Speaker zones to recieve wifi music from iTunes... how?

While installing a downstairs shower-room and extending and remodelling
my kitchen, I lowered the ceilings in both rooms, so that I could
install, low voltage, recessed spots.
At the same time, I took the opportunity to also install flush mounted,
boat speakers in both rooms. I ran the wiring to emerge at the back of
my TV, where I connected up to the auxillary speaker ports and could
then access the radio stations available through Sky digital, to enjoy
in the two rooms, fed by the zones.

This was great as a quick set-up but, with three young kids in the
house, I soon got fed up with constantly listening to Dora the bloody
Explorer while I showered or made breakfast!

Rather than buying a new music system to feed these two zones, I was
wondering if it would be possible (and economically viable) to set up a
system which would allow the new speaker zones, to pick up music,
wirelessley from my PowerBook G4, as this is by far the best source for
my music, as I have a large library of MP3s and there are all the radio
stations that now netcast.

I have a wireless network operating in the house and this is
distributed through a Vigor 2600G router. Rather than buying wireless
speakers, which are unlikely to allow direct replacement of the ones I
currently have in the ceiling, I am wondering if a device exists that
can connect to standard speakers, act as a receiver, and enable said
speakers to emit sound, as broadcast from my laptop's iTunes, over the
wifi network!

Can this be done or are dedicated wireless speakers the only option for
picking up wifi music?

cheerz
deerz,
deano.

On 2006-11-30 23:45:32 +0000, "deano" <(E-Mail Removed)> said:

> This was great as a quick set-up but, with three young kids in the
> house, I soon got fed up with constantly listening to Dora the bloody
> Explorer while I showered or made breakfast!

Heathen.


> Rather than buying a new music system to feed these two zones, I was
> wondering if it would be possible (and economically viable) to set up a
> system which would allow the new speaker zones, to pick up music,
> wirelessley from my PowerBook G4, as this is by far the best source for
> my music, as I have a large library of MP3s and there are all the radio
> stations that now netcast.

An Airport Express could do that - up to you whether you decide that's
economically viable of course. If you update the firmware on your
Express then you can broadcast to multiple Expresses simultaneously
too, which should help when you're planning zones etc.

And remember, once you've set up your wireless speakers....


(da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da)
We did it. We did it. We did it. Hooray!


Cheers,
Ian
(who quite enjoys Dora the Explorer actually)

Ian McCall wrote:
> On 2006-11-30 23:45:32 +0000, "deano" <(E-Mail Removed)> said:
>
> > This was great as a quick set-up but, with three young kids in the
> > house, I soon got fed up with constantly listening to Dora the bloody
> > Explorer while I showered or made breakfast!
>
> Heathen.
>
>
> > Rather than buying a new music system to feed these two zones, I was
> > wondering if it would be possible (and economically viable) to set up a
> > system which would allow the new speaker zones, to pick up music,
> > wirelessley from my PowerBook G4, as this is by far the best source for
> > my music, as I have a large library of MP3s and there are all the radio
> > stations that now netcast.
>
> An Airport Express could do that - up to you whether you decide that's
> economically viable of course. If you update the firmware on your
> Express then you can broadcast to multiple Expresses simultaneously
> too, which should help when you're planning zones etc.
>
> And remember, once you've set up your wireless speakers....
>
>
> (da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da)
> We did it. We did it. We did it. Hooray!
>
>
> Cheers,
> Ian
> (who quite enjoys Dora the Explorer actually)

Ok, but what do I need to add at the speaker ends? As I said, I'd
rather not have to disturb the current speakers! Ideally, I'd simply be
able to connect them up to a wifi receiver that is picking up music
from my laptop, via my WLAN... would the expresses be able to do this
and feed the speakers? What connections/power sources would be required
for the components?

ta,
Dean
(I also used to like DTE, but with a 6 and 3 year old, and an 8 week
old, in the house... I've been over-exposed for far too long!)

"Ian McCall" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 2006-11-30 23:45:32 +0000, "deano" <(E-Mail Removed)> said:
>
>> This was great as a quick set-up but, with three young kids in the
>> house, I soon got fed up with constantly listening to Dora the bloody
>> Explorer while I showered or made breakfast!
>
> Heathen.
>
>
>> Rather than buying a new music system to feed these two zones, I was
>> wondering if it would be possible (and economically viable) to set up a
>> system which would allow the new speaker zones, to pick up music,
>> wirelessley from my PowerBook G4, as this is by far the best source for
>> my music, as I have a large library of MP3s and there are all the radio
>> stations that now netcast.
>
> An Airport Express could do that - up to you whether you decide that's
> economically viable of course. If you update the firmware on your Express
> then you can broadcast to multiple Expresses simultaneously too, which
> should help when you're planning zones etc.
>
> And remember, once you've set up your wireless speakers....
>
>
> (da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da)
> We did it. We did it. We did it. Hooray!
>
>
> Cheers,
> Ian
> (who quite enjoys Dora the Explorer actually)
>
>
>
> ---
> avast! Antivirus: Inbound message clean.
> Virus Database (VPS): 0651-0, 11/27/2006
> Tested on: 11/30/2006 7:22:50 PM
> avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2006 ALWIL Software.
> http://www.avast.com
>
>
>

