Streaming one song to the whole house

[cooldrewb]

Hi,

Just wondering if there is a way to stream one song to the whole house. I have a WMC 8.1 and xbox 360. Is this something that J. River does? I noticed it said something about that and streaming to mobile devices. Any help would be appreciated.

Drew

[cooldrewb]

One last question is there a way to control it from the different locations or phone??

[IownFIVEechos]

I use SONO and it is flawless. But pricey. Others here use a different method but none via extenders I don't think.

[smcmillan2]

Well, you asked for "Any help" so I figured I would throw this out there. As you didn't mention what you already have setup in regards to A/V gear in "the whole house" I'll base this on the assumption you have a centrally located set of music you want to play, and that you don't have anything wired between the rooms.

First, as IownFIVEechos said: SONOS. Excellent setup (I don't own any but have heard it in action).

If you are thinking of going that route you might want to check http://techguyeric.com/2013/06/08/so-yo ... hole-home/

Another option:

On a Linux box you can run MPD, then get some cheap Android based TV sticks (the music will be played through the TV speakers) and setup Pulseaudio "receivers" as described here: http://www.hackerposse.com/~rozzin/jour ... audio.html (NOTE: ungodly ugly page, but the information is solid).

Personally I prefer the hardwired solutions, but I'm old and set in my ways. I have setup the MPD/Android sticks solution and it works well, but it's not for the faint of heart. You can control MPD with MPDroid in the Google Play store.

[spanner]

I wasn't looking for this type of feature when i bought it, but I am very pleased with my Yamaha RXV 773 networked receiver. Its not quite whole house but has 2 zones (upstairs downstairs}. I control it with a phone app or web browser. each zone separate or party mode. pandora, radio tuner, music of my server and more options.

[IownFIVEechos]

For audio advice you probably want to be in a more audio knowledgeable forum. This is more video / tv although many here have great knowledge on the subject. I would check out:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1256013/whole ... es-pandora

[epayson85]

I did this -
Network AVR with at least 2 zones (I have the denon 1913) that can be controlled via smart phone
then this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Y8 ... PDKIKX0DER it allows you to take your 2nd zone and split it among other rooms in the house.
Then a harmony hub so you can control the speaker selector from your smart phone as well.

Its flawless and being able to send media from my network, pandora, or spotify to any room in the house is incredible. I have my living room, dining room, office, kitchen, and deck setup currently.

[barnabas1969]

Or... you could just buy some wireless speakers. Drive the transmitter from the 2nd/3rd zone on your AVR. Control the AVR from your smartphone/tablet. No IR repeater required.

[mcewinter]

I hate to say it but iTunes with Airport Expresses and or AppleTVs does this really well and is supported with an iOS app. Android requires a third party app. It's worth looking into, you can get older gen Airport Expresses on eBay for pretty cheap.

[epayson85]

Or... you could just buy some wireless speakers. Drive the transmitter from the 2nd/3rd zone on your AVR. Control the AVR from your smartphone/tablet. No IR repeater required.

I thought about that but here is the thing, they don't really do what I want. Most wireless speakers still have issues with sound quality and interference. My old home theater system I used a wireless system for the rear speakers and they would disconnect sometimes and also have scratchy sound sometimes. The ones that don't have these issues like "sonos" are pretty expensive for what they are and I personally don't care for the sound quality that you get for the price. I can get the same or better quality for much less money. The next issue is volume control. You can only control the volume of the 2nd zone in most receivers and if you are lucky enough to have a receiver that has a 3rd zone that isn't a pre-out, then that means you spent a lot of money on that receiver. Unless you used a sonos connected to one of those zones or another wireless system you can not control the audio volume from your smart phone. You could install a volume controller between the speakers and the wireless receiver if you want but then you have to get up. I can have different volumes in each room of the house with my setup without the high cost of a sonos system.

Now in my case I already had the IR repeater so all I had to invest in was the speaker selector which was only $120 when I bought it. It is impedance matching and each zone can have its own volume that I can then control from my phone. Comparing prices with sonos... the cheapest speaker they have is $199. You can get a couple cheap sony book shelf speakers for $60 that sound better than that single speaker. Then of course you can go with better brands like polk and get pretty great speakers for $199. In all I absolutely prefer my system but I can understand why others would prefer the easy setup of wireless speakers.

[barnabas1969]

My Yamaha RX-A2010 has volume control on all three zones. I didn't pay much for it on e-bay. 900MHz wireless speakers should easily work in a single household, and the sound quality should be very good... unless the built-in amplifier is crap.

[volfan6415]

Although it's a pain to set it up initially you really can't beat running actual wires to each speaker and then using in wall volume controls.

I have two recovers in my setup and split the output of my HTPC to go into each. That way I get digital 5.1 in the main listening area and have the second receiver setup to output to two speakers. This second receiver is connected to a speaker distribution box that is in turn connected to in wall volume controls in my bed room, kitchen and back deck.

I also have an a/b speaker switch hooked up to the back deck with a connected to the distribution box and b connected to zone 2 of my main amp.

This way I have multiple options for the deck.

[epayson85]

I have a denon and to get one that has volume control on the third zone plus all the other features my current one has (anything below my version does not support the mobile app or Spotify) then you are talking an additional 6 to 8 hundred dollars. That's awesome that you have it though.

As far as the wireless goes it doesn't matter how good the amp is in your reciever because now those speakers need their own amp. Typically via the wireless system you buy or if you actually buy wireless speakers then they are built into the speakers. Those built in amps or the amps on the wireless kits are crap especially compared to a Yamaha or denon receiver. Then you have to hope that the wireless doesn't cut out or get interference. I have heard great things about sonos and Bluetooth is also getting there but the wireless kits out there in my opinion are not worth the money. Plus you will be spending 80 to 150 per speaker pair.

Not to mention the fact that I have 5 zones all with their own volume control. The only thing is zones 2 through 5 have to be playing the same source unless I connect another amp to the speaker selector. I debated doing this since there are some cheap stereo network receivers but they only have two zones so not really worth it.

[cooldrewb]

Ok, so I have a similar setup to most people here and thinking about just going with Sonos because it seems like it makes the most sense. I just wish I could use the same Media Center interface throughout the house but that costs a lot more than I want to spend right now.