that’s a lotta acronyms, buddy
So I’ve been trying to work out how to set up audio for my little “home theater.” I have what are apparently unknown needs in the home theater and even pro audio industry, because no one makes the kinds of components I’m looking for.
Here’s what I have:
- powered studio monitors: the Mackie HR824s, which are lovely lovely and also did i mention that I love them?
- a PS3, HDMI or TOSLink out
- a Vizio LCD HD TV, with HDMI ins, analog RCA out and a TOSLink optical out. Also has enough of a cable/HD tuner built-in to get most of what I want from cable. (ie, Jon Stewart, and Lost when it starts again. it will not, however, work with Comcast On Demand, which is sad. But oh well.)
- an Apple Airport Express for streaming music from one of my Macs, with TOSLink or analog 1/8″ out
- just purchased: a DAC1, a standalone digital-to-analog converter, with TOSLink S/PDIF, BNC S/PDIF, and AES-EBU inputs and balanced outs. It will happily give my Mackies as yummy a sound as you could possibly expect for a situation like this.
Prior to getting the DAC1, I’d been using my old Mackie VLZ mixer to mix audio from the TV and the Airport Express. The PS3 (also DVD/Blu-Ray) audio was going into the TV via HDMI, then out through the TV’s RCAs. Crappy. The Airport Express outs were going to the mixer via RCAs. Crappy. The benefit of this was, however, that I didn’t have to switch any inputs except via the TV’s built-in switcher, and audio volume was controlled either via the TV remote or from my laptop for the Airport Express.
But now, with the DAC1, I want everything to stay digital until it gets to the DAC1, and then go straight to the Mackies via balanced in/outs. (Yay for self-powered monitors!) Unfortunately, there is no elegance in this system’s user interface. As it stands, I have to manually switch between the Airport’s optical out and the PS3’s optical out.
The TV doesn’t even get to play to the Mackies, because … well I was dumb and didn’t read the Vizio TV manual carefully and assumed that the optical out on the TV set would send any audio currently playing on the TV through the optical out. False. It will only send audio that’s coming in through an HD channel. How annoying is that?
Anyway, after a bit of searching I found the Audio Authority 1177 and that will help a lot. It’s a 4-in, 1-out S/PDIF switcher, that—crucially—switches among inputs automatically based on which signal is hot. If more than one signal is hot, it will give the higher input number priority. So I don’t have to manually do anything. Duh. Why wouldn’t every switcher work like that? I can send the PS3’s and Airport Express’s optical signals through it, and … I suppose the TV’s too, though that’s mostly useless. It’s not like I ever watch actual HD TV.
But there’s still a big problem here: volume control. I will have to physically get up off my lazy ass if I want to change the volume. That is clearly unacceptable.
Here is what I want. It’s pretty simple. A balanced XLR or 1/4″ 2-in, 2-out box with an attenuator, a knob, and an infrared remote, or better, an infrared receiver that can learn my TV’s IR volume commands. I would put it—somewhat reluctantly—between my DAC1 and my Mackies. Such a beast does not exist. This guy built his own, and I was excited to see that, because I was wondering if I’d have to resort to learning how to solder, but … ummmm …. yeah. That whole page is pretty much greek to me. Granted, I don’t need an LCD display or some other fanciness, but I don’t see myself learning to put something like that together anytime soon.
So. That’s my home theater sob story. Boo hoo. Anyone want to build me a little balanced I/O volume box with an IR remote?