Apple Airport Express / Orange Livebox Questions

psurquhart

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Nov 15, 2010
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Hi all,

Buying myself an A Airport Express as a birthday present to myself. Dont know that much about it so after various advice please.

Its main use will be to stream music from my itunes pc / Iphone 3gs to my Sony AV amp.

Other than this ( and using it as a printer wireless port that Im not really interested in ) Im a bit clueless on its use, what other things can the A A Express do ?

Also, as part of my contract with Orange, I get "free" broadband via a livebox ( which is not really free as Im on a £35 contract ). The only downside is that it is the very basic of broadband packages and only 54.0 Mbps. Is this going to give me problems ? Im guessing im on a limited download package too but have never experienced problems but then again dont download much, Im oldschool and still tend to buy cds then rip.

Was also thinking of getting Spotify Premium as i only have the basic package at mo and would like to stream that too ?

As my broadband is "free", I dont want to start paying another provider for it in an ideal world so hoping the existing set up will be ok ?

Oh and one more question - I have an Atlas Compass coaxial digital interconnect - will this work with it to my amp ? Very basic question I know !

Any feedback would be most welcome.
 

professorhat

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psurquhart:Other than this ( and using it as a printer wireless port that Im not really interested in ) Im a bit clueless on its use, what other things can the A A Express do ?

Not a lot more really to be honest - it can create a wireless network, but from the sound of the below, you won't need this.

psurquhart:Also, as part of my contract with Orange, I get "free" broadband via a livebox ( which is not really free as Im on a £35 contract ). The only downside is that it is the very basic of broadband packages and only 54.0 Mbps. Is this going to give me problems ? Im guessing im on a limited download package too but have never experienced problems but then again dont download much, Im oldschool and still tend to buy cds then rip.

I'm assuming you mean by this that the Orange router creates a wireless network with a maximum of 54 Mbps? In which case, this is absolutely fine for what you want to use the Airport Express for.

psurquhart:Was also thinking of getting Spotify Premium as i only have the basic package at mo and would like to stream that too ?

Can do. You can stream normal Spotify Basic package from your PC to the Airport Express using the Airfoil software. The Premium package will add extra quality to that (because of the higher bitrates) and will allow you to stream Spotify direct from your iPhone.

psurquhart:As my broadband is "free", I dont want to start paying another provider for it in an ideal world so hoping the existing set up will be ok ?

Absolutely - the Airport Express doesn't really need a broadband connection to work - all it's doing is streaming your local iTunes collection and iPhone music to your AV amp. There's no need to have an internet connection or an existing wireless network at all if you don't want to for this to work.

psurquhart:Oh and one more question - I have an Atlas Compass coaxial digital interconnect - will this work with it to my amp ? Very basic question I know !

No, this won't work with the Airport - this needs a digital optical cable (not coaxial) with one of these adaptors on the Airport Express end.
 

psurquhart

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Nov 15, 2010
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Thank you Professor,

As informative to us clueless as ever - it really is much appreciated.

One last question though, I noticed that the adaptor is from Maplins, which is handy cos theres one in town, does it matter that its a cheap product ? Should I be spending more once I take the plunge ? i know these questions are always a boiling pot of an answer ! I thought I could just plug in a digital cable without an adaptor ? But then again thats why Im a novice in such matters.
 

professorhat

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I haven't done a test, but I can't really see how the adaptor can make too much of a difference on an optical signal - the cable the signal is travelling down would have more of an affect I would have thought. It is possible to get cables where the mini TOSlink connection is built-in though and it may be easier to look into this. Effectively, with the Airport, you need a mini TOSlink connection on one end (which is about the same size as standard 3.5mm headphone adaptor) and a standard optical connection on the other to go straight into your amp.
 

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