Joseph <syscon780 <at> gmail.com> writes: > > I'm looking for a solution to stream music in a home from my Gentoo box.
Here is an excellent read to get you started. If I'm understanding your desire ( to run many speakers in parallel off of a single amplifier) you'll need an amp design for "2 ohm" load to run "8" 8-ohm speakers off of a single amplifiter. This will only give you "mono" sound in each of 8 rooms. If you want stereo sound, then you'll need twice as many channels. http://www.prestonelectronics.com/audio/Impedance.htm If you have a 7.1 surround sound amp, then you can run each channelto a differnet room and the 8th channel to the "sub woofer" on a different amplifiter to get "7.1" audio in our whole house. It will sound different than the 7.1 audio in a single room (usually where the big screen TV is). If you want remote (gain) control on your discrete audio amp,I suggest you look for one that offers that in the device driver section of the linux kernel. If it does not have gain control, you can damage equipment very easily, so be cautious. Speakers with integrated small amps might work for your need? You need to find a discussion group for audio, as getting mono, stereo, 5.1 or 7.1 audio out of a PC audio card, is trivial in most operating systems as long as you have a sound card (mobo) capable of the sound output you want. Also read up on "pre-outs" when combining 2 or more amplifiers in series. > Are there better solutions? Go find a good audio group for details and help. hth, James
