AirPlay 2 home system - mixed speakers and subs
Discussion
Despite being an Apple ‘fanboy’, I wasn’t aware of what AirPlay 2 was.
I knew you could stream to smart speakers via WiFi, but that was about it.
I already owned a couple of Bose Home Speaker 300 units, but because I wanted a ‘whole home’ system I started to buy Sonos units as I thought I had to have the same brand with a dedicated app to have a multi room system…
I then discovered, purely by accident, that steaming from Apple Music using AirPlay 2 allows for control over any smart speaker and allows all your speakers, of any brand, to play simultaneously, with independent volume control for each speaker.
Silly me.
Anyway, this is good because I now have a 2 x Bose 300 and 2 x Sonos One, all playing together around the house.
But I’ve run out of bass, and need to add a beefy sub or two. I don’t really want to spend the silly amount required for a Sonos Sub, and was thinking that a regular hifi or surround sub can be bought for next to nothing and then linked to AirPlay 2 via devices such as the Belkin SoundForm adaptor.
Anyone else running an AirPlay 2 system at home with mix and match speakers and subs?
(By the way, to my ears, the Bose 300 speakers wipe the floor with Sonos One speakers. I know everyone hates Bose, but to me they sound so much bigger and more engaging)
I knew you could stream to smart speakers via WiFi, but that was about it.
I already owned a couple of Bose Home Speaker 300 units, but because I wanted a ‘whole home’ system I started to buy Sonos units as I thought I had to have the same brand with a dedicated app to have a multi room system…
I then discovered, purely by accident, that steaming from Apple Music using AirPlay 2 allows for control over any smart speaker and allows all your speakers, of any brand, to play simultaneously, with independent volume control for each speaker.
Silly me.
Anyway, this is good because I now have a 2 x Bose 300 and 2 x Sonos One, all playing together around the house.
But I’ve run out of bass, and need to add a beefy sub or two. I don’t really want to spend the silly amount required for a Sonos Sub, and was thinking that a regular hifi or surround sub can be bought for next to nothing and then linked to AirPlay 2 via devices such as the Belkin SoundForm adaptor.
Anyone else running an AirPlay 2 system at home with mix and match speakers and subs?
(By the way, to my ears, the Bose 300 speakers wipe the floor with Sonos One speakers. I know everyone hates Bose, but to me they sound so much bigger and more engaging)
I've bought NOS Apple Airport Express Airports (A1392) to add Airplay2 functionality to older hifi speakers. I now have a 1970s 8 cubic ft subwoofer adding bass down to 20Hz to my multi-room sound system.
Driven by a Rotel amp also with some B&W speakers.
Driven by a Rotel amp also with some B&W speakers.
Edited by syncropatrick on Tuesday 1st March 12:27
wjwren said:
Interested as have similar problem and did not want to spend on the sonos sub.
Thats the issue. The Sonos sub is £700. I have no issue paying £169 for each Sonos One, or £199 for the Bose 300, I think it's very reasonable, but £700 for the sub is just way too much.An older, but perfectly working Bose Acoustimass sub (with integrated amp) can be had for around £40, the Belkin AirPlay 2 adaptor is £80... So £120 all in.
The only minor issue is, of course, that a genuine AirPlay speaker will sit dormant on standby and turn on/off as required, but this won't happen with an Adaptor such as Belkin. It will be a manual process to switch the Sub on as required, but I guess this isn't a major issue.
That Belkin looks good. It isnt a major deal to have to turn things on manually.
Ive owned the Yamaha music cast amp previously but that had issues where it would time out or wouldnt connect. I had the amp on cat5 and also a fancy mesh wifi system. Ive now got a sonos and find although it is a lot better it isnt 100%.
Also agree on your point on the sub. A decent BK XLS200 is around £350 so paying £700 for a sonos seems silly.
Ive owned the Yamaha music cast amp previously but that had issues where it would time out or wouldnt connect. I had the amp on cat5 and also a fancy mesh wifi system. Ive now got a sonos and find although it is a lot better it isnt 100%.
Also agree on your point on the sub. A decent BK XLS200 is around £350 so paying £700 for a sonos seems silly.
wjwren said:
That Belkin looks good. It isnt a major deal to have to turn things on manually.
Ive owned the Yamaha music cast amp previously but that had issues where it would time out or wouldnt connect. I had the amp on cat5 and also a fancy mesh wifi system. Ive now got a sonos and find although it is a lot better it isnt 100%.
Also agree on your point on the sub. A decent BK XLS200 is around £350 so paying £700 for a sonos seems silly.
The turning on and off issue probably isn’t an issue… I have just realised that most decent quality subs have an auto on/off function and turn off when they don’t sense audio input for a while, and back on when they do.Ive owned the Yamaha music cast amp previously but that had issues where it would time out or wouldnt connect. I had the amp on cat5 and also a fancy mesh wifi system. Ive now got a sonos and find although it is a lot better it isnt 100%.
Also agree on your point on the sub. A decent BK XLS200 is around £350 so paying £700 for a sonos seems silly.
I was looking at this, but have never heard of Dali audio:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Part-Exchange-Dali-Sub-...
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