Wireless Audio Streaming

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » February 28th, 2006, 22:33

I'm gonna get myself one of these bad boys

http://www.rokulabs.com/products/soundb ... 1000_model

The plan is to get rid of my huge stereo and speakers that currently take up half the living room, and then when we move into our new house, we will buy a wireless surround sound system with lots of inputs.

This way the Telly can go straight into it, as well as the future Xbox 360/PS3, and this little beauty above.

What do you think?

Personally I think it's a neat and tidy way of not cluttering up the living room with my huge stereo/speakers, but allows me to play all my MP3's. (This will of course mean any new CD's would have to be ripped every time, but this is not an issue, as even if I couldn't be assed, the PS3 and 360 should be able to play them no problems.)

Also, can any of you recommend some sites for wireless surround sound systems?

Post by **deject** » February 28th, 2006, 22:51

I strongly advise against getting wireless speakers. You'll get a lot of interference making your ears cry.

cashy · Post by **cashy** » February 28th, 2006, 23:38

i remember reading somthing about how the speakers can get the sound waves directly from a plug socket, so in theory you just plug in a speaker to a socket in any room of the house and hey presto. this is quite an old idea though, so even if it has been used by some crazy dutch company the fact that its not taken off means its obviously a shit way to go (if it does even exist).

that was quite a pointless post wasnt it?

although, http://www.bose.com/ these guys make some fucking awesome mini (not wireless, but you can hide em easily enough) speakers, if you dont mind baby woo not wearing shoes of course

Post by **ProfHawking** » February 28th, 2006, 23:47

I wouldnt trust wireless speakers either to be honest. You are better off putting up with the wires, and a nice digital amp & speakers. Ebay ebay ebay

However - the soundbridge is a thourouhly good idea, except that is very similar and mostly not as good as its rival - the Squeezebox - which is better in my opinion. http://www.slimdevices.com/
The slimserver software is one of the best audio solutions ive ever used.
Utterly compatable with everything from PC to xbox to pda to phone, last.fm, remote controls, syncronised multi-room streaming, online radio etc etc

cant reccomend these boxes enough - assuming that you have a server somewhere...

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » March 1st, 2006, 8:23

Thanks for that, I looked at that squeezebox, but decided that it was too ugly, and the remote control is just horrid.

Functionality wise it looks brilliant though, especially the whole radio through wireless router thingy.

Maybe the pictures don't do it justice.
I'll take another look at it in more detail again.

Post by **ProfHawking** » March 2nd, 2006, 22:33

Ugly!? i think it lookes luuuverly.
I like the remote. It fits the hand nicely, and although it looks boring it is intuative and easy to use.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/02 ... eezebox_3/

98%. Can i get a hooraaaa!?
/jarhead

Post by **Joose** » March 3rd, 2006, 0:29

pink martini?! I liek them. I shall do a radio show with them on, soon.

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » March 6th, 2006, 9:15

I've decided to wait until after the move, as depending on where current access points are, will all depend if I need to go wireless or not.

In other words, if I am going to have to go wireless then I've decided to stick with my first choice of the SoundBridge 1000, otherwise I may look at just playing all my CD's through the DVD player hooked up to the surround sound system.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » March 6th, 2006, 11:46

People seem to be quick to attack any wireless technologies around here, mainly gaming over wireless, which isn't as bad as I was expecting from reading comments on this site. It's mostly very good IMO.

If you do get a wireless setup I'd be interested to hear how it turns out.

Post by **Joose** » March 6th, 2006, 13:11

My experiences with wireless gaming was godawfull, but then I was on the extreme end of my routers range.

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » March 6th, 2006, 13:14

My experience was generally ok for wireless gaming, but I'm tending to use wired at the moment anyway, cos I'm finding it a little bit better. The difference isn't that great, but I'm quite close to my router and tend to have 'excellent' signal.