Dora sure beats the hell outta the purple anti-christ (Barney)

Cheers!

ISPgeek

http://www.ISPgeeks.com
Hardware and Software Support Forums
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http://www.avast.com

deano wrote:




> While installing a downstairs shower-room and extending and remodelling
> my kitchen, I lowered the ceilings in both rooms, so that I could
> install, low voltage, recessed spots.
> At the same time, I took the opportunity to also install flush mounted,
> boat speakers in both rooms. I ran the wiring to emerge at the back of
> my TV, where I connected up to the auxillary speaker ports and could
> then access the radio stations available through Sky digital, to enjoy
> in the two rooms, fed by the zones.

> This was great as a quick set-up but, with three young kids in the
> house, I soon got fed up with constantly listening to Dora the bloody
> Explorer while I showered or made breakfast!

> Rather than buying a new music system to feed these two zones, I was
> wondering if it would be possible (and economically viable) to set up a
> system which would allow the new speaker zones, to pick up music,
> wirelessley from my PowerBook G4, as this is by far the best source for
> my music, as I have a large library of MP3s and there are all the radio
> stations that now netcast.

> I have a wireless network operating in the house and this is
> distributed through a Vigor 2600G router. Rather than buying wireless
> speakers, which are unlikely to allow direct replacement of the ones I
> currently have in the ceiling, I am wondering if a device exists that
> can connect to standard speakers, act as a receiver, and enable said
> speakers to emit sound, as broadcast from my laptop's iTunes, over the
> wifi network!

> Can this be done or are dedicated wireless speakers the only option for
> picking up wifi music?

> cheerz
> deerz,
> deano.

I think you are much better off using a specialized device such as Sonos:
http://www.sonos.com that uses your WiFi network as a medium and takes
care of storing, accessing and then amplifying the music on the receiving
end.


--

Best Regards,
Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD
http://www.cabling-design.com/
Home Cabling Guide, Cabling Forum, color codes, pinouts and other useful
resources for premises cabling users and pros



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deano <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Ok, but what do I need to add at the speaker ends?

AC power for each AirPort Express and an amplifier for each set of
speakers. The Express' audio output connector can handle a standard
analog or an optical digital miniplug. AirTunes (iTunes audio streaming)
uses an encrypted version of Apple's lossless audio codec, which takes
about half the bandwidth of a PCM audio stream.

On 30 Nov 2006 16:21:17 -0800, "deano" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in <(E-Mail Removed). com>:

>Ian McCall wrote:

>> An Airport Express could do that - up to you whether you decide that's
>> economically viable of course. If you update the firmware on your
>> Express then you can broadcast to multiple Expresses simultaneously
>> too, which should help when you're planning zones etc.

>Ok, but what do I need to add at the speaker ends?

Amplifiers. The Airport Express can drive powered speakers directly,
but needs an amp with unpowered speakers.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

Thanks to all for the suggestions and info.

I'd love to be able to get the Sonos system, but that's a bit beyond
the budget I have for this... maybe Santa will oblidge

Squeezbox looks good for the next phase, when I have some money free
next year.

For now, the Express route with AC amps to power the speakers looks
like the most appropriate route.

Cheerz
deano.

On 3 Dec 2006 02:48:58 -0800, "deano" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in <(E-Mail Removed). com>:

>Thanks to all for the suggestions and info.
>
>I'd love to be able to get the Sonos system, but that's a bit beyond
>the budget I have for this... maybe Santa will oblidge
>
>Squeezbox looks good for the next phase, when I have some money free
>next year.
>
>For now, the Express route with AC amps to power the speakers looks
>like the most appropriate route.

Yep. Good powered speakers also work very well;
e.g., Cambridge Sounds Works on clearance
http://www.bestspeakerdeals.com/stor...ume&type=store
http://www.bestspeakerdeals.com/stor...500&type=store
http://www.bestspeakerdeals.com/stor...2ti&type=store
http://www.bestspeakerdeals.com/stor...1ee&type=store

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>