Piping music around the house

[rhinochopig]

My BIL wants to pipe music from a single source - Ipod + dock - around two or three rooms in his house. Now he's not an audiophile at all, only wants the music to be low level back-ground stuff, and because of this wants to do it as cheap as is possible.

So far I've suggested using a single amp and wiring two sets of speakers in parallel from the amp and using local volume controls - can you even get these (a variable resistor with an input + output in a metal box) - to trim the volume locally.

The other suggestion is to use a 5.1 or 7.1 amp that has a stereo setting that will essentially deliver the same sound to each speaker.

So what do people recommend as the cheapest workable solution - he currently has no amp, but 4 speakers and the dock and ipod?

Thanks

Rich

[TheHeretic]

Bunch of airport expresses, and use airplay? It can run on multiple speakers. Then just plug in what you want. Can use them for other stuff as well, (network printers, wifi extension, etc). Would have to use the remote app and set up the iTunes to stream to multiple speakers.

Sonos could be a solution as well, but don't know about that.

Edited by TheHeretic on Monday 10th December 21:18

[rhinochopig]

TheHeretic said:

Bunch of airport expresses, and use airplay? It can run on multiple speakers. Then just plug in what you want. Can use them for other stuff as well, (network printers, wifi extension, etc).

What bits do you need though so I can work out cost? Wouldn't this be more expensive than a cheap amp and some bell wire / electrical cable? He has no interest in spending money on the kit and wants to do the cheapest option that will deliver sound in a couple or rooms.


ETA Sorry, thanks for the suggestion.

[TheHeretic]

rhinochopig said:

What bits do you need though so I can work out cost? Wouldn't this be more expensive than a cheap amp and some bell wire / electrical cable? He has no interest in spending money on the kit and wants to do the cheapest option that will deliver sound in a couple or rooms.


ETA Sorry, thanks for the suggestion.

Well, an AE unit per set of speakers.

[JimbobVFR]

But an Airport express would still need amps, wouldn't drive speakers directly unless I've missed a new model of Airport.
You could add cheap mini amps to each AE and set of speakers and have a much better system than required though, for example http://www.amazon.co.uk/LEPAI-LP2020A-mini-Digital... in each zone, but ideally you would want sensitive speakers using one of those amps.

Actually those T-amps would be ideal for the job without an Airport Express.

Does he have an ipod touch by any chance or another ipod model. You could run iPeng on an ipod touch and have Logitech media server running on a PC or MAC and get a fully functioning squeezebox system going with just a simple app purchase
Add another cheap 2nd hand touch and dock to the 2nd zone a you have a fully multiroom audio system that can sync (play the same stuff) or play completely different music in each room

[rhinochopig]

Thanks for the suggestions chaps, but, the costs are getting more than he wants to spend. All he is after is a bit of background music and it doesn't have to be of great quality.

Those little amps listed might be ideal though + a second dock.

[megaphone]

In line volume controls that work on low impedance speakers are called L pad attenuators, they get hot if over driven but are ok at low levels.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/L-Pad-Attenuator-100W-8-...

You'll still need to match impedance to avoid damaging your amp.

[TheHeretic]

JimbobVFR said:

But an Airport express would still need amps, wouldn't drive speakers directly unless I've missed a new model of Airport.

Well, if it was me, I would simply buy some PC stereo or 5.1 speaker sets, and plug those in. Job jobbed. You can control the volume for each unit in itunes.

[Driller]

rhinochopig said:

So far I've suggested using a single amp and wiring two sets of speakers in parallel from the amp and using local volume controls - can you even get these (a variable resistor with an input + output in a metal box) - to trim the volume locally.

The other suggestion is to use a 5.1 or 7.1 amp that has a stereo setting that will essentially deliver the same sound to each speaker.

Your ideas sound spot on to me. 7.1 receiver using the rears for extra stereo pairs and also the zone 2 (or 3) outputs.

Cheapest and simplest solution IMO.