Alternative to Gramofon?

[VEX]

Ok, I am a Sonos Dealer, but I have been working on a packages that drop the price of doing a multi-Room systems.

It was based around the Gramofon system, but that has disappeared from the market, so I was wondering what else people had found around the £50 a zone mark.

One for Driller I think! Lol

[adsk]

Chromecast audio is the obvious answer.

[miniman]

Interesting product, strange website. Doesn't appear to be any way to buy it, although it states they ship to many places.

[bristolracer]

Think chrome cast has killed off gramafon.
As a matter of interest what amps are you using?

[VEX]

They will be specialist AV ones, 8, 12 or 16 channel to give me the 4, 6 or 8 multi room capability at about half the price of Sonos.

[VEX]

miniman said:

Interesting product, strange website. Doesn't appear to be any way to buy it, although it states they ship to many places.

You could only buy it from the website and now that option seems to have gone.

I supported a support question and got a ‘this is an unmonitored website, please refer to our support forums, so it doesn’t look good.

Will ChromeCast offer DNLA, Spotify and TuneIn playing from iOS as well as (obviously) Android.

V

[bristolracer]

VEX said:

They will be specialist AV ones, 8, 12 or 16 channel to give me the 4, 6 or 8 multi room capability at about half the price of Sonos.

Which manufacturer?
I’ve got a multi room to do for a client soon.

[B17NNS]

Looking at something like this myself.

This seems to supports hi res, airplay and DLNA

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DigiFunk®-AudioCast-...

Review here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vccMGDz3s2E

as does this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MUZO-Cobblestone-Wi-Fi-Au...

Review here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IxN91QRWBM

ETA the cobblestone has just doubled in price. Was £60.

Edited by B17NNS on Sunday 18th February 15:54

[Driller]

Well that’s an absolute crying shame I still think the Gramofon is a tremendous piece of kit and gives the best options for a good signal with its Ethernet port.

As Bristolracer said, it must have been the Chromecast that killed it-bloody WiFi, drives me mad! I know there’s an Ethernet add on option on it but I still don’t think they’re as good.

Those multichannel amps sound interesting. Russound?

Top marks to you Vex for the thread title though-very pithy

Edited by Driller on Sunday 18th February 16:45

[VEX]

bristolracer said:

Which manufacturer?
I’ve got a multi room to do for a client soon.

All the main line manufacturers in the AV/CI market offer them.

Russound, Sonance, MonitorAudio, Origin, Denon are the ones I am looking at, as well as a couple of commercial audio brands. I have accounts will all of these, which helps.

[MrSparks]

VEX, take a look at these...

https://kitchenbathroomradio.co.uk/multi-room-audi...

I bring them in from Europe for use with our bluetooth ceiling speakers to create a cheap multi room system (from £249 a room to end user)

They are surprisingly good to be honest. App is reliable, sound quality good, has Spotify etc etc. Many happy customers.

I've been contacted by the manufacturer numerous times to distribute it but I'm not convinced it'll sell well enough when you can achieve multi room so easily now with Chromecast, Amazon Echo, Google Home etc...

There will be a WiFi multi room version of our best selling bluetooth speakers released next month... might just be what you're looking for (from £349 per room, plug and play) we do full trade on them so give me a shout if you want more info.

[B17NNS]

MrSparks said:

VEX, take a look at these...

https://kitchenbathroomradio.co.uk/multi-room-audi...

Are these all the same, just a re-brand?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DigiFunk®-AudioCast-...

[MrSparks]

B17NNS said:

Are these all the same, just a re-brand?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DigiFunk®-AudioCast-...

Yup, that's one of the reasons why I wouldn't take it on at the time from the manufacturer (well, assuming they actually make it...) there were quite a few of them on Amazon for really cheap. We only buy in small quantities at a time from a European distributor.

They are good for the money just don't expect Sonos quality UX obviously. The app is a common white label app you'll find on a lot of WiFi streamer products..

[B17NNS]

Cheers, was considering one but then spotted the Cobblestone.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MUZO-Cobblestone-Wi-Fi-Au...

Picked up a used one on Ebay today for £25 so I'll give it a go.

I stream from my Mac using JRiver and JRemote currently to a Denon receiver via DNLA.

Hoping this will allow me to add another DNLA zone which I can play independently or link.

[MrSparks]

The Cobblestone app is the same as the DigiFunk one so it should be pretty easy to use.

[scovette]

VEX said:

Will ChromeCast offer DNLA, Spotify and TuneIn playing from iOS as well as (obviously) Android.

Yes. However unless Apple have changed their stance recently you can't stream files from an iDevice sourced from iTunes or Apple Music. (And you probably know this, but with Spotify & Tunein the phone is just a remote control, as the Chromecast streams directly from the internet.) If you're selling it as a package maybe consider including a Home Mini, as voice control is a lot simpler than messing about with a phone? I very seldom use an app now.

Btw, if you want to add a speaker to the multiroom group somewhere you can't run cable there's nice ones by B&O and some other brands.

Edited by scovette on Sunday 18th February 20:03

[B17NNS]

Chromecast has optical out too.

But I don't think they are DLNA certified.

Edited by B17NNS on Sunday 18th February 20:16

[scovette]

Yes they're not certfied, they use DIAL (or at least the video ones do). Doesn't seem to matter as DNLA still works.

[VEX]

The beauty of the Gramofon’s was the Ethernet port.

These are all Wi-fi, which I don’t want.

Ethernet only please.

V.

[scovette]

There's an ethernet adapter for the Chromecasts. Third-party adapters are a lot cheaper then the official one.