Question

Windows App for Sonos support with Russound Amps

  • 19 November 2016
  • 4 replies
  • 707 views

I Wrote a nice program that I run On my Windows Server that Allows Meta Data and Basic Controls too and from Russound and Sonos. Is Compatible With the Lates Russound MCA series and Latest Sonos. Gives Artist, Title, Album, Artwork, and Source. Allow Skip(Next),Prev, Pause, Play, Stop Control. Post here if Interested.

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4 replies

Sonos/Russound integration can be a good option in a lot o situations. Would be interested to hear what it is like for a user to operate your solution.
Its the solution I use every day. I have 2 MCA-66 amps, Russound Xsource(Streamer) and 2 Sonos. I use the Xsource If I do not have my phone on me and want to select specific songs at the keypads(MDK-C6). I usually use sonos as an input most of the time. As the sonos app just works so smooth and fast. Got tired of opening my phone every time I wanted to skip a song so I wrote a nice little program to allow the keypads to skip a song and pause. I looked into the Myro:Bridge but I would need 2 of them and the cost was crazy for what it does. My program developed into a nice little app that sends all meta data to russound from sonos and allows you to use the russound app also. You can skip,pause, play, and select previous using the russound app or any keypad using that selected source. I had artwork working in app also but found there are issues within the app so artwork is still sent to russound but not displayed. The software is not for sale just thought I would offer it to anyone who has a pc windows server running all the time and interested. My goal Is to find someone else who uses it but can program for other OS like Raspberry Pi so you dont need windows server or a pc with windows running 24/7. For me its no issue as I have homeautomation software running on windows 24/7 so its no big deal. The cool thing is you can run more than one of the programs at a time so I have 2 running as I have 2 Sonos. Just need to place program in 2 different folders and run both with settings for each sonos. The only Hardware you need is an iTach ip2rs232 to send the commands to russound amps.Usually people have these anyway as it allows other devices to control the amps.

Its a shame these companies cant work together. As a programmer I see no reason the MCA series from russound couldnt be updated to work with sonos without the need for this but as they are competing companies I dont see it happening but it does make for a sweet setup!
Sounds interesting. My challenge with Russound has always been getting a simple integration between source switching and content control so users don't have to go one place to set up the zones and sources and another place to select the songs and manage their playlist. Batches of ZP120s used to work well for this on their own but the recent UI changes have me questioning that solution going forward. It could be that using Sonos ZP90s as source components in a Russound system as you have done is the best answer or possibly using Sonos simply for audio distribution with something like the Amazon Echo handling the actual music selection might be a possible future path. It will be interesting to see what we get from Sonos, Russound, and Amazon over the course of 2017 and hopefully an obvious "best" solution will present itself.
I have an echo and 6 dots throughout my house and they work ok with how I have them. I use ISY944i for my Automation hub and can activate programs on it using Alexa. It seemed to work great until I received my dots. Now there is long delays in processing some requests which causes repeated commands. They also dont seem to get the commands right near as often as before. When I just had the Echo it was close to 100% now I would say about 70% of requests are understood and processed properly. I also have requests that go to a Dot that is 2 rooms away instead of the one right next to me. Also If I am listening to music the dots really struggle to understand my voice commands. As a tester for several companies and Certified installer I have tried giving suggestions about integration but none of them like the idea of working with competition. But when Sonos and Amazon release there integration solution next year It my be the wake up call some of these other Audio companies need.