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Whole-House Audio Tutorial - Design

Section 1: Designing a Whole-House Audio System

You don't have to design every last detail of your whole-house audio system before installing the wires and putting up the sheetrock...but a good plan will help insure a smooth and easy installation, and result in a system that best meets your needs.

First we'll present a plan markup method that will let you easily keep track of your evolving whole-house audio system. Then we'll decide how to "zone" out or divide your system. Then we'll start at the speakers, and work our way back to the audio source equipment.


How to Mark-Up Your Plans

It's a good idea to mark up a copy of your floorplan with the decisions made at each step.

When working up system quotations for customers, we mark up a floorplan with a simple coding system. (There's not usually much room to write!) For each low-voltage wall-outlet or other piece of in-wall-mounted equipment, we start with a unique two digit number, followed by lower and upper case letters that represent each low-voltage connection. (See Table 1, below.) For instance, if wallplate number 3 has an RF output jack for the TV, an infrared input jack for a set-top infrared receiver, and a headphone jack, it would be labled "03RiH" on the plans.

CodeDescription Standard Connector
Signal goes
into wall		Signal comes
out of wall
rRRF Modulated video/audio signals. F-Connector
sSS-Video Cable
aALine-level audio, Mono. 1/8" Phone Jack
bBLine-level audio, Stereo. 1/8" Phone Jack
i
i(#)		IInfrared signal jack. # = Zone number, if associated with one zone. 1/8" Phone Jack
c(#)C(#)Speaker level audio, both channels. # = Zone number. 5 Way Binding Posts (4 positions.)
d(#)D(#)Speaker level audio, left channel. # = Zone number. 5 Way Binding Posts (2 positions.)
e(#)E(#)Speaker level audio, right channel. # = Zone number. 5 Way Binding Posts (2 positions.)
F(#%)Impedance matching volume control location. # = zone number. % = speaker pair letter.
k(#)%Keypad location. # = Zone number, % = Number of gangs wide.
H(#)Headphone jack out. # = Zone number.1/8" Phone Jack
vVNTSC Baseband Video
Table 1 Low-voltage planning codes.

This method helps in a number of ways: You can count the number of like letters to determine how many inputs and outputs you need to handle back at the headend; You can determine how many "gangs" wide each wallplate needs to be; You can work up separate drawings for each wallplate including configuration, parts, and exact location (don't forget to specify "outlet" or "wallswitch" height from the floor); And you can tie the wallplate drawing back to the plans by the outlet number.

For built-in speakers, draw circles or rectangles at the approximate location on the plans, and write in the speaker model number, followed by the zone number and speaker pair letter in parenthesis, then L or R for left or right channel.


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Zones and Speaker Pairs

How many zones? How many speaker pairs in each zone? The answers to these two questions will drive the rest of your whole-house audio system design.

Don't skip whole-house audio speakers in a room because it is a "home theatre" room. Consider using in-wall or freestanding speakers to handle both the rear channel surround and whole-house audio task! (We'll cover automatic switching later.) Turning on the "house" audio should fill the whole house with audio (except for the areas specifically muted), without going in and "firing up" the home theatre system.

Single-Zone System

You can have a single-zone system, where, at any given time, all speaker pairs will play the same audio. This type of system is least expensive and simplest to install.

Look at the layout of your home and decide which rooms or areas will have a speaker pair. Don't worry about exactly where they will go or what kind of speakers you will use. We'll cover that later.

Multi-Zone System

If you want to be able to listen to different audio sources in different areas, you need a multi-zone system. To determine each zone, think in terms of "listening areas." Two rooms connected by a large "doorless" opening are actually one listening area since it wouldn't make sense to have different audio sources playing in each room. Often people consider an attached bathroom to be the same listening area as the bedroom. Partition your plans by zone and number the zones.

If the number of zones is six or less, great! If you have 7 to 18 zones, you'll need some additional equipment. If you have over 18 zones, you need to split the system into multiple, separate, systems.
Then determine how many speaker pairs are needed within each zone. Very large rooms may need more than one speaker pair but, generally, one pair per room is sufficient. If a zone has more than one speaker pair, assign letters (from A up) to each speaker pair within that zone.

