Re: Sonos, Bose or Philips! Apple+amp for me....

["peterno51" <ukha_d@xxxxxxxx>]

/slightly less lurk off

Forgot to mention that the airport express has a 3.5mm stereo audio out, a
=
male to male 3.5mm cable connects the airport to the 3.5mm audio in on the
=
amp.

Peter.

/slightly more conspicuous lurk on

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "peterno51" <ukha_d@...> wrote:
>
> /lurk off
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> Morning all,
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> Sonos is excellent, its also a bit pricey. In true tight-wad style I
came=
up with something else.
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> Having claimed to be a tight-wad I have cat5'd the house so treat
everyth=
ing I say with a piece of salt.
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> I have used Apple airport expresses to create an airplay network.
These a=
re a mixture of the just superseded wall wart type of both N and A-B
varian=
ts. The A-B variants have had there radios turned off so the wireless
netwo=
rk remains N only. All are plugged in via ethernet. The N ones are forming
=
a single wireless network (that took some figuring out how to get it using
=
ethernet correctly when extending a network).
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> I then purchased from e-bay some of these..
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> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-15W-TA2024-Tripath-Digital-Class-D-Amp-Case-1=
2V-PSU-/110946478582?pt=3DUS_Home_Audio_Amplifiers_Preamps&hash=3Ditem19d4e=
ce9f6&_uhb=3D1
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> (sorry for the length of link, lurk mode skills do not extend to
figuring=
out the short url thingy.)
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> I was sceptical about a 2 channel 15w d-class amp, but these things
are g=
reat. As is usual with gadgets especially IT kit, most of the time we
never=
get close to full utilisation of a gadget, with these amps you may occasio=
nally be up to 11 on the volume, I have done it once when 'testing' and
hav=
e not been back there is a while. The largest speakers being driven are
Tan=
noy 607 i.e. reasonably meaty.
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> So for the cost of a airport express =A380 new, less on e-bay, that
amp a=
t =A330 and speakers that I had already I have a good solution that should
=
always get updates from apple as things change on the airplay spec.
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> My music is stored on a NAS that is accessed through iTunes on a PC.
Usin=
g the IOS 'remote' app from apple I can access this session of iTunes from
=
my iPhone (bit like remote desktop) this has the benefit of being able to
s=
elect multiple airplay devices to stream too (bonjovi in the shower and in
=
the kitchen if you will) rather than being limited to just one airplay
devi=
ce from an iPhone or iPad.
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> Internet radio, for me is taken care of by the rather lovely bbc
iplayer =
radio app that can be redirected to airplay devices. It would seem that
not=
many people are aware that this is possible, it is well hidden. To do this=
launch the app and start playing Chris Evans, at this point double press t=
he home button to show all the running apps, scroll left once to show the
o=
rientation button and ipod controls, and then swipe left AGAIN to show a
vo=
lume slider and the airplay icon, press the airplay icon and you'll then
ge=
t a list of airplay devices on the network and streaming will commence
(aft=
er some buffering).
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> Other apps are available your mileage may vary.
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> As I mentioned above Sonos is excellent but I rather enjoyed the
fiddling=
to set up my solution and it is stable and should be supported by apple fo=
r the foreseeable future.
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> It also has the benefit of providing an excellent wireless coverage!
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> Peter.
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> /lurk on.=20=20
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