Advice on new Multiroom system

[mayonline]

Hi,
I'm new to all this so please bear with me! I need some advice the purchase of a new sound system please. I've listed a few requirements below and was wondering whether someone could suggest a setup and confirm what I am asking is achievable for less than a £1000 please

I'm looking to buy an AV reciever, that has multiroom capability so I use it across two zones, a lounge (zone 1) and a dinning room (zone 2).
The lounge has the TV and so I expect to need a center, sub woofer and left/right speakers
I am not interested in rear speakers at the moment, but might be later.
The dining room will be used for music only and so I need a stereo left/right running off zone two.
I use Apple devices and want an App to control the system and what is being played into each zone.
Support for other devices eg HTC would be nice but not essential
I'd like to be able to play different audio sources into different zones OR the same audio souce across both.
The Mrs, who has fear of technology, wants to be able to easily put music of via her iphone into the dining room, whilst the kids are watching a movie in the lounge with no trouble
The rooms are next to each other.
I use spotify and itunes for music
Wifi would be nice although I could hardwire ethernet if needed.

If I've missed any detail, please let me know.

Thank - Paul

 

[scene]

Have you got any of the speakers - or will you need to get them all from your £1000?

 

[mayonline]

As yet, I have nothing. This is my first proper system.

The grand may be slighly flexible

 

[Paul.]

I've always found using one amp as a multi room system a bit of a ball ache, I can see the inevitable scenario where one person has to do the control.

A much easier solution could be buying a Marantz NR1605 slim line receiver for the living room, then a buying a Marantz MCR510 for the second room. These two would give change from £600 and are both controllable from the Marantz control app. Both have AirPlay, both have dlna so can access stuff from android devices. Internet radio too.

you then have £400 for two pairs of bookshelves and a centre.

 

[mayonline]

Thanks for the response, but with this setup, can you connect the amps so you can have the same music in both zones?

 

[Paul.]

The the av receiver has a zone 2 preout, so you can run a phono from one to the other.

if you have iTunes on a laptop you can AirPlay to both simultaneously as well. You can control this multi room setup from the iOS iTunes remote app, but iTunes on a desktop has to be the source.

 

[mayonline]

Mmm, interesting. So I can airplay to both amps at once, with the sound in both rooms in sync?

 

[Paul.]

In theory yes. I shall try it later and see how well it works (I two Marantz recievers at home)

 

[mayonline]

Did you manage to try this Paul?

And, does anyone else have any experience with miltirrom that they want to share please?

 

[Paul.]

Did you manage to try this Paul?

And, does anyone else have any experience with miltirrom that they want to share please?

Apologies for the delay. I tried this this morning and it works very well, there was no discernable lag between receivers. I stood in the hallway between the two rooms with receivers in and they appeared to be in sync.

The actual setup itself was pretty slick itself. It is unfortunate that you have to have a computer switched on to run the multiroom, but once you do you have full control form the iOS remote app.

As you can see from the pic, the setup is very simple.

These settings are mirrored in the iOS remote app.

One caveat, I have a very strong network in my flat. Airplay can be a little inefficient with bandwidth, if you are running the freebie router from your internet provider you may get stuttering occasionally. I upgraded my Talktalk router to an Asus N66 and have been fine ever since. If possible, I would hardwire or use power lines/home plugs for any multiroom (I use powerlines for my AV setup but the little bedroom hifi is wireless).