If each zone ends up with one speaker pair, great! If some zones have more than one speaker pair, you'll need a bit of additional equipment and possibly some additional controls on the walls. A zone can have any number of speaker pairs.

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Speaker Selection

Let's start by looking at each individual room, normally served by one speaker pair. Speaker selection and placement is driven by the fidelity desired, versus budget and obtrusiveness of the speakers.

Pick out your speakers for each room and mark their approximate location on your plans. We'll cover placement and wiring later.

Good
If you just want decent quality background music, and/or the most unobtrusive speaker installation possible, use 6 1/2" round ceiling speakers. These small, round, flush-mount speakers blend in with other round ceiling fixtures such as can lights. Although, sonically speaking, the ceiling is about the worst place to mount speakers, many people find the quality acceptable.

For very small rooms, such as a bathroom, you can use a special 6 1/2" round stereo speaker. Do not use a lone regular speaker; the music won't sound right without both channels!

Better
For better quality sound reproduction, while still maintaining the unobtrusiveness of ceiling mount speakers, use 8" round ceiling speakers. These flush-mount speakers also blend in with other round ceiling fixtures.
Best
For the best sound, consider in-wall rectangular speakers. While visible, they have a clean uncluttered look that blends in with any decor. Properly installed, their sound quality rivals high-end freestanding speaker systems. They come in several sizes and capacities:
  • 80 Watt.
  • 100 Watt.
Freestanding
In some rooms, you may choose to use regular (cabinet) speakers rather than built-in speakers. To bring both speaker wires out of the wall in one wall-box, mark 'C(#)' on your plans (where # = zone number.) To bring the the wires out in separate locations, mark the left position with 'D(#)' and the right with 'E(#)'.
Outdoor
Outdoor sound can be difficult. Just remember: It takes more power to equal the same apparent sound level. Plus, there's the weather to consider. Here are a few options:
  • Weatherproof bookshelf speakers mounted anywhere and everywhere. Our landscape lighting specialist acheives terrific results by just "stashing" these inexpensive little speakers in bushes, on poles, under eves, etc.
  • Moisture resistant ceiling speakers mounted in the eaves.
  • The ubiquiutous Rock speakers.
  • In-ground speakers.
See our Speakers Main Page for more information.

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Speaker Pair Options

You have some options you might want to consider for each speaker pair you've decided on.
Local Source Option
You may want to be able to "co-opt" the built-in speakers in a room for playing locally generated speaker level audio. For instance, you might have a bookshelf stereo in the room that could benefit from the better built-in speakers. Or you might want to use the built-in speakers for the rear channel of the local surround sound system. If you do, make a guess where the audio source is likely to be located, and mark the nearest wall on the plans with 'c(#)'.
Headphone Jack Option
If you would like to be able to "jack-in" and listen to the whole- house audio system privately, mark the plans with 'H(#)' where you want the jack.
Speaker Pair Volume Control Option
When a zone has more than one pair of speakers, you'll need some way to control the volume of each speaker pair within the zone. (All speaker pairs in a single-zone system.) Trust me, you will need individual control, at the very least, for setup and balancing. Speakers vary, and rooms vary. There are three ways to do this:

Manual Controls Near the Speakers
You can use impedance matching manual volume controls located in each room near the speakers they will control. Mark the plans with 'F(#%)' where you want the volume control. (#=zone number, %=speaker pair letter.)
Manual Controls At the Headend
If you don't need to control the individual speaker pair levels from out by the speakers, you can put manual controls back with the headend equipment. We'll cover this option later.
Automatic Controls At the Headend
A third alternative is to put remotely controllable volume controls back at the headend and use a handheld remote control and IR pickup within the zone, or the zone's keypad, to control the individual speaker pair's volume settings. More on this later.

Note that, in a multi-zone system, a zone with a single pair of speakers does not need a separate volume control. (See "Zone Options" below.)


