Budget Multi Room Audio

[jellybeard999]

I will shortly be doing a house renovation and am interested in a multi room setup. I don't want to spend a fortune on this and have so far found the following options;

Sonos - Expensive
Apple Airplay - I don't use any apple devices and it's discontinued afaik, so I'm not sure how well it'd integrate
Chromecast Audio - Looks to be a bit of a bodge for this use
Hifiberry - Looks to be the front runner, but I'm not sure how well it works in practice

I'd like something that can play music from my network share and is user friendly.

I'm not necessarily going to go for installation speakers everywhere, but would definitely like to in the bathroom. I plan to terminate all my cat5e, coax etc in a cupboard with a rackmount cabinet. In this instance, am I better off putting the player/amp in the cupboard and running speaker cable to the bathroom ceiling via the loft, or putting the player/amp in the loft and running CAT5e and power to that? What is the normal practice for installers.

Has the Google Home, Amazon Echo etc changed things? I'm not fixed how, but I'd like music available around the home and the multiroom idea largely started with wanting music/radio above the bath/shower. If it can't be done well on a budget, I'll probably not bother!

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[signs]

i find chromecast audio brilliant , together with the all cast app i can cast to any room with a wifi enabled device

 

[jellybeard999]

i find chromecast audio brilliant , together with the all cast app i can cast to any room with a wifi enabled device

How does this work then? Any links? Is this based on the music being on your phone?

If i had a load of chromecast audio outputting to amps, can you play in 2 rooms at the same time, all synced up?

Can it play from network shares? I found this link previously, which is why I thought it seemed a bodge - http://allaboutchromecast.com/chrom...or-streaming-local-media-files-to-chromecast/

I want to have apps on phones/tablets, which once logged in can control the music in different rooms, change volume, change song etc from my network share.

 

[hornetstinger]

Cheapest would be one source, and a audio switch or distrubution box.
Then maybe multiple cheap media streamers where you can control from a phone.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

this is what sonos was built for. sure it's not cheap but nothing worth the money ever is.

 

[jellybeard999]

this is what sonos was built for. sure it's not cheap but nothing worth the money ever is.

The play 1 or play 3 are reasonably priced tbh... it's the connect at £500+ that is madness! Essentially, if they made a play 1 with rca/3.5mm output or speaker connections for ~£100, I would bite their hand off!

 

[hornetstinger]

yup expensive for me too I just bought a couple of Squeezebox's, cheap at £100- but "out of date" from software side although they play everything the requirement for a host software machine is a bit rubbish.

 

[jellybeard999]

yup expensive for me too I just bought a couple of Squeezebox's, cheap at £100- but "out of date" from software side although they play everything the requirement for a host software machine is a bit rubbish.

This is currently my favourite option; https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/ and squeezeplay. The host machine isn't a problem for me, as that can run on my server.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

The play 1 or play 3 are reasonably priced tbh... it's the connect at £500+ that is madness! Essentially, if they made a play 1 with rca/3.5mm output or speaker connections for ~£100, I would bite their hand off!

subwoofer is £599 as is the soundbar.

however anybody that wants wireless they would be mad not to buy sonos, it's the best wireless setup out there.

running speaker cable around your home from a central point to me sounds like madness. you will need both an expensive thick copper cabling and also a powerful multizone amp.

essentially sonos turns out to be not that expensive at all.

you could go down a budget route of a chromecast audio into a cheap chinese amp playing into speakers, however it's going to eat more leccy and have lot of wires and power cables, etc.

sonos all the way. it was made for this purpose from the ground up

 

[valve90210]

QUOTE="jellybeard999, post: 30733463, member: 20683"]How does this work then? Any links? Is this based on the music being on your phone?

If i had a load of chromecast audio outputting to amps, can you play in 2 rooms at the same time, all synced up?

Can it play from network shares? I found this link previously, which is why I thought it seemed a bodge - http://allaboutchromecast.com/chrom...or-streaming-local-media-files-to-chromecast/

I want to have apps on phones/tablets, which once logged in can control the music in different rooms, change volume, change song etc from my network share.[/QUOTE]

I use Chromecast audios and have to say I find it pretty good.

