Airport Express/Extreme..............Newbie

[fayeanddavid]

Completely new, and this could have been asked before however;

The good lady has a Mac book Pro and insists on playing iTunes through it, to the point that I am completely distracted by the the appalling sound (don't even mention the music) so we hooked it up through a pair of existinf pc speakers and lo..........there was peace and harmony wihtin the house

Moving on to reading this particular forum thread I gather that Apple Airport Express will give me wireless connectivity to the unit from the Mac and that the speakers simply plug into the unit via it's 3.5mm jack...............am I correct so far?

So what is the Extreme and what will it give me over the Express?

Sorry to be such a dunce...................words of comfort and explanation would help please

 

[John Duncan]

fayeanddavid:I gather that Apple Airport Express will give me wireless connectivity to the unit from the Mac and that the speakers simply plug into the unit via it's 3.5mm jack...............am I correct so far?

You're correct so far yes.

An Airport Extreme, however, is only a Wireless 'N' router, it has no audio cpabilities, so it's of no use to you (unless you happen to need a - albeit cute - Wireless 'N' router)

The alternative to Airport Express (from Apple at least) is Apple TV, which along with the wireless audio streaming capabilities of the Express offers on board hard disk storage (up to 160gig, or more if you hack it with atvflash), HD video playing capabilities via downloads from the iTunes store and a gorgeous user interface when plugged into your HD telly.

Both the Express and Apple TV have optical outs to plug into a DAC at some future point if you wish.

 

[fayeanddavid]

So..................I guess the next question would be;

Is Apple the route or are there "better" alternatives?

Thanks for info to date

 

[professorhat]

For a Mac / iTunes setup, I think the Airport Express is the best way to go personally. Also gives you a good excuse to get an iPod Touch / iPhone if you don't already have one since you can remote control your music in iTunes from this using Apple's Remote app.

 

[fayeanddavid]

As if I needed an excuse, it's on the list once phone contract is up for renewal, both of us!!

Many thanks for help, Apple store here we come.

 

[Anonymous]

Apple's gear is great, and very easy to set up.

Beware of a few potential problems though -- problems not related to the Apple system, but to wireless networks in general.

Do the initial set-up following the automated path in AirPort Utlities. If you've already have a wireless router, the AP Express should be set to extend the existing network. Be sure AirTunes is enabled.

(Apple TV is not set up from the computer, but via the TV.)

Then download an application that check for wireless networks (most easily found at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/ ), to find out which network channels are used by your neighbors.

Open the AirPort Utilities again, and click for the manual set-up. Find the pull-down menu for channels, and change from automatic to a number that's not one of (and preferably as far away as possible from) the numbers used by other networks in the area.

(This has to be done on the primary router, so if this is a non-Apple one, you'll have to use a web browser, and the procedure might be more complicated.)

Choosing a channel that's not used by other local networks will prevent glitches in the music or video stream. If you experience glitches after choosing a channel with no other users, the reason is interference from other RF sources, or installations in the building. If you experience this, make sure there's no RF sources (non-IR remote controls, wireless speakers, wireless phones, microwave ovens, CRT TVs etc.) close to your equipment. Move things if necessary. Some times only a few centimeters will help.

The Apple system will give you a perfect transfer of the original data, provided it's within CD quality (meaning, 24bit FLAC might be a problem, and should be converted to 16bit ALAC). The sound quality will depend on the quality of the files, and on your hi-fi system. The D/A conversion in the AirPort Express and Apple TV is not high end, so if you regularly play lossless or uncompressed material through a good hi-fi system, a separate DAC is a good idea.

If you, for some reason or other, don't like iTunes, you can transfer sound from any application (as well as the computer's operating system) if you install the inexpensive, third party Airfoil application.

 

[fayeanddavid]

Thanks Fahnsen for the info, much appreciated.

Hoping to have the Express in for this weekend, so if it all goes a bit t*ts I will be back on the forum!

Thanks again

 

[Dan Turner]

Fahnsen - that is very useful information. I have experienced some issues with drop-outs and I've just changed my wireless channel manually according to your instructions as the tool I downloaded (AirRadar) did identify that my wireless network was on the same channel as another.

I have a further question that you (or someone else) may be able to help with - I'm using an Apple Timecapsule as my wireless router, and this broadcasts on 2 simultaneous frequencies 2.4 & 5 Ghz, which appear as if they are 2 differnent networks called the same thing when AirRadar picks them up. All my Aiport Expresses are connected via the 2.4ghz frequency previously on channel 1, which I have now changed to channel 3. The 5Ghz frequency is showing up as channel 149, which is miles away from any other network in the vicinity (they must all be on 2.4ghz as the highest channel number any of them show is 11, which is the highest one available when choosing the 2.4ghz channel manually).

So my question is - is there any way of getting my Airport Expresses to use the 5ghz frequency as that seems the best bet in terms being as far away from any other potential inteference as possible?

 

[John Duncan]

2.4ghz is 'g', 5ghz is 'n'. Are all the components on your network 'n'-capable? I seem to recall older airport expresses were 'g' only, and also that if you had newer ones that you had to set them to be 'n' capable. May have to refresh my memory...

 

[JoelSim]

This is all getting very complicated for my tiny little brain. Whatever happened to phono plugs and cables as thick as an anaconda?

 

[Dan Turner]

JohnDuncan:2.4ghz is 'g', 5ghz is 'n'. Are all the components on your network 'n'-capable? I seem to recall older airport expresses were 'g' only, and also that if you had newer ones that you had to set them to be 'n' capable. May have to refresh my memory...

Hi JD - I suspected as much re: G and N networks. My oldest AE is <6 months old, so I would have thought they would be the newer N-spec ones. If you know how to change them to connect via 'N' that that would be fabulous - I did have a look in the settings using Airport Utility, but couldn't see anything obvious. The only G-spec device that connects to my network is my iPhone and I do need this connected sometimes to use as a remote, but at the time I was looking yesterday it was locked (am I right in thinking that it is not connected to my network in this state?) so I would have expected everything to be operating on the N frequency. I have suspected that getting it all operating on 'N' would probably solve any interference issues given the greater bandwidth and the lower likelihood of anyone else nearby having a network on the same channel (as proven by the AirRadar scan). If it's not possible to get the network operating on 'N' then we'll see how 'g' channel 3 goes - there doesn't seem to be anyone else on that.

Thanks once again.