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Zone Options

You may want to be able to control the audio source equipment playing in each zone (or in the whole house for single-zone systems). For instance: you can stop, skip, and play the CD player; fast-forward the VCR; raise and lower the zone's volume; etc. There are two ways to accomplish this in each zone:
Zone Control Keypad Option
You can use one or more wall-mount keypads. In a room. The keypads allow you to select the audio source, control the volume, mute, and many other functions. Keypads can be one or more "gangs" wide, but at least two gangs are recommended for all but the most rudimentary control. Scan the keypads page to select keypads for each location, then write 'k(#)%' on the plans where the keypads will go. (#=zone number, %=number of gangs wide).
Infrared Pickup Option
You can place one or more infrared pickups in each zone. Then use a hand-held remote control in the zone. See the IR receivers page. For free-standing IR pickups, note the location of the wall-jack with 'i(#)' on your plans. For built-in IR pickups, note the location of the pickup on the plans with the model number of the pickup followed by the zone number :'(#)'.

Note: Except for single-zone systems, each zone must have at least one keypad or IR receiver.

Each zone can mix and match as many keypads and IR pickups as desired.

If you went for the "Manual Controls Near the Speakers" option, and the "Zone Control Keypad" option, you will have a manual volume control right next to a keypad. This happens when a zone has more than one speaker pair. The manual volume control is for the local speaker pair. (With the other pair, and their manual volume control somewhere nearby.) The keypad is for the zone, which includes both speaker pairs. Changing the volume with the keypad changes the level for both speaker pairs. Turning the volume control changes only the local pair.


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Audio Sources

Your whole-house audio system will obviously need some audio sources. On a separate piece of paper, make a list of all audio sources and their location. On your plans, mark the location of all audio sources that will not be located with the headend equipment with a 'B'.

AM/FM Tuner

If you're planning a single-zone system, you'll probably be buying an off-the-shelf amplifier to drive it. Nowadays, it's getting hard to find and amp that doesn't have a tuner built-in, so just use that tuner as one of your audio sources. (See Single-Zone System Amplifier below.)

For multi-zone systems, you'll need a simple remotely controllable AM/FM tuner. Again, it's hard to find just a tuner, so go ahead and buy a low-power tuner/amp and just not use the amplifier part of it. (Use the 'tape out' jacks.) Look for a tuner/amp with these features:

  • Decent quality. (Name brand.)
  • Includes an infrared remote control.
  • All preset AM and FM stations can be scanned through with an "UP" and "DOWN" button.
  • Preset AM and FM stations can be directly selected with one or two 0-9 button presses.
  • Has "tape out" jacks.

CD Player

With CD Players getting as cheap as they are, you might want to dedicate a player to the whole-house audio system. If you do, just get one with a remote. If you want to share your home theatre CD player, count this as a "remote audio" source on your plans.

Other Audio Sources

Any other audio sources, such as laserdisk, VCR, satellite, DMX cable audio, etc. will probably be shared with your home theatre. Mark these on your plans as remote audio sources.

Why would you want video type sources like a laserdisk to go into your whole-house audio system? Two reasons. Let's say you're playing a laserdisk in the home theatre room and watching it (via the video distribution system) in the bedroom. You can use the IR distribution system to control the laserdisk from the bedroom. And you can use the whole-house audio speakers for better stereo sound!

If you have a single-zone system, you must keep the number of audio sources to the number that the Tuner/Amp can handle.

If you have a multi-zone system, and the number of audio sources is eight or less, great! If you have more than 8, you can run the extra sources through the Tuner/Amp and select them that way, but it will be rather cumbersome.


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Headend Equipment

Next, you need to plan the "headend" of your whole-house audio system. This is where: all the speaker wires, infrared control wires, remote audio source wires will meet; where the controll and amplification equipment will reside; and where some audio sources may reside.

First you need to choose a location for the whole-house audio headend. Then you need to choose the equipment that goes in the headend.

Headend Equipment Location

There are two schools of thought to choosing a headend location. Rather than arbitrarily presenting only one, I'll tell you about both and you can decide which makes more sense in your situation.
Headend Equipment in Equipment Room
You presumably have already designated a location for the telephone, network, & video distribution headend. You can use this same location for the whole-house audio headend as well. But there are two potential problems with this location: distance from other audio sources; and environmental.

