So I got sound over HDMI working some time ago. Now I am trying to get sound over optical or coax to Zone 2 on my Onkyo Tx-Sr607 receiver. When I used custom output in XBMC setttings to plughw:0,3 for I was able to get sound on Zone 1 inside the house. I changed it to plughw:1,1 in the setttings and chaged my asound.config accordingly. When set to plughw:1,1 I get sound through Zone 2 outside, but nothing inside on Zone 1. What gives?

The specs for the HTPC are in my sig.

Here is my aplay
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC887-VD Analog [ALC887-VD Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: ALC887-VD Digital [ALC887-VD Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I have the Onkyo TX-SR508 and was disappointed to discover buried in the manual that Zone 2 will only play analog sources:

Most standard name receivers that have Zone 2 or "multi-room" capability will only accept analog sources for that output. I believe that is true for the Onkyo TX-SR607 as well. At least according to this one update.
www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?...estions-about-Zone-2
I think what one918 is doing to process digital inputs is setting up multiple receivers with one per zone. So I read it as the TX-607 is the receiver he is using to drive his outdoor setup while a different receiver focuses on his indoor setup.

XBMC out-of-the-box was never designed to have dual audio output without extensive coding within the asound.conf file. What makes it harder is the coding is unique to each system configuration so you can't just copy and paste unless you have the same exact box as someone who has successfully coded their asound.conf and is sharing it.

The easiest answer seems to be from additional code that a developer in the XBMC forums wrote (XHBL is his alias) which allows one to set a second audio stream from the SYSTEMS menu. Happily, _PJ_ was able to adapt this code and compile it into his builds of OpenELEC.
openelec.tv/forum/13-miscellaneous/30068...port-xbmc-eden-patch

I am using one of his ION builds right now and it is a FABULOUS experience. In my den, I can enjoy full 5.1 digital sound from a music concert while my box is also downmixing it to 2 channel analog which is then sent to the rest of the house via my single receiver's Zone 2 and an additional 12-channel analog amp.

I also compiled my own OpenELEC 1.02 with the Dharma version of the dual audio patch back in November 2011. It worked but I was having problems with stuttering music so reinstalled the standard OpenELEC and set up a working asound.conf with minimal effort.

Perhaps the 2.0 beta builds don't have this problem but the advantage of the asound.conf approach is that it should still work with future versions once the new AudioEngine branch is integrated, whereas the dual audio patch will not (not without a complete re-write anyway).

I'm sorry, I failed to mention, I do have my Zone 2 as optical. That's why I tried plughw:1,1 in my asound.conf. I have one receiver (TX-SR705, my mistake) with my HTPC connected via HDMI and Optical (analog) to zone 2 via an adapter. I tried settings in Openelec with audio connected as optical and analog with no success.

The builds from _JP_ are post XBMC Eden Final and they have no stutters, at least on the 64-bit ION build that I was using this past weekend. I played music from my own media as well as music from the Pandora add-on for hours without stutter.

As of this morning, I shifted to the 32-bit ION build that _JP_ just made. So I will be testing this further.

You are right about the impact from the new AudioEngine. Happily, I will not have to worry about it for another year. Maybe by then, I can figure out the correct asound.conf for my Foxconn NT-330i box .