Advice on streaming & multi-room

[jamesacraig69]

Hi everyone. I'd appreciate some advice on adding streaming and multi-room capability into an existing hi-fi set-up. Sorry if the questions are a bit basic but I'm new to the world of streaming.

I have a valve amp (Primaluna Prologue 1) with various analogue audio inputs and only speaker outputs, a Njoe Tjoeb CD player (basically a breathed-on basic Marantz amp from around the year 2000 with analague and digital outputs) and often play from an iPod connected via RCA cable to the amp, plus speakers.

I would like to play streamed content (e.g. Spotify, music files from a PC on the home network and possibly a smartphone or two) to through my current amp & speaker set-up and also add in multi-room - up to 2 wireless speakers - fed from both the current CD-player and iPod as well as the streamed content. My budget is up to around £400 for a network player/streamer and £200 per multi-room speaker. Sound quality is important but I don't want to break the bank.

I've looked at the Sonos Connect but am not sure it could handle direct inputs from the iPod and CD player - I'd presumably need a streamer with a built-in amp if I can't connect to my exisiting amp? Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_10205966589835187]

The Sonos connect would do the trick with the added advantage of being able to choose from 3 different wireless speakers for the rest of the house. the connect does sound good but it doesn't put an end to the hifi streaming discussion and it doesn't play Hirez content. If you want better in the smae concept bluesound handle hirez content and the technology works the same way except that they don't have a mesh network like sonos. They're also more expensive. The bluesound Node 2 will connect to your amplifer and you can choose between their 2 or 3 wireless speakers. Hope this helps.

 

[visionary]

Hi James

As Nicolas says, the Sonos could do what you want, assuming we're talking iPod Touch not Classic?

There is a line in on the Connect which you could use for your CD player and then the iPod Touch could send music wirelessly to the Sonos

 

[beany2510]

hi, ive just done pretty much this.

i have a traditional hifi setup (amp / vinyl / cd /tape), and also has a NAS attached to the wirelss router, and started looking into how i could get my digital music through the hifi. t i went with a brand called Raumfeld product name "connector", it connects using std RCA plugs to an amp, connects to router via wifi or a LAN connection dependant on location, can accept a usb storage device, the app works on ios or droid,

the whole thing took me 10 minutes to setup and has reopened the doors to my hifi experience.

the sound quality is excellant and will run FLAC as well as other formats, since this was installed i have purchased 2 of their wireless speakers "one s" to run through the house, as before really easy to set up, sound is superb (sound can be tuned via the app if required).

buy direct from website, free delivery, 8 week trial period and free returns if not satisfied.

i couldnt find much on what hifi about them, but i cant recommend this product / brand enough, as a direct competitor to sonos its well worth a try.

prices on the website are normally running a 10% discount.

connector was £149.

the speakers were £159.99 each

do some research on Raumfeld (owned by teufel - loud speaker manufacturer).

hope this helps

 

[jamesrfisher]

hi, ive just done pretty much this.

i have a traditional hifi setup (amp / vinyl / cd /tape), and also has a NAS attached to the wirelss router, and started looking into how i could get my digital music through the hifi. t i went with a brand called Raumfeld product name "connector", it connects using std RCA plugs to an amp, connects to router via wifi or a LAN connection dependant on location, can accept a usb storage device, the app works on ios or droid,

the whole thing took me 10 minutes to setup and has reopened the doors to my hifi experience.

the sound quality is excellant and will run FLAC as well as other formats, since this was installed i have purchased 2 of their wireless speakers "one s" to run through the house, as before really easy to set up, sound is superb (sound can be tuned via the app if required).

buy direct from website, free delivery, 8 week trial period and free returns if not satisfied.

i couldnt find much on what hifi about them, but i cant recommend this product / brand enough, as a direct competitor to sonos its well worth a try.

prices on the website are normally running a 10% discount.

connector was £149.

the speakers were £159.99 each

do some research on Raumfeld (owned by teufel - loud speaker manufacturer).

hope this helps

anyone else suspicious of this?

First post, a very thorough positive review of one product in a corner of the forum not regularly frequented. Spam on behalf of the 'reviewed' product!

 

[jjbomber]

buy direct from website, free delivery, 8 week trial period and free returns if not satisfied.

prices on the website are normally running a 10% discount.

connector was £149.

the speakers were £159.99 each

do some research on Raumfeld (owned by teufel - loud speaker manufacturer).

anyone else suspicious of this?

First post, a very thorough positive review of one product in a corner of the forum not regularly frequented. Spam on behalf of the 'reviewed' product!

They seem well rated by trusted reviews.

I am more suspicious of WhatHiFi's review of the Samsung Blu-Ray. After being ridiculed for giving Sony 5 stars for a non-4K player at £400, with people pointing out the Samsung did for £30 more, the reviewers had dug themselves into a hole. The only way out was to slag off the Samsung, which they did. Childish, pathetic journalism of the lowest order.

 

[beany2510]

Hi Jimbo. i just thought i would like to respond to your suggestion that my "first" post should be determined as spam.

I have used what hifi regularly through out most of my adult life and have always trusted it, this includes reading the forums to gain some better insight. before you accuse me of being a spammer on behalf of a specific product it might be appropriate to contact me . Everybody has to have a first post on a forum, so if ive missed out on some etiquette then please suggest what i've missed, i actually posted the review of the wireless system because somebody asked for some suggestions (generally how forums work i believe).

so, to clarify my situation,

i like the raumfeld products, i felt my review was appropriate - and detailed (surely not a bad thing), i do not apologise for posting the comments as i dont have anything to apologise for.

I am not connected in anyway with any hifi equipment manufacturer and have no axe to grind with anybody or any product brand. my post is not spam, just my review of my kit.

But you have actually reminded me that i had already previously registered on the forums (as i regularly recieve emails from Whathifi) so thankyou, and if you would like to see the other forum comments, search for a user by the name of beanster2510, it has been some time since i "posted", and couldn't find my login details, so just registered another name. have a good weekend.

 

[jamesrfisher]

beany2590 please accept my apology. It just seemed strange to me to that it was your first post, there have unfortunately been spammers not only on here but other orums (hifi and others) whose first post is to praise a product and never psot again.

 

[beany2510]

Thanks for your response. Apology accepted.
As a user on other forums (cars/motorbikes/bass guitars) i understand your frustration.

 

[thewinelake.]

I'm interested in this. A couple of questions:

1) Is wifi essential, or can it work via a wired-ethernet network?

2) How is the app? - especially in terms of dealing with tracks with long names (like most classical pieces)

 

[thewinelake.]

Sod it, I thought I'd just buy one!

Went along to Horrids to look at it and have a play, but the only guy who really knows about it was off sick. However, the app seems pretty slick to me, so I'm going for their 8 week eval (complete with 3 months of Tidal HiFi).

One thing I don't quite understand is if there's anyway these things can inter-operate with other multiroom streaming devices. I strongly suspect not, but a friend was asking if he could use one with the analogue input to get his turntable playing in the kitchen via a Neet streaming thing.