You will probably want to be able to pipe remote audio sources through the whole-house audio system. For instance, the 100 disk CD player in the home-theater room. This requires that you carry the CD's audio output, at line-level, to the whole-house audio headend. Wiring line-level audio through a house can be tricky; as it is suseptable to picking up AC "hum." If the distance is not great, (less than 50 ft) you use high quality shielded audio cable, and you are very careful to keep the cable away from all AC wiring, you can get away with this.

The other problem is that audio equipment is rather more finicky about its environment than telephone and video-distribution equipment. You may have already chosen a location for the equipment room that, while not perfect, was acceptable for the other equipment. We don't recommend it, but I've seen several telephone and video distribution headends located in garages and even in an attic. Tough on the equipment, but apparently workable. You will not get away with exceeding the environmental specifications of audio equipment! And keep in mind that audio amplifiers can put out quite a bit of heat.

  • If your equipment room is open to the environmentally controlled area of the home, you'll be fine.
  • If the equipment room is closed off by inside walls, ventilate it lightly with inside air. Use convection cooling with at least 40 square inch grilled openings, top and bottom in the access door or in the wall. Or use forced air exhaust, thermostatically controlled.
  • If the equipment room includes an ouside wall, thermostatically controlled forced air exhaust or an air conditioner register in the room is required.
Headend Equipment in Home Theatre Room
Another option is to place the whole-house audio equipment near the other audio equipment in the home theatre room. This takes care of both the "piping line-level audio around" and environmental problems. But it does mean that you will have a lot more wires and some equipment that is not necessarily "asthetically pleasing" in your home theatre room. Also there is the issue of bringing all the wires through the wall into the room. Massive wallplates or just leave a big hole?
The Ultimate Equipment Room
Figure 1 The Ultimate Equipment Room
These are some thoughts I've had about what the ultimate equipment room might be. I dream about this every time I contort my hands deep into a shelf, trying to connect one of eight thousand hidden wires to one of four thousand hidden connectors on the nether side of a piece of equipment. If you take nothing else from this "perfect room" idea, take the concept of "backless equipment racks" and try very hard to figgure a way to allow rear access to the equipment. You'll be glad you did.

Refer to the figure. A false wall covers one end of the home theatre room. An HVAC register in the room keeps it cool. The room should be deep enough to allow a foot or so (depending on your personal thickness!) between the back of the TV and the outside wall. A narrow (24") door provides access from the home theatre room. The door could even be disguised as panneling or a moving bookshelf!

The space for the projection TV is just a framed hole in the wall.

Figure 2 Another Version

The audio and video equipment racks are built into the wall beside the TV opening. They should be 19" wide, with at least six shelves each, 8" apart. Leave the backs of the shelves open to the equipment room. Trim out and cover to taste.

The back of the false wall (and other walls in the equipment room) should be covered with unfinished plywood. This is the surface of choice for mounting equipment. Use the wall to the left to mount the whole-house audio equipment, the wall to the right to mount the whole-house video distribution equipment, and the outside wall on the far right for the telephone equipment. (Note that most "whole-house" equipment is designed to be wall-mounted, with few user controls. And most home theatre equipment is designed to sit on a shelf with the front panel accessible.)

Note how the whole-house audio equipment is right next to the home theatre audio sources and the video distribution equipment is right next to the home theatre video sources! Quick and easy hookups all around.

Bring the wires in from the rest of the house up through the floor and/or down through the ceiling. Keep all signal wires high, running across the wall in large wire-hooks, then down to the equipment. Keep all AC wiring low, running up only to connect to the equipment. Route AC on one side of the equipment stacks and signal wires on the other. This way you keep AC away from the signal wiring.

Single-Zone Headend Equipment

Equipment for a single-zone headend may consist of just a tune/amplifier. A full-blown single-zone headend may also have: IR distribution emitters and a connecting block; speaker volume controls or switches; and audio sources such as a CD player.
Single-Zone System Amplifier
A single-zone system typically uses one "off-the-shelf" tuner/amplifier to select the audio source, provide the AM/FM tuner source, and amplify the selected source for the whole house.

