Home Music Network

[skinner]

Right,

I am sure this has been done once or twice but really looking for some help to sort my home music out...

So, sitting in the house are the following:

Family Room:
PS3
Mac Mini
Apple Time Capsule 1TB
External 2TB hard drive
Denon Home Cinema Amp running 5.1 set up
Sky
BT Home Hub
Smart TV

Kitchen/Dining Room
B&W Dock (non bluetooth or Wi-Fi)

Sitting Room
Separates Hi Fi Set Up
Smart TV

Due to the layout of the house I am also running a plug & play (Devolo) wi-fi network to carry signal upstairs (home office)

I have put a this lot together with no sense of compatibility so I am starting to bang my head off the wall.

Here's the challenge - I want to be able to play my choice of music from the library on different speakers at the same time. All the music is sitting on the HD of the Mac Mini in iTunes and between myself and my wife we have various Apple iThings (phones, pads & pods) which we would use to select the music to listen to

From reading around the subject I think I need a NAS, although I have a feeling that the PS3 and Time Capsule will sort of do this but need some guidance. I have been pointed in a Sonos direction as well but the styling of their kit doesn't do it for me so would ideally steer clear if I can

I am in no way sentimental about any of this stuff so changing/upgrading is no issue

Any help would be fantastic. - Please point me at another post if you know it's out there

Thanks

[marctwo]

Generally the answer to this is NAS + Sonos.

There are other options but they are a lot more hassle.

[ecotec]

it all depends how much tinkering your prepared to do,

I like tinkering, so I built a pc that runs ubuntu, installed a couple of hard drives with all my ripped music in flac format.
I then run plex on the server, which is dlna compliant so will stream to ps3, blu ray ect without issue and will transcode on demand to the format the device can read - eg a sony bluray player can't play flac but it can play mp3 so it converts it.

Then to access on other tv's use a raspberry pi with rasplex - which will then stream from the server.

This is what i use and its much more customisable that a standard NAS but you have to play about and enjoy tweaking!
its also cheaper! pc cost £220ish could have been less and a PI is £30

If this is not your thing then look at a synology NAS

[craigjm]

Leave the Mac mini on permanently with iTunes running and then hook an airport express up to each of the audio devices and use your iPhones etc as remotes?

[Alucidnation]

Apple TV.

£59 on the refurb store.

[ASK1974]

craigjm said:

Leave the Mac mini on permanently with iTunes running and then hook an airport express up to each of the audio devices and use your iPhones etc as remotes?

This is the cheapest solution but Mac Mini + Sonos is the best solution. Can't see how you can worry about the aesthetics of the Connect and Connect amp, speakers maybe but you don't have to use them. Either way Sonos is without question the best solution on the market and does what you want plus much, much more.

You do not need a NAS if you have a Mac Mini, you're just doubling up and over complicating things. I recently changed from a NAS to a Mac Mini when a client kindly donated me an old one, it's not connected to a monitor I use screen sharing from my iMac to manage it. Makes it much easier to manage your library so stick with that.

For the rest of the system I'd do the following;

Family room : Sonos Connect with an Optical connection to the Denon AVR. You can deactivate the ZonePlayers preamp leaving the Denon in control of volume.

Kitchen/Dining room : replace the dock with a Sonos Play:5.

Sitting room : if you have a pre/power combo loose everything except the power amp and add a Sonos Connect. If not just connect it to a spare input on the amp. As is tackles pretty much everything you'll ever listen to going forward I'd fix the Amps volume and use the variable output of the Zone player. That or just get rid of the lot and buy a Connect and Power amp.

Add extra rooms as you see fit and enjoy...

[Driller]

ASK1974 said:

This is the cheapest solution but Mac Mini + Sonos is the best solution.

I've never used a Sonus, what does the Sonos + Macmini do that Macmini + AppleTV/Airport Express can't with the Remote app? Does the Sonus do multiple simultaneous streams for more than one user?

[ASK1974]

Yep, you can stream different music to all zones, group zones together for symlutaniously playback, queue music, create playlists, set alarms etc... Playlists can also contain music from multiple source as well, such as personal libraries, Spotify Napster and so on. Airplay is a simple means of music playback but the Sonos system is a full blown multi-room music system.

See if you can have a demo somewhere, you'll be hooked once you've had a play.

[probedb]

Alternatively second hand squeezeboxes and something that can have the server software installed (pretty much any linux platform). Do the same job as Sonos for far less money.

[marctwo]

probedb said:

Alternatively second hand squeezeboxes and something that can have the server software installed (pretty much any linux platform). Do the same job as Sonos for far less money.

I run SqueezePlay on some O2 Jogglers with Logitech Media Server running on an HP Microserver.

[PPPPPP]

Driller said:

I've never used a Sonus, what does the Sonos + Macmini do that Macmini + AppleTV/Airport Express can't with the Remote app? Does the Sonus do multiple simultaneous streams for more than one user?

And is the DAC in the Sonus so much better than the Airport Express?

Anyone had experience with the Pioneer N50 as a streamer?

[Bullett]

There is a Raspberry Pi Squeezebox version now as well. Not tried it myself so no idea how good it is.

[Driller]

ASK1974 said:

Airplay is a simple means of music playback but the Sonos system is a full blown multi-room music system..

But doesn't Airplay just describe the act of playing music wirelessly from a mobile source (iPhone, iPod etc) via an Apple Tv/Airport express?

What about connecting to the AppleTV directly with the remote app and streaming your iTunes content on the server over the network?

