopefully this would be doable.

Are you planning on using the 990 to run two multichannel rooms? Or will one room be stereo only?

If it is two separate multichannel rooms, the 990 does not support the ability to have two sets of system settings (speaker distances, crossovers, trim settings, ...) stored at once, making this arrangement very much not optimal. This is true of most any pre/pro, especially at the price of the 990 - it would be more effective to get two pre/pros and assign each to a different multichannel system.

If one space is multichannel and one is stereo, the stereo space doesn't need speaker distance settings or other such adjustments (all of these are things that were added to deal with the challenges of 5+ speakers). Those settings would all be set to serve the multichannel main zone. Think of the second zone as an analog pre-amp with composite and s-video switching that happens to be tucked into the same cabinet as the 990: you can select any stereo analog source and control its volume independently of the main system. The zone 2 remote gives you the ability to directly control turning the zone on/off, changing the zone volume, muting the zone, and selecting the zone input.

Thanks Gonk for the reply....

Yes indeed, both rooms are multichannel.

Would it not be possible to have either one of the following options:

Use a home automation computer program such as HAI, to automatically send a sequence of rs232 commands to the 990, for each of the rooms. The command sets would contain all of the needed parameters such as distance, etc. Obviously one would need to know the command codes for each parameter...which hopefully are available.

The other option would tbe to do the same, but instead of rs232, using IR if indeed, discrete codes were made available for the individual parameteres.

Wonder if Scott has any info on specific 232 commands for these parameters, and/or IR discrete commands......

Yike... Two multichannel systems in different spaces, both trying to be controlled by the same processor? It may be possible to set up some signifcant macros (either using the RS232 port or even the IR inputs potentially, although RS232 is probably better for this) to go through the menu and change all of the speaker distance, channel trim, and crossover settings, but it just sounds like we're opening a whole can of worms on other fronts as well. What is happening downstream of the processor? Are the pre-amp outputs being split to drive two separate amplifiers, or do you have switchboxes at the pre-amp outputs to only allow one space to be active at a time? What is happening with the video signals from the processor's monitor output?

Indeed, the preamp outputs, and the video outputs, are respectively being routed to NILES switching devices. The latter are controlled by voltage triggers, set off by the HAI home automation program. Thus I am able to drive EITHER of two multichannel rooms with no problem.

You are correct in that for each room, I would be going through the menu to change the parameters OR if the 990 allows it, to send out macros either through a string of 232 or IR commands.

Indeed, the preamp outputs, and the video outputs, are respectively being routed to NILES switching devices. The latter are controlled by voltage triggers, set off by the HAI home automation program. Thus I am able to drive EITHER of two multichannel rooms with no problem.

You are correct in that for each room, I would be going through the menu to change the parameters OR if the 990 allows it, to send out macros either through a string of 232 or IR commands.

It also sound like then we should be able to connect the unit to a PC, have an motion detector figure out where we are in the room and dynamically change the surround output as we move through the room in real time... LOL

Whats the BAUD rate on the port?

Sounds like if the RS232 spec has that level of control, that will probably be the way to go. IR seems way too klunky to be useful in this application.

It also sounds crazy, but I like crazy. I plan on doing some integration of the 990 with my home automation system as well. I presently have a custom built media server connected to a multi-zone preamp/keypad system. I finally got around to writing some of the automation software the other night so that it starts streaming music to the system when it detects (via RS232 connection to the preamp) that any zone is listening to one of the four media server stereo output pairs. Fun stuff.

Excellent....

I agree that 232 is the way to go, as well.


Scott, if you are listening...

Is there a list of 232 commands available??

Also, is there a list of discrete ir commands for the 990?

Well, I couldn't resist the urge to hook up the 990 to a serial protocol analyzer, since it's sitting here on my desk at work. By no means is this anywhere near complete or conclusive.. but it is very encouraging!

It should be possible to make some very slick remote interfaces for the 990, including reflecting anything shown on the front panel display. This is very cool news, since my equipment closet isn't visible from the seating in my theater. I've been planning on putting together a touchscreen controller, so now I know I can display the current volume level, other settings, etc., and not have to guess.

Of course, I don't know any of the commands you can send to the 990 - that will have to wait for the spec. I also don't know what a lot of the bytes in the protocol mean yet.. Also, not worth figuring out since we think we'll be getting a spec soon.

Perfect,

Looks like a simple program will become a new thread..

Slick... I don't see myself making use of this feature, but the geek/engineer in me thinks there is the potential for some great stuff using this once the right information is available and some of the right minds chew on it a bit.

VERY cool indeed...

Now if only the powers that be (Scott, are you listening?? ;-) ) would release the full RS232 command set, so that users could create home automation macros for such things as individual speaker parameter setups for different rooms as described above, as well as for other features, such as specific selection of digital inputs, etc, it would be invaluable...

I'm new to the world of Home Automation systems, but does any manufacturer provide this info to the end user? I was always under the impression that command sets (such as IR codes, and I'm assuming HA commands) were only provided to 3rd parties with which the manufactuer has negotiated, who subsequently provide appropriate and complete command routines for their hardware/software packages (ie, Crestron and Harmony).

I'm assuming this is the case, because I wouldn't think that Outlaw would want to have to provide support to end users for problems at that level, but I'm curious. Can anyone shed light on this?

RS232 command sets are released in some cases. Traditionally it has been exclusively to custom installers, but the Internet has changed that somewhat. Sherwood does not include this info in the P-965 manual and in fact includes a warning against tinkering with it, but Scott mentioned in a post a week or two back that they were in the process of putting something together to provide us with some (all?) of this info. In all likelihood, they've been focusing on getting 990's shipped out the door (yeah!), but now that shipping has started I suspect they'll be able to work on it some more.