Multi Room Speakers without going the 'Sonos route'.
Discussion
I'm out of touch with current technology....hence need some help/advice.
Old house had hard wired speakers across various rooms which we controlled via Amp and the source was PC (playing own ripped CD/music files).
Have just bought next house and don't think that we'll set a full/old school hi-fi system, reality is that we just tend to have some background music playing whilst pottering/entertaining. For past year in a rented hse we used laptop connected to transmitter which supposedly meant that the receivers ( which were connected to active spkrs) could stretch from room to room....reality was that they couldn't.
I'm lost with current tech and the use of phrases such as streaming ( i 'get' streaming spotoify etc, but all i want is to be able to access all music from my stash on lappy/pc). And i'd like to send an audio signal from that to active speakers in other downstairs rooms ( not whole of hse but for sure most of the d/stairs rooms).
Sonos and other systems seem a step above what we need (?).
Ideally want to be have active spkrs be able to access a signal over home network OR from a powerful enough transmitter/receiver to get from room2room.
Its the tech surrounding that transmission that i need help with - suggestions welcomed.
(am sure sonos etc are great, but surely there's a simple solution to save spending a cple of grand )
Old house had hard wired speakers across various rooms which we controlled via Amp and the source was PC (playing own ripped CD/music files).
Have just bought next house and don't think that we'll set a full/old school hi-fi system, reality is that we just tend to have some background music playing whilst pottering/entertaining. For past year in a rented hse we used laptop connected to transmitter which supposedly meant that the receivers ( which were connected to active spkrs) could stretch from room to room....reality was that they couldn't.
I'm lost with current tech and the use of phrases such as streaming ( i 'get' streaming spotoify etc, but all i want is to be able to access all music from my stash on lappy/pc). And i'd like to send an audio signal from that to active speakers in other downstairs rooms ( not whole of hse but for sure most of the d/stairs rooms).
Sonos and other systems seem a step above what we need (?).
Ideally want to be have active spkrs be able to access a signal over home network OR from a powerful enough transmitter/receiver to get from room2room.
Its the tech surrounding that transmission that i need help with - suggestions welcomed.
(am sure sonos etc are great, but surely there's a simple solution to save spending a cple of grand )
Have a look at the Wiim systems.
You plug the device in to your speakers and control the music from your PC / Laptop / Device.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BJDY6D1W/
It's quite a complex business that's been discussed on here before.
Different people want distinctly different things.
Sometimes you want one phone to control the whole house, sometimes there's multiple people wanting different stuff in different rooms.
I've faffed with all sorts, DLNA wIFI DACs, Bluetooth receivers, multiple Pi-based music servers.
My partner is less technical and prefers a CD player in the lounge and the SP2 button on the amp to connect to the kitchen.
Different people want distinctly different things.
Sometimes you want one phone to control the whole house, sometimes there's multiple people wanting different stuff in different rooms.
I've faffed with all sorts, DLNA wIFI DACs, Bluetooth receivers, multiple Pi-based music servers.
My partner is less technical and prefers a CD player in the lounge and the SP2 button on the amp to connect to the kitchen.
Why would you not get Sonos? Sounds ideal for your needs, plus you’d be surprised how quickly you will adjust to new tech once demo’ed or experienced.
I could see the point in getting something else for audiophile quality music, but background music?
Can easily connect your laptop to your local network as a streaming source and control it from your mobile devices these days too.
If you get a voice activated speaker, like the Sonos One, just tell it what you want played. No need to touch mobile devices either.
Could also just put a single Sonos One for £150 in every room for background music, and build out as funds allow. I think you can pair Sonos Ones to make a stereo pair for example. It won’t cost £2k to get started.
Personally, I find bluetooth fiddly vs having always connected wifi speakers like Sonos. I would not want to manage multiple bluetooth speakers across multiple devices in every room. What a nightmare.
I could see the point in getting something else for audiophile quality music, but background music?
Can easily connect your laptop to your local network as a streaming source and control it from your mobile devices these days too.
If you get a voice activated speaker, like the Sonos One, just tell it what you want played. No need to touch mobile devices either.
Could also just put a single Sonos One for £150 in every room for background music, and build out as funds allow. I think you can pair Sonos Ones to make a stereo pair for example. It won’t cost £2k to get started.
Personally, I find bluetooth fiddly vs having always connected wifi speakers like Sonos. I would not want to manage multiple bluetooth speakers across multiple devices in every room. What a nightmare.
Edited by wyson on Sunday 3rd November 12:17
Might be more complicated than you're looking for but Roonlabs is a brilliant multi room/location system. https://roon.app/en/how-roon-works
You have a Roon server, any PC/Apple/Linux you choose with all your music on it in almost any format. You use a PC/Mac/iPad/Any device almost as a controller - can have multiple controllers. And you have output devices - many manufacturers sell Roon Ready devices, from amplifiers, streamers to active speakers and you can also make your own with a Raspberry Pi and an eBay amp if that's your thing.
