[Paul B]

Having moved out of a modern (read poorly built) flat, with little to no interior sound insulation to an 1890s stone built terrace my preferred method of pumping Radio 6 around the dwelling (either via the TV or PC and accompanying [cheap] sound system) no longer works. It doesn't even work from one room into the adjoining kitchen (that's how thick the walls are, a cabled solution wouldn't be ideal based on this).

My music is in multiple places:
PC (still in a box from the move - about the only thing)
NAS drive (ReadyNAS duo - 1st edition)
Phone (Android)

However, mainly I listen to either live Radio 6 or shows via Iplayer Radio etc. and I'd like to continue to do so, preferably in the living room / kitchen (attached).

Is there a reasonably simple ("Just Works") method for achieving this? I'd thought about Bluetooth speakers (a couple of) but they seem to be limited as to only play from one speaker without spending a ridiculous amount on a 'system' (Bose / Sonos) which I don't want to do. I'd rather not spend too many FAs on this either.

 

[kelvin]

I bought a Logitech Bluetooth Adapter for about 35 notes (unsure of current FA exchange rate) and hooked it into my amp by the spare phono sockets - works a treat in the main room. Obviously the amp can run two sets of speakers if I wanted but it's fine as it is and solved the 'how do I get my laptop/phone hooked into the system'.

[Falling Down]

Paul in my house in the peak (an old cottage 18" thick walls that killed any wifi) I used a Home plug and two nodes with wireless antennae to flood the house with wi-fi and it worked a treat.  For music I bought a couple of airport express with phono jacks, plugged one in the lounge stereo and the other for the kitchen or upstairs with a pair of PC speakers. 

In my current house I just have the two Airport Express'; one downstairs plugged into the hi-fi and one upstairs n the bedroom into a pair of small PC speakers.  Wifi everywhere and music in the lounge and bedroom.

[Gallant]

[Paul B]

I bought a Logitech Bluetooth Adapter for about 35 notes (unsure of current FA exchange rate) and hooked it into my amp by the spare phono sockets - works a treat in the main room. Obviously the amp can run two sets of speakers if I wanted but it's fine as it is and solved the 'how do I get my laptop/phone hooked into the system'.

Last time I visited Stu he showed me a similar setup with a Bluetooth receiver and small (Topping?) T-series amplifier into a pair of passive speakers. It was very neat but he did moan that the receiver had a poor range. This would work well in one room but I'd have to run the cabling for the second set into the kitchen which isn't going to happen.

Strangely WiFi in this place doesn't seem too affected (I'm impressed with my TPLink router), I can stream video from Google play pretty much anywhere in the house, so that shouldn't be the limiting factor.

Am I right in assuming that for the Apple solution you need an Airport express and something capable of doing something with the signal for each room you'd like to stream music to? Cumulatively that sounds a bit expensive.

There's no such thing as one of the smaller (or even slightly larger) Bose Soundlink type speakers that work in pairs from one bluetooth/wifi signal I'm guessing?

Thanks for all of the input. It might just be a case of a BT/Amp solution for one room and a DAB radio/Phone/portable speaker to live in the Kitchen.

[chris j]

UE Boom bluetooth speaker, link 2 to your android phone with their app, Bubbleupnp for your nas music, Tunein Radio for your radio, job's a carrot for ~£200.

Disclaimer, I haven't tried the linking of 2 speakers at once, I have one in my kitchen linked to an old samsung tab doing internet radio or music from the nas and to my undiscriminating ears the sound is pretty good.

[SEDur]

If you feel a bit Heath Robinson, why don't you go for a Pi based solution and knock up your own little wifi speaker?
What is your electronics like?

Edit: I work in audio electronics, and would be happy to point you in the right direction if you would like.

[Paul B]

If you feel a bit Heath Robinson, why don't you go for a Pi based solution and knock up your own little wifi speaker?
What is your electronics like?

Many thanks, however, I've gone down that direction with RaspBMC and whilst it's great, currently a severe lack of spare time means I'd rather buy off the shelf. I believe Slackers wrote up his Pi solution.