[TEKNOPUG]

I presume that the B&W Dock is for the iPhone? In which case you can stream all your music via your phone, using whatever free streaming service you like, from the MAC. You can also plug your phone into your Hi-Fi separates with an RCA-3.5mm lead. That's music taken care of. Your Smart TV will stream whatever you throw at it, either wifi or cabled via Devolo. You could even stream music via your TV to play through your separates.

My Denon AVR will acccept HDMI, Toslink and Coax, so you should be able to connect your Mac to it. Movies/music sorted for the main room.

Total cost = the price of an RCA-3.5mm lead.

[ASK1974]

Guys we're getting a little off track here...

The OP asked the following;

skinner said:

Family Room:
Kitchen/Dining Room
Sitting Room

Here's the challenge - I want to be able to play my choice of music from the library on different speakers at the same time. All the music is sitting on the HD of the Mac Mini in iTunes and between myself and my wife we have various Apple iThings (phones, pads & pods) which we would use to select the music to listen to

He's asking for a single source (library) to be managed by multiple devices and played back in multiple rooms simultaneously, he's asking for a multi-room system. I'll say this once and hopefully everyone will hear - "AIRPLAY IS NOT A MULTI-ROOM SOLUTION'. There I've said it and sorry for shouting...

Whilst I appreciate that Apple's Remote App takes Airply a step further than simply streaming from a third party App it simply does not offer the user interface or function expected from a multi-room system. There are lots of cheap and simple ways to connect mobile devices to a Hi-Fi and Airplay is a really cool solution for streaming wirelessly, but it is essentially a single user, single room solution and whilst you can add one Airplay solution per room it's simply not able to do what systems like Sonos can. Sonos is a multi-room system allowing multiple users with multiple devices to control music playback in one room, groups of rooms or lots of room independently and simultaneously.

Let's answer the question rather than constantly end up discussing the cheapest possible way to get music off an iPhone and onto a Hi-Fi. That's easy but certainly not a multi-room solution as the CI industry would describe it or, more importantly, what the OP is asking for.

There, mini rant over...

[probedb]

ASK1974 said:

He's asking for a single source (library) to be managed by multiple devices and played back in multiple rooms simultaneously, he's asking for a multi-room system.

Which is why I suggested Squeezeboxes. Cheaper than Sonos although 2nd hand, server software is still supported/developed, can do everything like sync devices, different music on different devices, controllers for iOS/Android etc etc.

[legzr1]

PPPPPP said:

Anyone had experience with the Pioneer N50 as a streamer?

Using one now as I type.

Played approx 5 CD's since getting it some time ago - impressive sound especially considering it cost me around a tenth of what I paid for the MF CD player.

Adjustable 'dither' is a little pointless (I leave it standard but I listen to very little MP3).
Recently updated firmware gives gapless playback, internet radio sounds good (bitrate dependant naturally) and it's even a fairly decent DAC fed from a BR or CD player via spdif.

The Pioneer app is fairly basic but does the job - limited search functions and very basic playlist options but other apps can be used - I feed it with a basic WD MyCloud full of. FLAC files but a better option would be something like a Synology running decent software and excellent control apps.

I've never bothered with Bluetooth or used the USB input so can't comment.

Obviously they're not in the same market as SONOS but getting back to the OP the sound quality easily betters that of a friends SONOS - not a fair comparison though as I'm using seperates and large floor standers.

However, my daughter uses a Denon N8 in her bedroom and this feeds from the same WD MyCloud, priced around that of the SONOS and plays everything thrown at it - just add speakers (currently using some old tiny wharfedale diamond 9.0 that I picked up for £20!).

SONOS is a well packaged easy to use system (once you've ripped all your music over...) with decent sound quality but little streaming systems from the likes of Denon and. Marantz easily better it in purely sound terms.

Saying that, not every one wants or needs quality sound in the kitchen.

[TEKNOPUG]

The OP hasn't mentioned a budget, simply a list of requirements and current equipment. I'd therefore suggest that it would be prudent to explore the cheapest, easiest route, with current equipment first, rather than stating that the op must spend hundreds of pounds on additional equipment.

As an example, similar to the OP, I have a Smart TV, PC, XBOX, Blu-Ray and AVR/Hi-Fi in the living room. Powered speakers (dock) in the kitchen. A Smart TV & Hi-Fi in the bedroom and Hi-Fi in the study. I have a home network consisting of wifi/router and a Devolo wifi access point in the study and the bedroom. The PC stores all the music/data (I don't currently have a NAS) which is connected directly to the TV/AVR/Hi-Fi. So that is music in the living room taken care of. I run UMS on the PC, which has no limit to the number of devices it can simultaneously stream to - the limit being down to your network bandwidth and PC processing power (if you need to transcode). I have 3 smart phones, 2 laptops and a tablet. All can can attach and stream from the network and all can be connected to the kitchen, bedroom and office hi-fi/speakers. They all control the music using whatever software/app you wish to use.

I could therefore stream/play different music in every room in the house, as well as play/stream 2 different blu-ray movies, all at the same time, if I so wished. I could play music anywhere that had a power socket and wifi connection. Quite why I or anyone else for that matter would want to play music in a room they aren't in.....

Sure you could buy additional Sonos/Squeezbox equipment to do the job but then you could also build a dedicated server room, wire up the whole house with cat5, put a high-powered PC in every room, output the signal to a Chord Hugo DAC and then into a Krell FBI amp and finally through some Wilson Audio speakers - in a every room.

Or simply buy a bigger house and employ a full-time orchestra in every room.....

[Driller]

ASK1974 said:

Guys we're getting a little off track here...Guys I'm trying to sell Sonos stuff here!

[TEKNOPUG]