Multi room audio setup with Apple bits
Discussion
OK - so I've just moved into a new larger apartment with my wife and (soon to be) baby. I'm not sure if this is an audio question or a computer forum question but i figured there are many on PH who have techno joy
Somewhere on the list of changes, comes getting the multi-room music setup properly. The apartment has two rooms (master bedroom and room for the nipper) and a lounge.
What I woulld like to have is the ability to stream my iTunes library into different rooms. If possible, even different music into different rooms at the same time (e.g. baby sleep sounds into one room, music into the bedroom or lounge).
Kit i have is:
Denon amp and speakers in the lounge.
2 x Airport Express base stations with the speaker jack for Airplay
1 x Apple TV (black)
2 x MacBooks
Lots of iPads / iPhones.
I was planning on having:
1: the Apple TV set up in the lounge with the speakers using one iPad as a Remote
2: 1 x Airport Express in the babies room hooked up to small hifi, controlled by the Remote
3: An ipad base station with wifi in the master bedroom to act as a clock radio / listen to the radio quietly in the bedroom
It seems as if Apple always wants your macbook to be the "centre" of the ecosystem vs a media hub with storage for some reason. Is this correct? And is there a smart way to control switch between mine and my wives iTunes libraries on the fly?
Somewhere on the list of changes, comes getting the multi-room music setup properly. The apartment has two rooms (master bedroom and room for the nipper) and a lounge.
What I woulld like to have is the ability to stream my iTunes library into different rooms. If possible, even different music into different rooms at the same time (e.g. baby sleep sounds into one room, music into the bedroom or lounge).
Kit i have is:
Denon amp and speakers in the lounge.
2 x Airport Express base stations with the speaker jack for Airplay
1 x Apple TV (black)
2 x MacBooks
Lots of iPads / iPhones.
I was planning on having:
1: the Apple TV set up in the lounge with the speakers using one iPad as a Remote
2: 1 x Airport Express in the babies room hooked up to small hifi, controlled by the Remote
3: An ipad base station with wifi in the master bedroom to act as a clock radio / listen to the radio quietly in the bedroom
It seems as if Apple always wants your macbook to be the "centre" of the ecosystem vs a media hub with storage for some reason. Is this correct? And is there a smart way to control switch between mine and my wives iTunes libraries on the fly?
I've got a setup similar to this in my house, an honestly I'm not that happy with it.
Reliability is terrible. Typical problems include:
a) Devices (Airports/Apple TVs) not being 'discovered' by iTunes, you're unable to play through them
b) Devices appearing and disappearing from iTunes
c) Devices dropping off mid-playback
Echo isn't a problem I've encountered, but frankly the reliability issues mean next time round I'll go for Sonos.
Reliability is terrible. Typical problems include:
a) Devices (Airports/Apple TVs) not being 'discovered' by iTunes, you're unable to play through them
b) Devices appearing and disappearing from iTunes
c) Devices dropping off mid-playback
Echo isn't a problem I've encountered, but frankly the reliability issues mean next time round I'll go for Sonos.
talkssense said:
When playing the same music into all rooms, you will almost certainly have an audio delay through the Apple TV and amp which will result in a nice Echo effect.
Not true. I have three airplay devices - an Apple TV, an Airport Express and a jail-broken iphone. On the rare occasion I stream to all three they are all perfectly synchronised.I looked at doing exactly the same sort of thing. Having multiple Airports called different rooms all feeding a six channel power amp which would then feed loudspeakers in different rooms.
The lack of flexibility in Apple e.g. having not being able to take multiple streams all from the same iTunes library kicked it on the head.
I canned the idea, went for SONOS and a NAS. Dumped my iTunes folder onto the NAS, and told SONOS where it was. Now I just need to put new MP3 purchases onto the NAS, tell Sonos to update the Music library and it's all good. No issues of multiple streams pulling from the same library songs handles it all - running five zones without an issue.
The lack of flexibility in Apple e.g. having not being able to take multiple streams all from the same iTunes library kicked it on the head.
I canned the idea, went for SONOS and a NAS. Dumped my iTunes folder onto the NAS, and told SONOS where it was. Now I just need to put new MP3 purchases onto the NAS, tell Sonos to update the Music library and it's all good. No issues of multiple streams pulling from the same library songs handles it all - running five zones without an issue.