[Johnny Brown]

Am I right in assuming that for the Apple solution you need an Airport express and something capable of doing something with the signal for each room you'd like to stream music to? Cumulatively that sounds a bit expensive.
[/quote]

No, your router acts as the transmitter. The airport express acts as a receiver with a line out. You need one for each set of speakers. They are supposed to simultaneously increase wifi range by acting as a repeater but I can't say I noticed a difference.

I would highly recommend some audoioengine active speakers as part of the solution, high quality sound and look like speakers not like star trek gamer noise pipes. I've got the A2 as my computer speakers.

[Paul B]

Thanks for the clarification; that makes more sense.

Peewee bought a UE Boom (in garish blue and red) before departing to SA. I'll see if he'll allow me to give it a test before I commit to anything.

[tomtom]

I bought some Cambridge amplified speakers a couple of years back - that have an inbuilt DAC converter... Anything that comes in to them via the USB sounds amazing - anything via the headphone type socket (from phone or bluetooth dongle) sounds less amazing. Was quite surprised by the difference...

*I'm not sure this is relevant but anyway....

[joel182]

Thanks for the clarification; that makes more sense.

Peewee bought a UE Boom (in garish blue and red) before departing to SA. I'll see if he'll allow me to give it a test before I commit to anything.

We have a UE Megaboom (in a fetching red) as the sound system for our van and it's absolutely wicked. Really good sound quality and battery life.

[Paul B]

I bought some Cambridge amplified speakers a couple of years back - that have an inbuilt DAC converter... Anything that comes in to them via the USB sounds amazing - anything via the headphone type socket (from phone or bluetooth dongle) sounds less amazing. Was quite surprised by the difference...

*I'm not sure this is relevant but anyway....

The whole thing is proving more tricky than I'd imagined.

I've looked at various wifi solutions (Sonos etc.) and decided that it'll be far too many FAs. Therefore, I'll be going for a system of sorts for the lounge and a speaker/radio for the kitchen. The latter is easily solved, the former less so. I was favouring:
Small Amp (Such as the topping TP-21) ~£40
Speakers (Q-Acoustics 2010) ~£100
Bluetooth receiver (not a rubbish one) ~£30-50

So that all adds up to £170-200. However, I'd seemingly get more functionality (DLNA compatibility = good with my ReadyNAS) out of a mini hifi setup or even a network media player (Teac, Denon etc.) for only a marginal increase in FAs. With these devices it looks as if having iProducts would make my life easier.

Basically I'm confused. The current plan is to go an interrogate some unfortunate member of staff at my local branch of Richer Sounds.

The room is relatively large (high ceilings) and I'm not fond on the idea of having something woefully under-powered.

[kelvin]

and I'm not fond on the idea of having something woefully under-powered.

Last time I changed around my hifi, I gave my daughter my Marantz KE amp and bought an immaculate, classic Pioneer A400 amp secondhand - it's been brilliant. Had it 7 years now, with no issues at all, plenty of power and a decent sound. Might be worth a scout around on ebay for something a few years old, as people often change these things for no reason other than space or boredom.

[Paul B]

I'd noticed a small Marantz system on Ebay that looked very appealing but beyond brand name, I've no idea of what'd be good (ideally it wouldn't be massive either). The same goes with speakers, I'm assuming its possible to pick up something 'good' but older fairly easily if you know what you're looking for?

The Marantz system had no Bluetooth. The BT version was significantly more (and newer).

[butters]

Probably totally unsuitable but this is the mini Hi-fi that I have and really pleased with it as a network streamer for Radio and also off the NAS but it doesn't have wireless built in and no idea if it has Bluetooth included.

Remote as standard and there is an app to control it (Android but suspect the fruity form has their variant) which is not the greatest thing ever if I am honest - nothing massively wrong with it - just seems a bit clunky.

[kelvin]

Yeah - speakers can be had real cheap. I actually gave a set of decent floor standers away this year, as a mate had given me his B&Ws and stands. They don't seem to hold their value at all despite the fact there's not a lot can go wrong with them.

Until this year, I used to work over at the big audiovisual trade show in Amsterdam that's held at the Rai Centre each January and to be honest, the whole scene is moving along so quickly - going simple, not spending too much and making sure you have easy connectivity (cables and bluetooth) would be my personal way forward. Everything changes so quickly.

