Gentner Clearone XAP800 detailed setup

[jitterjames]

 

[keithj69]

Wow.  Glad to see this.  I have been playing around with my logitech hub and vera the last few days.  I completely missed this.  Thank you for documenting.

What mics did you pick up?   I love my Beyerdynamics MPC 22.  I am not to fond of the Crown PZM-11.  It could be that it is a bad mic, but i have yet to find the sweet spot on sensitivity.  I am either low or high on settings.  Nothing in between.

[paulonegreti]

Hi,

i've work really hard to find information about the best mic mixer device and the best way to apply it in my project but it is difficult! I got really excited with:

"5. with 1 or 2 devices and multiple sound cards (depending on number of rooms and stereo or mono signal) these devices can double as audio routers ... meaning VC can send music on sound card 1 to bedroom , and radio on another to kitchen, while watching Blu-ray 5.1 in the living ... or send the music to all rooms ... that applies as well to VC responses ... "

Couldn't you explain it better, plx? How is the best and efficient way to play music in my bedroom while watch blu-ray 7.1 in the living using:

SW:
Windows 8.1 PT/BR
VoxCommando 2.1.3.3.
XBMC
Vera 3

HW:
PC on hometheather with 01 onboard sound card + 01 GeForce GTX 770 + 1 HDMI Card Capture (for may cable tv) Receiver Onkyo TX-NR636 7.2-Ch Dolby Atmos Ready Network A/V Receiver w/ HDMI 2.0
Pollycom Vertex ef2280 or Getner XAP800 (choosing yet)
03 Beyerdynamic MPC22

I need 02 room with acoustic sound and living room surround 7.2 playing simultaneously different act.

I don't knok if i make myself clear.

Tkx,

Done
RtsEnable solved it

[Haddood]

I really do not get what you are asking me exactly, but here is some info that might help clearing things
XAP 800 provides 12 inputs & 12 outputs (Ap800 provides 8 ) you can stack units together to get more inputs...
Good to know that each speaker will take one input so my 5.1 takes 6 inputs and 6 outputs... TV out is connected to sound card line in so it is part of the 5.1
If you have way too many inputs you can mix them with a simple mixer made from few resistors, or high end one (in you scenario home theatre reciever serves as a high end one)
The reason I pass all speakers through XAP is echo cancellation, in other words VC will not hear back the movie through the mic ...
Now the 5.1 sound is coming from external USB card, and I have 2 coming from my PC internal card...

Basically XAP800, is a matrix mixer, which means you can route any input to any number of outputs... So the scenarious are limitless ...  I highly suggest that you download the manual to fully understand the possibilities ...

The main reason I went with XAP800 not ef2280 is power supply ... I hate those things as the always end up cluttering space and they are always a pain to manage ... As for other features I believe they are very similar

XAP 800 as well provides serial interface (rs232) for control so you can send commands, like mute or change output from a PC / I have no Vera , so I can't tell if you can use it to control XAP 800

As far as how many sound cards you need, it is basically the amount of various streams that you will need to play at the same time ..

[jitterjames]

Am I right in thinking that you pass line level (unamplified) outputs through the mixer, run them to another room and then into an amplifier?

Or do you pass direct from an amplifier's speaker output, through the mixer, and into the speaker?

@paulonegreti with your Onkyo you can set up your 7.1 as a 5.1 system with a separate 2 channel zone for another room and you can use the Onkyo plugin to control it with VoxCommando.

[Haddood]

James,
I run line level
Sound card -----> XAP 800 -------> amplified speakers
As I have  Logitech 5.1 in the living and Cambridge sound 4.1 which I am splitting over 2 rooms

[sydor_05]

Can you give any detail on how your are making the audio connections from the sound card that plays 5.1 to the XAP800? And also on the connection from the XAP to the 5.1 receiver?

I would think your only options would be to go from the sound card to the XAP would be 3.5mm, HDMI or SPDIF and the XAP doesn't have those inputs. I have the same question on the 5.1 audio that goes from the XAP to the receiver. Are you using some sort of converter?

I am looking at replicating your setup in a home I am looking at building. So far, that's the part I was unsure of after reading your posts.