Sound quality excellent and you can route music to any of the output devices using any controller.
But what makes it magic is the experience. Roon identifies your music and downloads shed loads of metadata about the artist, the musicians, how they are linked to other bands, other tracks, writers etc. So as you play a track Roon can tell you who the musicians are, who they usually work with, their history, who wrote the track, what else they wrote etc. There are other ulti room systems but at the oment, I dont thin there is another one which is designed to deliver high quality music with so much info at the same time. https://roon.app/en/music
Only caveat is you need to buy Roon, it's not free, and all the devices need to be connected, WiFi or Ethernet. But in today's home that's hardly an obstacle. And it's well worth paying for !
You have a Roon server, any PC/Apple/Linux you choose with all your music on it in almost any format. You use a PC/Mac/iPad/Any device almost as a controller - can have multiple controllers. And you have output devices - many manufacturers sell Roon Ready devices, from amplifiers, streamers to active speakers and you can also make your own with a Raspberry Pi and an eBay amp if that's your thing.
Sound quality excellent and you can route music to any of the output devices using any controller.
But what makes it magic is the experience. Roon identifies your music and downloads shed loads of metadata about the artist, the musicians, how they are linked to other bands, other tracks, writers etc. So as you play a track Roon can tell you who the musicians are, who they usually work with, their history, who wrote the track, what else they wrote etc. There are other ulti room systems but at the oment, I dont thin there is another one which is designed to deliver high quality music with so much info at the same time. https://roon.app/en/music
Only caveat is you need to buy Roon, it's not free, and all the devices need to be connected, WiFi or Ethernet. But in today's home that's hardly an obstacle. And it's well worth paying for !
thx folks....
the general rationale i have/had is that i alrready have some active speakers, and as i only use music from my pc - i figured that there may be an easy'ish way to connect existing speakers and no doubt more to the home network.
I've been kind of blinded to certain things, because many use the word wifi when they're talking about bluetooth - and as a cple have written in replies, bluetooth is crap for transmitting from room to room. In addition, many manufacturers aim their blurb at features which have zero relevance for my useage; voice activated, using a phone and umpteen bits of waffle about applplay/spotify etc - which left me thinking that these systems can't or don't just play from a simple source.
i'll delve more into Sonos & Alexa type setups and see what's what....thx again all.
the general rationale i have/had is that i alrready have some active speakers, and as i only use music from my pc - i figured that there may be an easy'ish way to connect existing speakers and no doubt more to the home network.
I've been kind of blinded to certain things, because many use the word wifi when they're talking about bluetooth - and as a cple have written in replies, bluetooth is crap for transmitting from room to room. In addition, many manufacturers aim their blurb at features which have zero relevance for my useage; voice activated, using a phone and umpteen bits of waffle about applplay/spotify etc - which left me thinking that these systems can't or don't just play from a simple source.
i'll delve more into Sonos & Alexa type setups and see what's what....thx again all.
I have a bunch of Lithe Audio ceiling speakers dotted around the house, all connected to wifi and then stream to them from my phone using airplay. When it works its great but you have to select each room every time you want to play stuff and speakers often wont connect despite showing up in airplay. The Lithe App is utterly crap. On reflection I should have probably hard wired them all when installing, might have helped as I think its switching between Access Points which is causing issues.
quick update.
i bought a wireless 2.4ghz transmitter and 2 receivers; obvs transmitter plugs into source, each receiver has a left/right 'out'...so 1 per set of speakers.
So far initial tests are:
will just about reach from kitchen to lounge - which is about 25ft but through walls ( much less than the 100m+ claim)....'just about' = the signal stayed stable for a while and then cracked every now and again.
I moved the source to adajacent room to lounge which will be the home office - and works flawlessly through the wall that separates those rooms. Now just nee dto see whether it will reach back to kicten from office - guessing it should.
If that works, then fair solution for my needs; cost £80'ish, my music is on my office pc's as well as 'general' lappy, so no hardship using one of those as source. Already have 1 set of actives, just need another pair to go above kitchen wall units.
i bought a wireless 2.4ghz transmitter and 2 receivers; obvs transmitter plugs into source, each receiver has a left/right 'out'...so 1 per set of speakers.
So far initial tests are:
will just about reach from kitchen to lounge - which is about 25ft but through walls ( much less than the 100m+ claim)....'just about' = the signal stayed stable for a while and then cracked every now and again.
I moved the source to adajacent room to lounge which will be the home office - and works flawlessly through the wall that separates those rooms. Now just nee dto see whether it will reach back to kicten from office - guessing it should.
If that works, then fair solution for my needs; cost £80'ish, my music is on my office pc's as well as 'general' lappy, so no hardship using one of those as source. Already have 1 set of actives, just need another pair to go above kitchen wall units.
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