# Would people be interested in a wireless volume knob / control dial for home theaters?



## dstein (Apr 8, 2020)

I've been thinking about this for a while and am wondering other people think this would be a good idea or why not.

What I'm thinking about is something like a smaller version of the Devialet remote, but making it control home theater receivers.


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

Certainly but I'd rather have one that could work with PC/Mac/Linux music servers.


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## dstein (Apr 8, 2020)

Yeah my idea would be a bluetooth knob that connects to Mac/Windows/Linux. From there it could either control the volume of the computer, or use a network IP control of receivers or Sonos speakers.


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

dstein said:


> Yeah my idea would be a bluetooth knob that connects to Mac/Windows/Linux. From there it could either control the volume of the computer, or use a network IP control of receivers or Sonos speakers.


I am doing that now with a Microsoft Dial but its BT range is too limited.


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## dstein (Apr 8, 2020)

Kal Rubinson said:


> I am doing that now with a Microsoft Dial but its BT range is too limited.


How far does the Surface Dial work to? Does their dial work with other kinds of computers or only the Surface computers?


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

dstein said:


> How far does the Surface Dial work to? Does their dial work with other kinds of computers or only the Surface computers?


1. About 2 meters. I suspect they limited it with the intention that it was to be mated with a Surface, perhaps in a room with more than one.
2. I do not have a surface but it works fine on my WinPC servers running JRiver........................as long as it is close enough.


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## dstein (Apr 8, 2020)

Kal Rubinson said:


> 1. About 2 meters. I suspect they limited it with the intention that it was to be mated with a Surface, perhaps in a room with more than one.
> 2. I do not have a surface but it works fine on my WinPC servers running JRiver........................as long as it is close enough.


Yeah 2 meters isn't far enough. So if I could get a product like the surface dial working up to maybe 20 meters would people be willing to upgrade?

Do you control the Windows system volume, or does JRiver control the volume of the stereo?


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

dstein said:


> Yeah 2 meters isn't far enough. So if I could get a product like the surface dial working up to maybe 20 meters would people be willing to upgrade?


I don't need 20m but 6m would be great.



> Do you control the Windows system volume, or does JRiver control the volume of the stereo?


Depends on what you want. I can control Windows system volume (but I don't use it), I can control JRiver volume and, as I prefer, I can control the volume in my exaSound e38 DAC via it's ASIO driver in JRiver.


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## dstein (Apr 8, 2020)

Kal Rubinson said:


> I don't need 20m but 6m would be great.
> 
> 
> Depends on what you want. I can control Windows system volume (but I don't use it), I can control JRiver volume and, as I prefer, I can control the volume in my exaSound e38 DAC via it's ASIO driver in JRiver.


Yeah 10 meters should be no problem

It looks like the exaSound DAC doesn't have an API that I can control directly, so I would have to write an integration for JRiver.

Are you running the web interface server? See here on the wiki:






Web Service Interface - JRiverWiki







wiki.jriver.com


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

dstein said:


> It looks like the exaSound DAC doesn't have an API that I can control directly, so I would have to write an integration for JRiver.


It does not but the DAC is controlled by JRiver via exaSound's custom ASIO driver. 



> Are you running the web interface server? See here on the wiki:


No. I control JRiver via its "Keyboard Hot-keys." See:


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## dstein (Apr 8, 2020)

Kal Rubinson said:


> No. I control JRiver via its "Keyboard Hot-keys." See:


If the JRiver API works like think it will, then my integration will be quite a big improvement from what you're used to using. Please send me a private message and I'll try to get one of my prototypes for you to test.


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## Da Wiz (May 8, 2019)

Wouldn't a wireless mouse or trackball with a scroll wheel programmed to raise/lower volume be the same thing (if you're considering volume control ONLY). I already have a wireless keyboard with a volume up/down on the keyboard. Does this really require MORE hardware? A scroll wheel could conceivably control volume where ever you want it controlled... computer level or app level.


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

Da Wiz said:


> Wouldn't a wireless mouse or trackball with a scroll wheel programmed to raise/lower volume be the same thing (if you're considering volume control ONLY). I already have a wireless keyboard with a volume up/down on the keyboard. Does this really require MORE hardware? A scroll wheel could conceivably control volume where ever you want it controlled... computer level or app level.


Yes but none of them are as simple and intuitive to use nor are they as impervious to messing inadvertently with other functions.


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## dstein (Apr 8, 2020)

Da Wiz said:


> Wouldn't a wireless mouse or trackball with a scroll wheel programmed to raise/lower volume be the same thing (if you're considering volume control ONLY). I already have a wireless keyboard with a volume up/down on the keyboard. Does this really require MORE hardware? A scroll wheel could conceivably control volume where ever you want it controlled... computer level or app level.


If you did manage to figure out how to do that it would be similar functionality, but very different ergonomics and your mouse would lose the ability to use the scrollwheel for anything else. To use a mouse scrollwheel, you have to grip the whole mouse, whereas a volume knob mounted vertically can be used with just one finger. A trackball would be a bit closer the feel of a knob but again they don't "twist', they "revolve downward" so it's a different action. Logitech now has a computer mouse with a secondary thumbwheel -- that would also maybe work but the thumbwheel would probably end up getting accidentally knocked a lot.

Another thing, on my keyboard the volume keys adjust the OS system volume in 7% or 8% "linear" jumps whereas the my receiver volume can adjust in 0.5DB increments which is the number I actually want to adjust.

If you keep thinking about it, you may also come to the same conclusion I did, I wanted a wireless volume knob that actually does all this stuff correctly.


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## RLouis (Jan 20, 2010)

In general, a better AVR controller interface than the typical "sea of buttons" remotes most AVRs come with these days would be GREAT! I have a Marantz 7704 processor and I love it, but hate the remote. I'd love to be able to control it with a wheel that has up<>down and back into or out of a menu system and a select function with one scroll wheel. When not in the menu system the wheel defaults to Volume up<>down BUT because there's no button labels on a remote now> the AVR menu system would always have to come on and overlay the screen any time anything was accessed to show where the user is in the menu system for navigation. Would be nice but it would take co-development of the handheld dial controller and the AVR GUI to work properly.


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