Wadeski said:
It seems as if Apple always wants your macbook to be the "centre" of the ecosystem vs a media hub with storage for some reason. Is this correct? And is there a smart way to control switch between mine and my wives iTunes libraries on the fly?
The macbook doesn't have to be the centre but it is the only way you will be able to play to all three airplay base stations simultaneously. You can stream to any airplay base station using the content on any device on your wifi network (iphone / ipad), as well as online apps such as spotify or Tunein Radio.
ios 7 and later has easily accessibly global controls for swapping between airplay base stations - apps like Spotify have the necessary menu embedded. Once source device a. has stopped streaming, the airplay base station is free to be streamed to from device b.
Hope that all makes sense!
BalhamBadger said:
Wadeski said:
It seems as if Apple always wants your macbook to be the "centre" of the ecosystem vs a media hub with storage for some reason. Is this correct? And is there a smart way to control switch between mine and my wives iTunes libraries on the fly?
The macbook doesn't have to be the centre but it is the only way you will be able to play to all three airplay base stations simultaneously. You can stream to any airplay base station using the content on any device on your wifi network (iphone / ipad), as well as online apps such as spotify or Tunein Radio.
ios 7 and later has easily accessibly global controls for swapping between airplay base stations - apps like Spotify have the necessary menu embedded. Once source device a. has stopped streaming, the airplay base station is free to be streamed to from device b.
Hope that all makes sense!
I always thought airplay couldn't do this.
vote for Sonos though - its just works.
sparkyhx said:
out of interest can you now have a person with their own device controlling the speaker in their room? i.e.multi devices each able to independently controlany zone?
I always thought airplay couldn't do this.
vote for Sonos though - its just works.
Good question - give me 5 mins!I always thought airplay couldn't do this.
vote for Sonos though - its just works.
brickwall said:
I've got a setup similar to this in my house, an honestly I'm not that happy with it.
Reliability is terrible. Typical problems include:
a) Devices (Airports/Apple TVs) not being 'discovered' by iTunes, you're unable to play through them
b) Devices appearing and disappearing from iTunes
c) Devices dropping off mid-playback
Echo isn't a problem I've encountered, but frankly the reliability issues mean next time round I'll go for Sonos.
I, too, have such a setup (kitchen, bedroom, living room, office). Reliability is terrible. Typical problems include:
a) Devices (Airports/Apple TVs) not being 'discovered' by iTunes, you're unable to play through them
b) Devices appearing and disappearing from iTunes
c) Devices dropping off mid-playback
Echo isn't a problem I've encountered, but frankly the reliability issues mean next time round I'll go for Sonos.
I don't have a problem with echo at all.
However, the kitchen is wifi and frequently disappears or just drops completely out of sync by a couple of seconds or so. All the hardwired bits work just fine.
I persist with this set up because it has been largely cobbled together over the years from old kit. Rogue Amoeba's airplay software will turn anything into an airplay receiver for not much cash. Their transmitter software also captures all and any sound on a source machine (nice for broadcasting iplayer radio round the house). And at a fraction of the cost of a Sonos set up.
Wadeski said:
I like the look of the Sonos, but I know if its not Apple the chance my wife will use it is zero. She's as thoroughly brainwashed that "Apple = Easy, everything else = Hard and not worth learning" as anyone I've ever met!
VOTE FOR SONOS FROM ME.i had the all Apple setup and at times was a pain. My wife constantly moaned.
Introduced Sonos and she's got it on all the time. The Sonos App on apple is great, your wife will approve
BalhamBadger said:
BalhamBadger said:
Good question - give me 5 mins!
Just tried - yes two devices can simultaneously send music to two base stations on the same network.I think Sonos can handle 32 Or 16 (something like that) devices contolling the music anywhere - which is great flexibility, but allows the kids to play silly beggars, but that soon wears off.
sparkyhx said:
is that cos you have 2 base stations. or is it truely multi device
I think Sonos can handle 32 Or 16 (something like that) devices contolling the music anywhere - which is great flexibility, but allows the kids to play silly beggars, but that soon wears off.
No, I don't think you can have separate streams from e.g. your macbook's itunes library. If someone in the lounge is streaming from the macbook's itunes, someone wishing to listen to something different in the kitchen would need to use another input source (e.g. spotify, tracks stored on iphone).I think Sonos can handle 32 Or 16 (something like that) devices contolling the music anywhere - which is great flexibility, but allows the kids to play silly beggars, but that soon wears off.
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