Looking to build out my garage into somewhat of a bar / man cave and one of the areas I'm fairly uneducated on is how I'll be able to tie together the audio portion of what I'm trying do.

I've added a rough drawing of the set up I'm thinking about.



What I'd ultimately like to do is be able to have 3 TVs going at once and be able to select the audio source from one of the 3 or play audio from another device such as my phone, laptop, etc. When I was originally thinking about this I figured I'd need a traditional surround setup but now I'm thinking that might not make sense and would just need the same sound going to various in-ceiling style mounted speakers with a couple speakers for outdoor.

Summary of System Requirements:

• 3 TVs
• Have multiple HDMI input devices (DirecTV, Apple TV, etc.) or use the smart TV capability within each device and tie this into a single audio source.
• Be able to Bluetooth into the single audio source.
• Be able to choose which input device is playing the audio. It might be one of the video sources, it might be something else entirely. (Maybe have games on the TVs but play music through the speakers.)

I don't plan on using the audio coming directly from the TVs and would like to use just the single audio source.

My initial thoughts on this were that it can't be that complicated because it sounds like a typical sports bar type of set up but perhaps I underestimated what I'm wanting out of this.

Has anybody done anything like this before?

TIA for any help / advice.

I have 3 TVs in my man cave. I use an AV reciever to control audio between the TVs and a music stream.

I use YTTV as my streaming video service which makes it pretty easy for the video distribution.

For audio, I have an Amazon firestick on each TV, I put a splitter on the HDMI out of the firestick and connect the other output to an HDMI input on the reciever. Then I can switch audio by selecting a different input on the reciever.

For music I just connect to the reciever via Bluetooth and stream from my phone. Still looking for a better solution for that.

What is the giant area off to the left? Is that for the car? That's going to jack with your sound.

If you want to put sound in the ceiling, I highly recommend these (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YPS6T6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I've been using them in my main theater room and out on my patio for over three years now and they're outstanding.

What is the purpose of three TVs? Are you going to watch three games at once, or are you planning on them showing the same thing for people facing various ways? If you're watching three different games, I think you'd be happier with TV 3 to the left of TV 1 rather than in the back corner. You can put the electronics rack where you have TV3 now.

The rest shouldn't be too hard. Just put three streaming boxes on the various TVs and either use three remotes that are clearly labeled or get something that ties all three remotes together.

send me an email I can probably help and save you a few bucks...

andy@andrewadamsav.com

Azariah said:

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What is the giant area off to the left? Is that for the car? That's going to jack with your sound.

If you want to put sound in the ceiling, I highly recommend these (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YPS6T6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I've been using them in my main theater room and out on my patio for over three years now and they're outstanding.

What is the purpose of three TVs? Are you going to watch three games at once, or are you planning on them showing the same thing for people facing various ways? If you're watching three different games, I think you'd be happier with TV 3 to the left of TV 1 rather than in the back corner. You can put the electronics rack where you have TV3 now.

The rest shouldn't be too hard. Just put three streaming boxes on the various TVs and either use three remotes that are clearly labeled or get something that ties all three remotes together.

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Giant area to the left would keep the wife's car and my truck from time to time.

My idea behind the 3 TVs would be to have 3 different games on at once and then run audio from one of them, likely more often TV1 since it will be the biggest one and facing the bar area. That said, it would be nice to be able to run the same video to all 3 if I wanted and it sync up with the audio properly like you'd have at any bar. Not sure how I'd do that so that they are all in SYNC.

Sending over an email

Update here with a couple more questions incase anyone has additional advice.

Finally getting around to this project and starting the bar set up in the next couple of weeks but still am trying to pin down the audio video solution here.

This is where I've landed...

Video: 4x4 matrix should serve as the solution here. I've come across this one... https://www.hdtvsupply.com/4x4-hdmi-matrix-router.html

Picked this one as I think this should be able to provide me with enough audio outs to be able to use a switch there as well but this is where I start to get a little unsure...

Audio Switch: DA4X Inday
Sonos Amp: Amp: The Wireless Streaming Amplifier | Sonos

You'll notice on that audio switch that it accepts the coax (would come from the 4x4 matrix) and can use either the coax or toslink as outputs. If you look at the Sonos Amp inputs (see link for quick reference) you'll see that they take either a RCA (white and red) or HDMI ARC connection. Sonos does make a Toslink adapter that allows you to convert that signal into the HDMI ARC connection (see link) and I figured if I went the RCA route that I could get a splitter to do the job for the digital coax option (see link).

Anyone have an idea if these assumptions are accurate so far?

Next part I need to figure out is 1) how many speakers I need for this 40x20 room and 2) how many amps and 3) which speakers to purchase (i assume I want a mono set up since I don't really have a direction in the garage per se).

Appreciate any feedback!

Make sure you incorporate the tree in your wiring scheme somehow, otherwise, that's just wasted graph paper.

Couple of thoughts:

1. Buy the RS232 version of the audio switch box in case you want to automate the audio and 4x4 hdmi switch box

2. Time your purchase of the 2 boxes when you can try out your 3 to 4 screens to make sure they can do what you want. I have bought a LOT of these boxes with hopes they will work as I expect only to be let down. Make sure you can return it if it doesn't work and be prepared to test a new one every few days...

2a: example, the handshake between HDMI gets reset on each time you switch on some of the lower end devices, resulting in not syncing at all, or syncing in a mode you don't like or taking 30 seconds to sync. If you don't plan to switch often maybe that is ok, but the inconsistent syncing can be a killer. Look for a unit that has a keep alive capability for your multiple incoming sources.

2b the 4x4 switcher says 4kx60--I am always suspicious of specmanship and whether it really supports what is needed. There are different versions of the HDMI spec, so beware

3. Whatever setup you wind up with, make sure it is simple enough that you can operate it while full of alcohol. Also make sure the wife or some of your friends can operate it while full of alcohol. The more complex, the more frustrating it is going to be.

4. Be sure to let me and all your friends here on TexAgs know when open house is so we can enjoy it with you ;-)

Thanks for the response. I'll take a look into some of the comments you left and see what the research tells me. Appreciate it again!