[mr__j5]

I have one of these.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/marantz/nr1504/mara-nr1504

I mainly bought it to do HDMI switching to the TV with better quality (and surround) audio from the PVR and Xbox.

But it's got wired networking and so is a DNLA box.
You can either play to it from any DNLA app or use its interface to play from a DNLA server or use the internet radio.

I haven't even got as far as adding in surround speakers yet, just using some old quality B&W speakers on the front and I'm very happy with it.

[Paul B]

Probably totally unsuitable but this is the mini Hi-fi that I have and really pleased with it as a network streamer for Radio and also off the NAS but it doesn't have wireless built in and no idea if it has Bluetooth included.

I'd seen that one and the below is interesting... Although depending on where it's placed I may also (£££) need the Wifi dongle. Does it deal with shows that have already aired (i.e. iplayer) as I'm usually not listening live.

Another option is the availability of a USB Bluetooth adaptor. This lets you wirelessly stream music from a huge range of devices, including Bluetooth compatible smartphones, tablets and laptops.

mr_j5 - looks a bit bigger than I'm hoping for!

[fried]

I'd be wary of using bluetooth. I bought a bluetooth device to stream audio from my laptop to my hifi, firstly I needed to buy a bluetooth dongle to send the signal from my laptop. The signal was poor and the music would cut when anyone walked in from of it. Lots of kids playing on their tablets in the same room also played havoc with it. I eventually gave up and went back to Lager's solution of a very long wire. I recently bought a wifi to hifi thingy http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veetop%C2%AE-HiFi-AirMusic-Box-Streaming/dp/B00JKD09B8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441124682&sr=8-1&keywords=veetop+hifi+airmusic+box that works well, but you'd have to get some secondary speakers for another room, and apparently there might be some problem with the music being out of sync. The second problem is that you need to also buy extra software ( I used airfoil) to stream things like the internet and spotify. Itunes has a built in Airplay system, but every developer wants to use there own system...

[butters]

Probably totally unsuitable but this is the mini Hi-fi that I have and really pleased with it as a network streamer for Radio and also off the NAS but it doesn't have wireless built in and no idea if it has Bluetooth included.

I'd seen that one and the below is interesting... Although depending on where it's placed I may also (£££) need the Wifi dongle. Does it deal with shows that have already aired (i.e. iplayer) as I'm usually not listening live.

Don't think so and if it has I have never used it - it's currently residing in storage as I am in the process of renovating my house so I can't check .

Couple of points:

The radio stream also has a slight weird thing that if it drops the signal it will sit there until it picks up the signal again (which may take a couple of minutes) and then picks up where it left off. Not an issue unless you are listening to live sport at which point it is really rather annoying.

Oh and another thing it will do is insert a 3 second pause between tracks off DLNA - not an issue unless it is a mix CD ripped to the NAS or a track that doesn't have definite gaps between tracks.

I'm really selling this aren't I... 

[lagerstarfish]

my concern is about what the neighbors will do to Paul B if they don't like his live music

they already don't like his parking and look how that's working out

buy some really good wireless headphones each and a few less expensive spares for when you have guests

[Paul B]

They stuffed so much bunting (for the cycling) through the letterbox I can only presume they were trying to kill me by means of suffocation lagers!

Back on topic (not for long I'd warrant), the Pure Jongo looks interesting in that if you replace the BT adapter in the above setup (barely any increase in FAs) then you'd have the option of adding a Pure speaker in the kitchen or elsewhere.

http://www.pure.com/wireless-speakers/jongo-multiroom-speakers

Any thoughts?

[tomo]

Paul

Having just gone through this, I've ended up with;

Two of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00O0U37HO?ref_=cm_sw_r_awd_KwF1ub09Q2Y2S . Attached to speakers in lounge and bedroom. (No reason why you can't add more - Neet say up to 10).

Control it with the Whaale app ( http://www.whaale.com/ ) from an ios or android device and you can select which speakers play what from which source and the  sound is synced across all units. Whaale supports streaming from ios, NAS, internet Radio etc.

That would seem to answer your needs for about £55, plus the cost of the speakers...

[Paul B]

Brilliant thanks!