Skip to main content

Route a Source to Multiple Zones

Goal: make one source — an audio server, a shared cable box, an Apple TV — available and playable in several AV zones.

Whether a source can reach more than one zone comes down to how it's wired, and that splits sources into two kinds:

  • Local sources are physically attached to a single zone's receiver, amp, or TV — plugged straight into one input on the equipment that runs that room. A local source belongs to that one zone and can only play there.
  • Global sources feed a matrix switcher (or a multi-room audio matrix) that can distribute one input to any output. A global source can play in any AV zone, because the matrix routes it to whichever room asks for it.

So sharing a source across rooms is really a question of getting it onto a matrix and marking it Global. A purely local source can't be shared — to put the same content in another room you either give that room its own local source, or feed the source into a matrix and make it global.

Before you start​

  • You're logged in as an administrator.
  • The AV zones that should share the source already exist (see Set Up an AV Zone).
  • For a global source, the matrix switcher itself is commissioned as a device (see Commission a Device).

Local source — attached to one zone​

When you add a source and assign it to a specific AV Zone, it's local: it appears and plays only in that zone, and GEM gives it transport control through its linked device.

  1. Open AV Sources and add or edit the source.

    Open AV Sources

  2. Leave Global source unchecked and pick the AV Zone the equipment is wired to.

  3. Set Device to the physical source so the zone gets play/pause/stop control.

There's nothing to route — the input is hard-wired to that room's receiver or TV. If a room should see only its own attached sources and none of the matrix pool, turn on Local Sources Only on the AV zone.

Global source — distributed through a matrix​

When a source feeds a matrix switcher, mark it Global and let GEM route the matrix for you. A global source shows up in every AV zone's source list, and selecting it sends that input to the selected zone's output.

  1. Open AV Sources and add or edit the source.

    Open AV Sources

  2. Check Global source (not zone-specific). The source now appears in all AV zones instead of one.

  3. Set the source's Address to the matrix input the device is wired to.

  4. On each AV zone, set Address to that zone's matrix output.

    Open AV Zones

  5. When a user selects the source in a zone, GEM routes that input to the zone's output on the matrix automatically.

Audio and video on different paths

If a source's audio and video route through separate matrices (or to separate endpoints), use the source Address's advanced mode to set the video routing, video endpoint, audio routing, and audio endpoint addresses independently.

Trimming the global list per zone​

A global source is offered everywhere by default. To keep it out of a particular room, add it to that zone's Hidden Global Sources — the source stays global, it just won't appear in that one zone's menu.

Verify it​

Select the source in two different zones and confirm both play it. For a global source, confirm each zone receives the correct feed — the matrix should switch its input to that zone's output when the source is selected.