And no, you can't use your home theatre amplifier for the whole house too. There are about a half-dozen good reasons why. (Left as an exercise for the reader.) Look for a tuner/amp with these qualifications:

  • Decent quality. (Name brand.)
  • Includes an infrared remote control.
  • Can be turned on and off from the remote control. (Very important.)
  • All preset AM and FM stations can be scanned through with an "UP" and "DOWN" button.
  • Preset AM and FM stations can be directly selected with one or two 0-9 button presses.
  • A switched AC outlet in the back could come in handy.
  • Make sure it has enough "source selections" to handle all your audio sources.
  • The amplifier should have enough power to drive all speaker pairs at a reasonable volume level (don't worry about impedance matching; we'll cover that later). A rule of thumb is to add up the "average" wattage rating of the speakers (only count one channel) and divide by 2. Buy an amplifier with at least this high of a continuous wattage rating.
  • Unless you only have two speaker pairs, don't bother trying to find an amp that handles multiple pairs of speakers. We'll be connecting everything to one set of stereo speaker terminals.
  • Any "surround sound", video selection, and speaker selection features will just be wasted.
Note: We don't sell regular tuner/amplifiers. Just go shopping at your favorite consumer electronics store.
Single-Zone IR Distribution
IR distribution provides remote control of the tuner/amp and other audio sources from remote areas. You will need one IR emitter for the tuner/amp and one for each whole-house specific audio source. Note that you can use one dual emitter for every two devices. Don't forget to count the 'I's on your plans (the remote infrared emitter jacks) and any built-in infrared emitters you specified on the plans.

You will need a connecting block capable of handling the number of emitters you will have (dual emitters count as one):

You'll also need a 781RG power supply for the IR distribution system.

Count up the 'i's on your plan. You will need that many Set-Top or Dinky Link IR Receivers. Also count up any built-in IR receivers you specified on the plans.

Single-Zone Speaker Controls
If you chose the "Manual Controls Near the Speakers" method of controlling individual speaker pair volume, you will only need some way to join all the speaker wires to the amp. The cleanest way to do this is with the Parallel Connecting Block.

If you chose the "Manual Controls At the Headend" method, you will need a multiple speaker volume controller to control the volume of each speaker pair.

If you chose the "Automatic Controls at the Headend" method, you will need a Remote Autotransformer for each speaker pair and a Parallel Connecting Block to tie it all together.

Multi-Zone Headend Equipment

Equipment for a multi-zone headend constists of: a multi-source preamp and IR controller; and sets of power amplifiers. Other equipment may include manual or remote volume controls, an AM/FM tuner, and other dedicated audio sources.
Multi-Zone System Controller
The heart of your multi-zone whole-house audio system, and what I've been leading you up to all this time, is a fabulous product we call the "Zipper." The Xantech ZPR68.

For years, broadcast studios have had remotely controllable devices called "source to destination switchers." These devices have a bunch of inputs and outputs. Their job is simply to switch any input to any output, on demand. This means that, at any given time, multiple outputs could be switched to a single input, or all to different inputs. The fancier models can also perform minimal effects such as fading between inputs.

The Zipper is a consumer version of this device, with a lot of extra features thown in, including the ability to control the volume, muting, balance, base, and treble of each output channel! The zipper takes up to eight stereo line-level audio inputs and routes these to six stereo line-level audio outputs. So volume control and muting happens at the pre-amplifier level; the amps have no controls at all (except for a master on/off).

The Zipper also acts as a infrared controller; it receives infrared commands from IR pickups and Keypads distributed throughout the home and, if the commands are recognized, acts on them. All IR signals are also passed on to common emitter outputs to control other devices.

The Zipper can switch baseband video along with the audio but you probably won't be using this feature unless you have a very unique case.

Note that to use the Zipper, you need a RC68 remote control. This remote isn't for everyday use, but it is required to set up the Zipper, to program your universal remotes, and to program the keypads.

If you identified over 8 zones, you will need the expansion cage and one zone card for each additional zone.