I use them with music played either from Bubble UPNP which access all my music on my NAS, or using Google Music which plays music from the cloud. I also use it with pocketcasts for podcasts. I use either my phone or tablet with the apps.

I've got several individual devices and have setup various groups eg downstairs, upstairs, all, and from the apps I use I can select where I want music etc played, either on one device or on one of the groups. If using one of the groups I can also tweak the audio levels per device if needs be.

The best thing is how little it's cost me to set up, I managed to get a couple of chromecasts cheap second hand, and if you watch out there's often offers which can save a few quid but the best thing is that they can be hooked up to any audio kit with a 3.5mm or twin phono input. In my kitchen I use an old DAB I already had, and in other rooms I'm using amps and speakers I already had so the only thing I had to spend out on was the chromecasts. I've spent less than the cost of a single Sonos on my setup and while it may not be as slick as the Sonos, I still still have multiroom audio controlled by my phone or tablet and access to my entire music collection...

 

[signs]

How does this work then? Any links? Is this based on the music being on your phone?

"phone , ipad, and kindle (had to hack the kindle tho)"

If i had a load of chromecast audio outputting to amps, can you play in 2 rooms at the same time, all synced up?

"you assign each chromecast a name //ie music room kitchen etc etc "

Can it play from network shares? I found this link previously, which is why I thought it seemed a bodge - http://allaboutchromecast.com/chrom...or-streaming-local-media-files-to-chromecast/

"humm not sure "

I want to have apps on phones/tablets, which once logged in can control the music in different rooms, change volume, change song etc from my network share.

"all cast"

 

[signs]

you could go down a budget route of a chromecast audio into a cheap chinese amp playing into speakers, however it's going to eat more leccy and have lot of wires and power cables, etc.

"cheap Chinese amp"

 

[jellybeard999]

Had a little play with my raspberry pi, picoreplayer and "Squeeze Controller". This seems to do exactly what I want and has the facility to sync players together should I want to in the future .

 

[mid_gen]

Tried out a friends Amazon Echo and was quite impressed. As soon as the multi-user feature arrives I'll be getting an Echo Dot to plug into the B&W A7 that sit in the kitchen.

The handsfree interface is perfect for it, will stream BBC radio, spotify amongs other stuff. Just need the multi-user so the missus doesn't pollute my Spotify data

 

[Martynt74]

Only issue with the Echo is it can't play music from a networked source. Or at least i dont think it can.

 

[james.miller]

subwoofer is £599 as is the soundbar.

however anybody that wants wireless they would be mad not to buy sonos, it's the best wireless setup out there.

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you could go down a budget route of a chromecast audio into a cheap chinese amp playing into speakers, however it's going to eat more leccy and have lot of wires and power cables, etc.

suggests a sonos at 600 quid, doesnts suggest a chromecast because of the electric use .....

I've got a chromecast in a few rooms. Excellent solution tbh and it doesnt need to be cables everywhere. In the kitchen i have a denon amp and mission speakers above the cupboards, good kit for the cost, and just a chromsecast audio hooked up. One extension lead running up behind the cupboard powering the amp and chromecast - you don't see anything else, and it's tucked away in the corner anyway. I flick the switch when i want to cast music, flick it back off when im done.If i want to cast music to the dining room i can and if i want to cast to both at the same time i can do that too. It's so simple its ridiculous. I think both the Chromecast and Chromecast audios are brilliant little devices.

 

[ShivP]

Chromecast audio +1
I have 3 and they sync very easily and are well worth the £30 odd each for such easy to use devices

 

[mid_gen]

Only issue with the Echo is it can't play music from a networked source. Or at least i dont think it can.

Don't think so. Got the Echo Dot now. Got round the multi-accounts by having the GFs Spotify account linked, and I've switched over to Amazon Music unlimited, cheaper than Spotify and a bigger catalogue.

Main complaint with the Echo Dot is no optical out, so I have to run an analogue out to the A7 which is a waste of the B&W electronics and the Dot DAC isn't great.....still, for a cheap solution with the added bonus of being completely hands free for use in the kitchen it's great.