need to get audio to other rooms without additional wiring

So I want to get whole house audio, or more precisely, whole condo audio. I can't run extra wiring in the place. I tried a wireless speaker extender, but reception was sketchy between opposite sides of the condo and through walls.

In my perfect world, I'd find an inexpensive way to extend the audio vi IP, but that's proving hard to find as well. I found references to a HomePlug audio extender, but can't find it for sale anywhere.

My big thing is that I want the original audio sources to be centrally located, and just extend the audio to the other rooms.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Paul

Reply to
Paul
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-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

Hi Paul,

I would have replied earlier but I've been trying to find some literature on the subject. At the recent EHExpo in Orlando, FL, there was a company offering exactly what you're asking for. I listened to the demo and the music sounded good. It wasn't HomePlug but I can't find their papers just yet. I'll try to find the company on the EHExpo website and post the info for you.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

Paul,

I found the information that I was looking for in reference to this. It's Russound's "Avenue" system, consisting of a hub and multiple satellite points which are connected via PLC (power line carrier). The system supports up to six points. The six points send control signals to select and operate source components at the hub location. The hub sends music and metadata (station, artist, album, etc.) back to the points, where the music is amplified (20W per channel) and the data displays on a remote touchpad.

The points also have line level output for rooms requiring a larger amp. There are also facilities for local music sources (i.e., not at the hub) to be fed into the system. I haven't listened to it yet but if it's anything like the rest of Russound's equipment it will be good.

Note that this system is not stand-alone. It requires a CAV6.6 system as well. That makes it a tad on the pricey side. I don't have pricing on the Avenue system yet. I'm not sure what the release date is though the CAV6.6 is available.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

Go with Sonos. It's a all wireless, and super simple to setup. While it may seem expensive, consider it in comparison to the other systems or to a hiring an installer for a professional wired install. It's a great deal and it works great. Highly recommended:

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Reply to
jim.griffin

I'd recommend Squeezebox

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SqueezeCenter
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is open source and you can pickup a wireless Squeezebox off of ebay for $100 or so. Put one in each room and you can sync them all to the same central music repository.

Reply to
Bob Fish

Would either of those two devices stream the "original audio sources" that Paul mentioned, or just audio that they originate?

Like Paul I've looked for the Homeplug audio extender but as he says it seems to have disappeared without trace.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

If you mean will it stream from your 8-Track or Phono player via IP (or other) to and end device, no. You would convert your sources to a suitable format [mp3, ogg, PCM,etc...] and store it on the server, then play it up at any time. Someone recommended SONOS as a solution, I suggested a cheaper and better solution.

A sling box

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does that for video [converts to IP], might work for audio-to-ip, but you'd have to then convert it back to audio from IP using a computer.

The homeplug audio extender and other devices like it (I've seen a USB gizmo also) all suffer from degrading the quality of the sound. You would then depend on the DAC in the gizmo, and the quality of the AMP in the gizmo to reproduce the sound, and in general the quality of both is poor in cheap devices.

You have the same problem with wireless headphones and speakers. You push out the actual sound reproduction to the device ... it is difficult to built a good DAC/Amplifier/Speaker all into a $200 product.

There are some expensive ones on the market that do a good job, but for their price I'd just hire someone to run the wires in the ceiling and use a distribution amp.

Reply to
Bob Fish

Maybe what you are looking for... dLAN Audio extender Starter Kit

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Reply to
cswilly

Thanks, good idea, but it's not quite what I'm looking for or what I suspect the OP was looking for. The only sound source for that device is a PC, connected to the Homeplug using Ethernet or USB cable and Devolo's driver software. You can't plug your own sound source into the Homeplug, though for some applications it might be possible to route your own sound source through the PC to the audio extender.

I'm pretty sure there used to be a Homeplug audio extender with RCA (phono) plugs on the transmitter and receiver, but I can't find it any more. Perhaps I imagined it.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

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