Multi-Zone System Amplifiers
The PA640 amplifiers are a perfect match for the Zipper. Each PA640 handles three speaker pairs at 40 watts per channel. If you have multiple speaker pairs in a zone, there are two ways to hook them up to the PA640 and and Zipper:

Shared Amplifier Channel
In this configuration, all speaker pairs in a zone "share" the same stereo channel in an amplifier. The drawback is that the 40 watts available from the amplifier is divided by the number of speaker pairs it is driving, plus the additional loss of the impedance matching volume controls. Depending on the effeciency of your speakers, the size of the room, and your listening preferences, you may end up underpowered.
Separate Amplifier Channels
In this configuration, you split the line-level output of one zone and run it to multiple stereo channels of the amp. This allows you to have the full 40 watts per channel for each speaker pair. (Or 100 watts if you bridge two channels.)

Figure 3 Sample Audio Block Diagram

Begin drawing a simple block diagram for your whole-house audio system now. (See example in Figure 3.) Show the connections between the ZPR68 and the PA640(s). This will help you determine how many PA640's you need.

Note also that you can bridge the outputs of the PA640 to have 100 watts per channel.

Multi-Zone IR Distribution
IR distribution provides remote control of the tuner/amp and other audio sources from remote areas. Gathering up and emitting infrared signals is a piece of cake when you have a Zipper. It takes care of all the zoning and amplifying for you. The Zipper recognizes infrared codes from the RC68 remote and uses these for setup, and everyday use.

You will need one IR emitter for the tuner/amp and one for each whole-house specific audio source. Note that you can use one dual emitter for every two devices. Don't forget to count the 'I's on your plans (the remote infrared emitter jacks) and any built-in infrared emitters you specified on the plans.

Count up the 'i's on your plan. You will need that many Set-Top or Dinky Link IR Receivers. Also count up any built-in IR receivers you specified on the plans.

Multi-Zone Speaker Controls

If you chose the "Manual Controls at the Speakers" method, you won't need extra equipment at the headend.

If you chose the "Manual Controls At the Headend" method, you will need a multiple speaker volume controller for each zone with multiple speaker pairs to control the volume of each speaker pair.

If you chose the "Automatic Controls at the Headend" method, you will need a Remote Autotransformer for each shared speaker pair and you might need a Parallel Connecting Block to tie it all together.


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Wrapping Up The Design

You're almost there! Another couple of little things and you'll be finished with your whole-house audio system design.

If you provided any infrared pickups in the house, it's time to start thinking about which remote control you will be using. You will need "learning" universal remotes such as the URC1 from Xantech.

As you lay out your headend equipment, you can get an idea of the number of AC outlets you need. A few ubiquitous power-strips should be enough. But remember: don't plug one power-strip into another. (In most areas, this is a fire-code violation.) Each power-strip should plug into a wall-outlet, so you may need to plan for another outlet or two.

At this point you should have a marked up floor-plan, and the beginnings of an equipment list. Go through your floor-plan, and your sketches of the headend equipment. Finish your equipment list. Don't forget to add the interconnect patch cables and Y cables to "tap" off your audio sources. You can use our TechCart system to price out your system...even if you're not ready to order right then (just don't "finish" the order.)

Don't forget that AM/FM tuners need an antenna! If your video distribution plan includes an "off air" (antenna) feed, plan a "drop" for the tuner. If you are going to have cable, it probably won't contain the local AM and FM stations (check with your cable provider) so you will need a small antenna for the tuner. What has worked well for me is to put a little amplified antenna (many models are available that are designed specifically for AM/FM tuners) in the attic and feed the signal to the tuner via coax. Note that you will need AC in the attic to power the antenna.

There seems to be a bit of consternation about splitting audio signals with simple "Y" cables. While the audiophilles may disagree, I have split audio signals up to four ways without any noticable degradation of the signal. The input impedance of modern audio equipment is so high that I can't imagine a problem unless you are splitting the signal a dozen ways or more.

You should work up some rough connection diagrams for the headend equipment. This will help you verify that you have all the interconnect cables you will need. Installation will also go faster. It will also help you understand the "wire flow" and allow you to lay out the equipment, physically, in the optimum manner.

Lastly, and probably most imporantly, work up a pretty detailed physical layout. Measure the space where the equipment will go, and figgure out exactly where things will be mounted. Leave yourself some room between pieces for wire routing. Poor layout choices in the beginning will haunt you for eternity! Remember to plan for maintainability. As the wire-nest grows, you still need to be able to get to everything.


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