We are a Dealer for Roon and also Anthem and the new Anthem STR Integrated is a Piece we absolutely love but unfortunately its not Roon Ready. It does have RS232 and Ethernet so here is what I would like to propose.
I’d like if Roon could most importantly be able to Raise and Lower the Volume and Mute the STR. This would be the first step. Being able to Turn on the unit or wake it from Sleep would be a second wish and source selection as well.
We have the Nucleus Connected USB to the STR which seems to be the best way to go about this.
Can you guys recommend a simple Hardware/Software Solution to be able to accomplish this ? I assume Roon can allow Volume to an Alternate Device. What I am saying is if we pick the USB output on the STR as the Source, when we use the volume slider in Roon, I would like that volume to be able to control whatever 3rd party little divide we end up using to control the STR.
The Anthem STR devices have USB inputs. You can get a Raspberry Pi as a Roon endpoint. It will communicate with the Roon Core server and send a USB signal to the STR. You will have all the functionality you request.
I have an Anthem AVM-60 as my main audio device. I connect it to a Mac mini via HDMI and it works perfectly with Roon. The Pi will be smaller and less expensive than the Mac and just as good.
We are happy using the direct USB out of Nucleus into STR. Its working the volume in the analog domain we are after. In other words making the volume raise and lower in the Roon iPad app to the STR while we are selected on the STR. I don’t think a Raspberry pi would do this but if you think so please advise how ? Will Roon allow the Audio to stream from the Nucleus USB to the STR and be able to simultaneously be able to work the volume through lets say RS232 to the STR with the PI ?
I missed that you want to control the STR’s volume from Roon. Yeah, unfortunately that I have not been able to solve. I use the Anthem remote for that. Sorry for jumping the gun and getting your hopes up!
This isn’t exactly what you are asking for, but would something like this meet your goals? It does allow a single hardware device to control both Roon and the Anthem, but not with the Roon GUI.
It will give you some control within the Roon UI, specifically:
Automatic power on or input selection when using a transport control in Roon (assuming the appropriate device control configuration has been done via Logitech Harmony).
Access to source on / standby control in Roon UI
Incremental Volume Up/Down and Mute within Roon UI (including Ctrl+UP/Down/M)
Also allow control of Roon transport and some other functions from the Harmony Remote (Also including Roon switching everything on automatically if a user presses play for eg, and auto-pausing when everything is switched off from Harmony remote for eg).
BUT - its also needs something to host it on - a NAS or R-PI running docker for example.
You could spend a bit more and use a Control4 EA1. Once it’s up and running you can control the entire STR including volume from the C4 app on your iPad. While not ideal, once you have the EA1 up and running you’ll also be able to integrate and control a host of other AV gear, lighting, HVAC, etc…
There’s also a C4 plugin for Roon where you also get some control over the Roon UI. I personally haven’t seen it because for some unknown reason Team Roon won’t sell the integration to owners of a ROCK and C4. But it is available to Nucleus owners. There’s a thread about Nucleus and C4 here on the forum.
I’m curious if there’s been any progress on this as I’m in the same boat. I reviewed the Roon Nucleus for TechHive and purchased the review unit.
I have Roon integrated throughout my house (using several streaming protocols and a couple of Oppo units as Roon endpoints) and have the Nucleus connected directly to my Anthem AVM 60. I use the Roon server as a source for all my critical reviews.
The simple way to control the volume is to set Roon for DSP volume playback and the Anthem with its max volume setting at startup or manually adjust the vol control for max volume. I can then set the volume to max and bypass DSP for critical listening or use the DSP volume adjustment for in app control. I also connect the Roon to my Oppo UDP-205 and have a USB connection to a Cambridge CXN network player/DAC.
It would be phenomenal to have better control of the Anthem volume natively and you can probably accomplish with the Anthem’s native IP controls. Anthem uses a standard port and once you have the IP address of the unit you can send commands easily and you get feedback over IP. Discrete power and volume commands make this a piece of cake.
Anthem provides a comprehensive IP command list in a downloadable excel file and the commands for the AVM 60 are common to all the MRX platforms too. I haven’t looked at the SRT command set to see if they are the same but I would bet that they are.
If you are looking for additional testers in this area please ping me as I’d be happy to volunteer and have programmed some home automation command sets for the Anthem gear with IR/RS-232/ and IP in the past. Feel free to ping me.
Hi There, I’m also in the same boat. Roon rock USB to Anthem. I also have PS audio Direct Stream DAC connected via Ethernet and spending analogue over XLR out to the Anthem.
The two ways I manage is either
1)to let Roon handle the volume thru DSP, or
2) use the anthem App to control the volume and use Roon for selecting/playing music
I started the thread and being a Roon Dealer and an Anthem dealer since the beginning of time I would love to see this happen. Danny, Thank you for getting involved and we are going to make this happen together however we have to. I have an STR in my house so I can dox any testing you need and you can have access to it remotely if you like for either Ethernet testing or USB control testing whatever you wish. I have also been in contact with Joey Perfito who is the Regional sales Mgr and my good friend and he will assist as well.
I will get you Joeys Cell and Email if you can text me or email me directly so we can get this moving.
Considering the STR are on the Same Ethernet Network - Using Ethernet controls for Volume and Mute etc is all you need to do with the driver. When I first brought this up with them I think they thought they needed to do a lot of work to get at least volume working so nothing happened. I think you can setup an Ethernet or USB control driver from the Nucleus for Instance if its USB connected in a very short time ?
I am almost sure you can test the driver with me directly and you may not need an STR in house but I’m sure Joey will send you one no problem to get this moving.
I will send this thread to Joey and please email me directly so I can copy us all in and get this rolling.
Looking forward
Craig Shumer
Theatermax LLC
New Jersey
We were dealing with John Bagby… But my guess is he just got busy. The best thing to do would be to have Joey poke John. I don’t want to sidestep John.
I’m a software dev and own an STR. Is the good documentation on the Roon API? I have a python program that talks to the STR now over the network so I would just need to know how to build that into Roon. If you sent me a template that I could just write code into (i.e. put the code for volume up here, power on here, setup the network connection here, etc.) I could take a stab at it!
@Craig_Shumer – a device in-home is absolutely required… remote work, while theoretically possible, has proven to be problematic. Shipping devices is annoying, but development time costs far more than Fedex shipping rates.
@Matt_Lathrop, here is an example extension I’ve written for Meridian devices:
I’ve looked into the IP protocol of the STR, and it’s pretty reasonable (on paper at least) … it shouldn’t be hard to make it work. I’ve learned there is a limitation of 1 TCP connection to the device, and that includes their own app. They are planning to lift this limitation, but it worth noting for now.
Ok volume control sort of works now and I can power off the device.
Two problems:
When the STR goes into standby the USB port shuts down to some extent and my Allo USB bridge no longer shows as a source in Roon. This means there is no way to turn it back on. Is there a way to force it to stay alive in roon?
On connection the audio level isn’t set to match roon but I am working on that.
Not with my Allo unfortunately. Would it even be possible to add an always on option like HQ Audio is? To be clear it still responds to network as far as I can tell. It just turns off USB.