I’m getting way way way ahead of myself here because not only has my Vera not even arrived yet, I haven’t even ordered it yet! Lol At this stage I’m just planning (fantasising) about how I would set my system up.
I’ve just come home from a little Christmas vacation so my mind is focused on security. I was thinking not only would it be great to have speakers in different rooms to pump some music through but would be great for making burglars thinking someone is home. Sure the simple way would be to just play Talk back radio in different rooms at different times but to make it cooler (more difficult) I thought the radio/recording could ‘transition’ through the house as if the person/people is/are walking around the house.
Anyway I don’t know if it’s even possible but thought you guys might know
What audio system do you have or one s to use. Should be pretty simple as long as it is controllable by any means.
Just createa scene that turns ona zone, select radio source, 2 min delay, repeat for zone 2, turn off zone1, z3, z4… then have that scene repeat every 12 mins.
You can easily turn on tvs in an upstairs bedroom at night so it looks like people are home vs needing the burglar to be within earshot (at least at night) if they are casing the neighborhood looking for an empty house.
At this stage I don’t have any audio system just planning.
Your idea is a perfect solution and I feel kinda stupid for not thinking it already lol I think I got caught up in the idea of it being like surround sound (hence the title), appearing seemless travelling around the house similar to surround sound in a movie travelling from left to right.
Having said that what burglar is going to even notice lol
It’s doable but may get a mite expensive. I suggest to check out eq Sonos for the sound and Z-Wave PIR sensors to detect presence.
Use the Sonos plugin to control the various Sonos systems based on which PIR sensors trip or reset. As Sonos speakers are WiFi, whatever source you are listening to and you are piping into the Sonos system will follow you from room to room.
For each room (aka Sonos - PIR combo):
Sensor trips - Switch on Sonos in the room in question
Sensor resets - If switched on, switch off Sonos in the room in question.
I’ve looked at this solution but it is way out of my budget. Even for my 3 bed, 2 bath home, putting a set of Play 5’s in the living room and sets of Play 3’s in all bedrooms and the kitchen area. With a set of Play 1’s in each bathroom, I’m looking at $3600 to be able to stream music to the whole house. Granted, as both Play 3 and Play 5 units are ‘stereo’ one could use only one per room but for decent stereo separation, 2 per room is a must. Not even mentioning the Sonos sub at $700 a pop for bass sound. Add 8 PIR’s at about $250 so that music can follow me. I know, champagne taste on a beer budget. But at least it’s not a Old Milwaukee budget.
I settled for a more limited setup. Vera can control my existing Yamaha 7.1 Home Theater receivers in both the living room and the master bed room. I have a spare set of 5.1 speakers. Enough to create a 2nd zone with 2 speakers for each of them. Once I get that wired in, those 2 extra zones will take care of my kitchen and master bathroom music needs.