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » March 6th, 2006, 13:26

My experience of Wireless gaming was that for about a month I was tearing my hair out and swearing loudly at the router, till I eventually found the right combination of settings, software and hardware, and now my wireless gaming is virtually the same as with the evil wire!

Post by **deject** » March 6th, 2006, 16:34

As long as you have a good signal from the router, gaming over Wi-Fi isn't any problem. It might add 1-5ms to your ping unless you have a lot of interference and obstacles between you and the router. I haven't plugged a CAT-5 in for a very long time now, and I honestly don't miss it. I would love to have some QoS to prioritze my gaming, but that's for the wish list.

I have a BIG issue with using wireless for audio signals however. Unless the signal is sent in a digital format, the wireless will add distortion and noise. I have not heard of a wireless audio solution that is noise and interference free. They are also a lot more expensive.

cashy · Post by **cashy** » March 6th, 2006, 17:33

if you moving into a new house then you will probably want to redecorate, so theres nothing stopping you from chasing the walls out a bit and filling it in after with some decorators caulk or somthing. just an idea

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » March 6th, 2006, 17:38

cashy wrote:if you moving into a new house then you will probably want to redecorate, so theres nothing stopping you from chasing the walls out a bit and filling it in after with some decorators caulk or somthing. just an idea

Yeah, this is what I did in my current house, allthough I ran it around the edge of the room inbetween the laminate and the new skirting board.

I suppose it's all going to depend on where I end up, and what needs doing, so it's all a bit pie in the sky at the moment.

Let's just hope somebody hurries up and buys my house.
I haven't even used this yet since it's been built.

Post by **Joose** » March 6th, 2006, 20:03

Woo Elephant Yeah wrote: I haven't even used this yet since it's been built.

The family next door to me built a similar structure in thier back garden. The back garden is barely a foot bigger in both directions.

We think they are houseing immigrants in there.

Post by **ProfHawking** » March 6th, 2006, 20:19

Woo Elephant Yeah wrote:
cashy wrote:if you moving into a new house then you will probably want to redecorate, so theres nothing stopping you from chasing the walls out a bit and filling it in after with some decorators caulk or somthing. just an idea
Yeah, this is what I did in my current house, allthough I ran it around the edge of the room inbetween the laminate and the new skirting board.

I suppose it's all going to depend on where I end up, and what needs doing, so it's all a bit pie in the sky at the moment.

Let's just hope somebody hurries up and buys my house.
I haven't even used this yet since it's been built.

New house? RUN WIRES!!!!! wifi is good for laptops, pdas etc but if you ever intend to be a proper geek, you know every room has to have a couple of cat5 sockets

We did it when we extended our family house. At the time, i thought it was overkill, but now i dont belive how many we've used.
study: computer & xbox
hub: server, switches, router, etc etc
dining room: not used permandently, but has been used often for laptops, setting up stuff etc
lounge: media centre pc & ntl box
bedroom 1: xbox media centre
bedroom 2: bro's computer
bedroom 3: unused!!
my room: pc, squeezebox, wifi ap.
Wifi: 2 pdas, 2 laptops
Im even thinking of using the cat5 we ran to the garage to put an IP security camera on the front of the house.

and im spent

oh, and that shed looks perfect for blowing up! esp if you arent using it

Post by **FatherJack** » March 6th, 2006, 22:22

ProfHawking wrote:New house? RUN WIRES!!!!!

If done through external trunking, this would make sense, but I know more than a few wives and girlfriends who don't like that sort of thing, so wireless is the way to go.

There's something about encasing network cables in plaster that just seems...wrong. I not sure you're even allowed to call it CAT5 after doing that.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » March 6th, 2006, 22:31

use cat6 for a start, and depending on where the power runs, you might need to use STP (rather than UTP) both of which will put the cost up, but will be worth it in the long run (gigabit will be acceptable and viable for a few years at least)

also, buy a cable tester, and consider not buying the cheapy reels, i have one of cat5e that's pretty acceptable for short runs, but not great, cost £25