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chuckgiannone

Russound caa66

chuckgiannone
18 years ago

Hello all,

We are building a new house and have been thinking of a home entertanment system and have been looking at the russound caa66 with six zones.

Does anyone have experiences with this system?

Thanks,

Chuck G.

Comments (17)

  • mleeseberg
    18 years ago

    I just installed an a-bus system at a friends house, 4 source, 8 zones. My friend in Florida installs for a living and turned me onto the Russound products. We are building a new house this summer and he is recommending the CAA66, or CAM66( you can get am/fm or xm tuner in this setup). He likes it because of the real amplified signal running to the speakers vs. the a-bus which has the signal going through cat5e wire.

    Good luck and keep us posted.

  • schindo
    18 years ago

    Chuck,

    I am the "Florida Friend" mleeseberg just mentioned. I just joined this forum tonight. I am an authorized Russound dealer and have been for many years. What would you like to know about the CAA6.6?

  • bearHit
    18 years ago

    We are very pleased with our system!

    I have commercial-free music in my garage, the back deck and 2 other rooms.

    Mine is on CAT5 cable - but XM is contracted through DirecTV now - so that issue is moot for us.

  • chuckgiannone
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Hi Schindo,

    Thanks for the offer:

    I was wondering how to the sound from sources sounds thru the speakers (man, that was an awful sentence). I will have a receiver, turntable, tape deck, cassette and cd/dvd sources. I understand that I can play a different source (up to six) thru each zone. How do they sound compared to my floor speakers?

    We are mounting all the hardware in the my master closet and having the digital(?) keypads in the six zones.

    Are there six remotes, or one remote we carry around? Do we need to turn on/off each zone (one at a time) or is there a master control for this?

    Thanks, I think I may have more questions later, hope you don't mind... :)

    Chuck G.

  • bearHit
    18 years ago

    One remote for all controls

    I don't even use the remote though

    I always tune the TV remote and manually switch on the wall control in the garage or wherever I am going to listen

    The speaker sound is decent - but I haven't tried to crank it very loud (must be getting old)

  • bighoof
    18 years ago

    I'd like to know more, schindo, builder already prewired the home for everything, using cat5, is that a problem if you want to use the CA products.

    Do you like the CA products better or the A-Bus?

  • netarc
    18 years ago

    Russound makes a great, midline system for whole house A/V; fyi, you might consider spending a little extra to go with the CAV6.6. It adds video sourcing (composite only), but more importantly it has pre-outs for each zone ... so, if you wanted to get really quality sound in some of your zones (i.e., high-quality inwall/ceiling speakers like Triad, or standalone speakers) you have the ability to pipe the zone output into an external amp for some decent audio.

    The Russound's built-in amps, keep in mind, are really meant for background, non-critical listening.

  • schindo
    18 years ago

    Chuck,
    Remember this is background music. Set to enhance your life, not replace your home theater. All of these systems play well. A-Bus, GREAT!! Limitations? Lack of power, but generally people are not "rocking the house" so it plays very well. AND super reliable!! The CAA sounds awesome!! Forget the turntable. No way to split the signal for both the pre-amp and receiver. Maybe there is...not sure.

    I would suggest not installing the equipment in the closet. Everytime you want to change albums, cassette, etc you have to walk thru the bedroom? Not fun....not from my end anyway. You'll be much happier having it centrally located in the home.

  • back_in_texas
    17 years ago

    We have the Russound CAV6.6 and really like it. We have 6 zones and 5 subzones that use A-Bus. The sound is great and we do play it loud sometimes. We bought 3 remotes to keep in different parts of the house, but we've never used them. We just use the keypads. We are able to listen to our turntable by having it connected to a Denon receiver that we have connected to the Russound. We can also listen to the tuner on the Denon or Sirius music that we get over our Dish hookup. We share the front speakers of our surround system with the Russound using a small component from Russound for this purpose. You will want to know what kind of IR controls you plan to use before doing your wiring since the requirements vary. We ran cat5e and speaker cable to each IR/keypad location under the advice from Russound for possible future changes in technology, although the main zone IRs only need the cat5 at this point.

    We have our system set up in the game room and that works well for us since we do most of our entertaining there or on the balcony adjoining that.

  • wldsyd
    17 years ago

    We are in the wiring process...I would like intercom throughout the house and the ability to listen to am/fm radio through the house. We MIGHT use it for other music like hook it to a cd player or our piano or something. I like what I see with the Russound vs the Nutone system. If we are not big music nuts that MUST have the best sound but would be happy with decent sound (definitely want to get am radio) and have an intercom system--what system would you recommend and what type wiring do we need? Where are you in Florida, Schindo. We are redoing a place in Naples in the near future. Thanks.

  • brian8515
    17 years ago

    I was not going to install a cav6.6 in the current home I am building due to the fact that it does not distribute component audio and video. I just met with my AV guy today though and he said that there is a new model comming out that is component audio and video. I can not find anything about it on the internet, but if it does come out in the next few months this will be the system I will have installed. Will be a great product for whole home audio and HDTV.

  • brian8515
    17 years ago

    Did a little more searching, and this might be what he was talking about, the new vm1 from Russound.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Russound Press Release

  • KTKelly
    17 years ago

    The Russound piece may not be available until sometime later this year, if then, but there are other video matrix devices available now.

    Since the video matrix devicess are stand alone devices, they do not require a connection to a CAV6.6.

    Russound will also have a new upgraded version of Abus later this year. 6 zones, 6 sources, and transport commend keypads.

    Personally, I would recommend the CAM series if you wish to have a little more power to the speakers. And I would use the larger S2 keypays rather than the S1 keypads with the exception of the patio/deck area with this system.

    Turntable? Simply use a line level amp to split the output if need be. If it's an older turntable that has no pre-amp, that can also be addressed.

    Intercom? You would need a second run of cat5/5e to each keypad location that you would want to have intercom capability (Russound Compoint).

    Want to expand the 6 sources? Utilize a AVR with "room2" function, and use that as a source for the multi-zone.audio.

    Desire more power? Utilize a speaker level to line level converter on a zone output.

    Manual source control? Any source like a turntable, tape deck, etc, should be located in a central, easy to access spot. Line level can be run back to the main controller/amplifier.

  • hokansons_gmail_com
    13 years ago

    We're installing the Caa66 now and wondering about RF remotes - Universal, Logitech, etc. Does one receiver system stand out or is it pretty much a push. We'd probably get one with a display screen, and most require an extender/revolver to pick up the signal on the receiver. Any feedback is appreciated. We're novices at this!

  • yosemitebill
    13 years ago

    I take it you are not planning to use the Russound Caa66 keypads and remote IR system?

    Universal and Logitech Harmony are probably your two most readily available choices. Yes, you must have the RF receiver for the remote which will then transmit the IR through emitters to your equipment.

    I have heard good things about the Harmonies but some people feel there is considerable latency in RF mode. I think a little Googling and a liberal return policy might be your best bet.

  • 786kevin_gmail_com
    13 years ago

    my russounds caa66 we tried to connect 2 together give zone numbers and now the system is frozen and we tried to get back to the factory setting we pressed mute and ok during the factory seting it turns on and everything but the keypads are frozen.

  • moccasin5
    13 years ago

    I am hooking up two caa66 together so that I can have ten zones.I am using cat5 from one to the other, but I am not getting any sound from my second caa66.Each has its own id.Do I need to use rca cables on the second unit,and if so from which output to what output.

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