[paulonegreti]

Haddood,

I'm sorry if I was not clear enough! My english is terrible! hahaha

Your explanation helped a lot! But I still have a doubt remaining...
What about de MICs connections? How they are connected into the PC? Each mic take an input in the XAP 800? I will need a Sound Card In to connect to PC?

I am very grateful for the help!!!

Tkx,
Paulo

[Haddood]

Can you give any detail on how your are making the audio connections from the sound card that plays 5.1 to the XAP800? And also on the connection from the XAP to the 5.1 receiver?

I would think your only options would be to go from the sound card to the XAP would be 3.5mm, HDMI or SPDIF and the XAP doesn't have those inputs. I have the same question on the 5.1 audio that goes from the XAP to the receiver. Are you using some sort of converter?

I am looking at replicating your setup in a home I am looking at building. So far, that's the part I was unsure of after reading your posts.

no converters ... take a stereo 3.5 cut it in 2 halves ...
sound card Front ---> 3.5 (stereo) ----> cut ----> Left channel ----- > XAP800 input 12
                                                                 ----> Right channel --- > XAP800 input 11

XAP800 output 12 ----> 3.5 (left channel)     ----> Amplifier input front 3.5
XAP800 output 11 ----> 3.5 (Right channel)

and the same for back speakers (input 10 & 9 on XAP)
and the same for center and subwoofer (input 8 and 7 on XAP and make sure that you turn off phantom power)

[Haddood]

Haddood,

I'm sorry if I was not clear enough! My english is terrible! hahaha

Your explanation helped a lot! But I still have a doubt remaining...
What about de MICs connections? How they are connected into the PC? Each mic take an input in the XAP 800? I will need a Sound Card In to connect to PC?

I am very grateful for the help!!!

Tkx,
Paulo

Paulo,
MIC 1 ----> input 1 on XAP
MIC 2 ----> input 2 on XAP

using the matrix, mix both and output on  output 1 ----> PC mic (or line in) and make Speech Recognition to use that line

[sydor_05]

no converters ... take a stereo 3.5 cut it in 2 halves ...
sound card Front ---> 3.5 (stereo) ----> cut ----> Left channel ----- > XAP800 input 12
                                                                 ----> Right channel --- > XAP800 input 11

XAP800 output 12 ----> 3.5 (left channel)     ----> Amplifier input front 3.5
XAP800 output 11 ----> 3.5 (Right channel)

and the same for back speakers (input 10 & 9 on XAP)
and the same for center and subwoofer (input 8 and 7 on XAP and make sure that you turn off phantom power)

So this would give me 5.1 surround? Wouldn't I need 3 separate 3.5mm outputs from the sound card, or is that what you're getting at?

Edit: Sorry, I understand now. I would need a sound card like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/External-Sound-Card-Channel-Audio/dp/B003TO3KHY instead of using the SPDIF which I normally use to go to my receiver.

[Haddood]

Incredible it is exactly the sound card I have
However for the mic input I use the built in sound card in Mac-mini (I run windows on old Mac mini)
And I use TV out through the line in of this sound card so all generated sounds pass through XAP for echo cancelation

[Haddood]

PY Script updated in second post ...

[adamsweet]

please help. what do you send from xap commandstring to trigger gate status. i need more info!! jumpered command port dont know next step!

[nime5ter]

Hopefully Haddood will have time to respond eventually.

In the meantime, have you consulted the manual? There's a link to the ClearOne manuals somewhere here on the forum.

If you're using the XAP800: http://www.clearone.com/uploads/resource/800_151_101_Rev4_1_XAP800Man.pdf

Appendix E of that document describes how to compose serial commands.

e.g., if you're using an XAP800, reporting the gate status of device with ID 0 would be:

Code: [Select]

#50 GATE
I don't have one of these things so maybe I'm wrong. Just based on scanning the manual:

5 = XAP 800
0 = device ID 0 (IDs can range from 0-7, obviously)

And GATE seems to be the serial command that "Reports gate status of channels 1–8".

If I'm off base Haddood or someone else can correct me, but I'd recommend experimenting based on the documentation.