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Thread: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

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    DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    I'm sure, like everyone here, when we get a new project coming around that could be easily satisfied with an off the shelf system, we all completely ignore it!

    I'm in the market for a multiroom speaker set up, and whilst I could happily go for a Sonos set up, I was just wondering if there are any alternatives from a DIY standpoint?

    I've started investing in the Chromecast ecosystem with an old iPod speaker and I like how it works but, here's my actual problem, it's ugly. The Sonos is a very nice, understated piece of hardware. I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion of a speaker that I could 'upgrade' to support chromecast and would look just as minimal?
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    Editable... jimbouk's Avatar
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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    Quote Originally Posted by Jowsey View Post
    I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion of a speaker that I could 'upgrade' to support chromecast and would look just as minimal?
    Ceiling mounted? Something retro with a discrete amplifier and speakers? Any old portable speakers put somewhere discrete?

    You're just putting a little dongle in the back so choices galore!

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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    Depends how far you're going. Yamaha amps have Musiccast, and there's a range of speakers available. Actually, looks like you don't need the amp even...

    http://www.techhive.com/article/3034...-expected.html

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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    It depends on what you class as not-ugly but there's an Anker speaker (here) that has been highly rated by Amazon users (make of that what you will). One reviewer even uses it exactly as you've described.

    The only obvious downside is that the USB port is on the side rather than the back.
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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    Personally, if its looks your after I like bose - but then you're paying money - even in an outlet.

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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    I think we've decided we're going to have to dive into an eco system to get the product we really want. I pitched the idea of ceiling speakers but the fiance said no, oddly enough!

    Though she did permit me to do it we ever have a reason to be doing work on the ceilings. It's looking like Bose vs Sonos at the moment and I think we're going to try and test them soon.

    The Yamaha set looks perfect, but our John Lewis doesn't stock much of it and it's where we have all our vouchers sadly!
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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    Wow, didn't realise they were so expensive! £400 for a clock radio!

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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    Quote Originally Posted by Smudger View Post
    Wow, didn't realise they were so expensive! £400 for a clock radio!
    They have a couple decently priced units but John Lewis dont seem to stock them!

    If only someone was looking to trade Richer Sounds vouchers for John Lewis ones...

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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    Having tried Bose and Sonos a fair amount, I find them to be very similar in terms of sound quality. But, Bose have, from experience, terrible customer service, where as Sonos are excellent. The new sub from Bose looks to be, on paper, better sound than the Sonos sub (I own one myself). The best way to describe the Sonos Sub is that it reaches very low, but doesn't pack much punch, at all - you can't feel the bass in your chest as much as other subs. That's not to say it's bad, because it's not. Just different. I think the 10 inch cone from Bose will help add the much needed punch I always find myself craving after a few hours of listening to the Sonos stuff. Same on the Play 5.
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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    Chromecasts now have a multi-room grouping option, as well as individual audio zones. Just then a question of how you amplify I guess?

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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    Quote Originally Posted by dave87 View Post
    Chromecasts now have a multi-room grouping option, as well as individual audio zones. Just then a question of how you amplify I guess?
    Yeah, the cast has all the features I want I just couldn't find a nice subtle speaker to package it with.

    It looks like it will be Sonos as I stupidly thought all of these speakers would support all the major music streaming services! Bose, as it turns out, does not support Google Play Music!

    I'll give a little review when I pick them up. (Tonight I believe, as there is an invitation for account holders to a 'shut in' type event, so some little 10% discounts )
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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    Picked up a Play 1 to trial it and I must say, I'm pretty impressed. We've listened to a solid variety of music via a random playlist whilst decorating the front room and I WILL be buying more. The Mrs is very set on getting one of the soundbars so we may just end up with a house bristling in Sonos speakers soon enough!
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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    About to do this myself. I'll be going the route of B&W (or perhaps Linn, Kef, Tannoy or Monitor Audio) in-ceiling speakers - whatever I can find cheap / second hand - but almost certainly something UK-made - having listened to lots it's hard to improve on UK sound quality - which is why I wasn't surprised to see speakers made in Cambridge or Worthing on sale in Akihabara!

    For distribution and an amp, I'll be running mopidy on either a raspberry pi zero with a Polyvection PlainAMP (if they ever come back into stock), or a raspberry pi with an IQ Audio Pi-DigiAMP+.

    Come to think of it, if I go for the IQ Audio, then the whole lot will be UK made (apart from the power supply probably) - strange but true, but that's not the reason I'll be going for it...

    I'll expect it'll probably beat Bose or Sonos stuff for sound quality (not to say those aren't good options, but I've found the Bose in particular a bit "loud and in yer face" sounding when I've listened to them in the past). Cost will be about £150 per room I think (half that for some rooms, since I plan to drive both bathrooms with one Pi, into a single mono speaker - with the software set up to treat the left and right audio channels as separate zones - stereo in a bathroom seems like a bit of a waste of time!).

    Remote control for each zone will be Android phones, and each zone will also accept bluetooth audio from Android (appear as BT speakers).
    Last edited by buttersideup; 04-12-2016 at 10:57 PM.

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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    It's also possible to set up the Raspberry Pi zero as a USB audio device, or accept an optical digital audio input for connection to other device so that it just appears as a 'dumb speaker' too...

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    Re: DIY Multiroom Speaker Set Up

    Currently fiddling with a Pi based audio setup myself. I have it running Runeaudio, just through the standard out put at the moment, going to order a Pi-Dac+ at some point, and box it all up. The plan is to have a high quality player to access music on NAS and other sources, it will be plugged in to my main hifi setup.

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