music in every room

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joescrivens

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Ok, looking for ideas from people. When I move house in a few years I'm going to install a music system that plays music in at least 5 different rooms in the house and where I can control which rooms it plays in.

My initial idea is to buy 5 airport expresses and 5 sets of standalone speakers, connect the whole lot up to the network then i can remote control everything with my ipad or iphone using airplay, i'll be able to choose the music and the speakers that are playing all from my device.

But, fairly expensive setup i would have thought I can get airport expresses for £75 so if i buy new then i'm looking at £375 for those and then 5 set's of speakers. They don't need to be the greatest speakers in the world as long as they are able to be self powered. I have the harman kardon soundsticks but i don't intend putting 4 more of them around the house at £145 each.

I could probably find some for about £50 each and I need 4 more so thats £200, total cost then of £575 plus any mounts and fittings.

The question is-what other options do I have and has anyone got a good system that works for them?

looked at this site but there are no prices: http://www.musicineveryroom.co.uk/
 
If you're going to do it in a few years, technology will have moved on significantly then. The reason you won't find prices on websites like that is that multi-room is traditionally custom installs and so cost (big) money! Sonos do zone systems, but aren't cheap (see: http://www.sonos.com/) as do Logitech (see: http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/speakers-audio/wireless-music-systems).

Personally, I did it by getting speakers in one place that you can turn up loud enough to hear in every room of the house :D Not neighbour friendly though :eek:
 
We have a 5 zone sonos system at home and it works flawlessly. 2 run through in ceiling speakers, 2 through stereo/home cinema setups and one S5 with built in speakers in my boy's room. You can link zones, move sones, play the same or different music in every room. All it needs is a NAS with the music on as it needs no server software, just to be pointed to by the dedicated player program on either a PC or mac. You can also use iPhones and android phones as controllers. It really does just work and makes it so easy to use and also expand.
 
menthel said:
We have a 5 zone sonos system at home and it works flawlessly. 2 run through in ceiling speakers, 2 through stereo/home cinema setups and one S5 with built in speakers in my boy's room. You can link zones, move sones, play the same or different music in every room. All it needs is a NAS with the music on as it needs no server software, just to be pointed to by the dedicated player program on either a PC or mac. You can also use iPhones and android phones as controllers. It really does just work and makes it so easy to use and also expand.
Click to expand...

what was the cost of the 5 zone sonos system if you don't mind me asking?
 
just had a look on that sonos site. thats A LOT more than my setup would cost

each s5 is £350 so 5 of them costs £1750!!!!

I can do it with airport express' for under £600, im sure it works great but it bloody well should do for that price.

Looks like my airport express idea is the way to go
 
joescrivens said:
what was the cost of the 5 zone sonos system if you don't mind me asking?
Click to expand...

It was put together a couple of years ago, so pricing is a little vague but probably about £1800.

joescrivens said:
just had a look on that sonos site. thats A LOT more than my setup would cost

each s5 is £350 so 5 of them costs £1750!!!!

I can do it with airport express' for under £600, im sure it works great but it bloody well should do for that price.

Looks like my airport express idea is the way to go
Click to expand...

I looked at all of the options at the time (airports, logitech stuff etc) and the only one that really had the versatility was sonos. It costs but it works. Then again, as a mac fan you should appreciate that! ;)
 
menthel said:
It was put together a couple of years ago, so pricing is a little vague but probably about £1800.



I looked at all of the options at the time (airports, logitech stuff etc) and the only one that really had the versatility was sonos. It costs but it works. Then again, as a mac fan you should appreciate that! ;)
Click to expand...

what put you off about using airports though? No wire's a quarter of the cost?

I had a three piece system a while ago using my mac, apple tv and airport express and it worked great at the time.
 
joescrivens said:
what put you off about using airports though? No wire's a quarter of the cost?

I had a three piece system a while ago using my mac, apple tv and airport express and it worked great at the time.
Click to expand...

The abilities to play different music in each room, the ease of linking and unlinking zones and lots of other functions that the airports did not have at the time. I don't know about the functionality now but when a friend looked at it at the end of last year the airport solution still lacked a lot of the useful features that sonos had and made so easy. To be honest, I haven't kept up with developments in the area as my system works so well it doesn't need replacing!
 
menthel said:
The abilities to play different music in each room, the ease of linking and unlinking zones and lots of other functions that the airports did not have at the time. I don't know about the functionality now but when a friend looked at it at the end of last year the airport solution still lacked a lot of the useful features that sonos had and made so easy. To be honest, I haven't kept up with developments in the area as my system works so well it doesn't need replacing!
Click to expand...

ok cheers,

you can't play different audio in each room with airport express which I won't use so thats good. Controlling zones is just as easy as sonos looking at their website and their iphone app, you do the same thing with airplay.

since i have an ipad, a mac, an appleTV already and no need for different music I think the airport method will be the right one for me

cheers
 
joescrivens said:
ok cheers,

you can't play different audio in each room with airport express which I won't use so thats good. Controlling zones is just as easy as sonos looking at their website and their iphone app, you do the same thing with airplay.

since i have an ipad, a mac, an appleTV already and no need for different music I think the airport method will be the right one for me

cheers
Click to expand...

If you don't think you will actually need to use a multiroom system to its full extent at any poin then the airport system will be fine, I am sure.
 
It may be worth holding off for a few more months and waiting for products with AirPlay built in to start hitting the shelves.

At the moments I'm running a Mac/Apple TV/Airport express set up and it works really well, but for other rooms I think I'm going to wait for integrated units.
 
Craikeybaby said:
It may be worth holding off for a few more months and waiting for products with AirPlay built in to start hitting the shelves.

At the moments I'm running a Mac/Apple TV/Airport express set up and it works really well, but for other rooms I think I'm going to wait for integrated units.
Click to expand...

yes it won't be for a few years to be honest, just thinking about it now.

Your setup is what I had before, are you waiting for integrated units just for space value etc? So you are looking to get some form of standalone speakers with embedded network capability, have you see any that are coming out?

EDIT - just looked there are some already but OUCH, the price isn't cheap, it is still cheaper to buy an airport express and speakers
 
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Yes, those are the main reasons. There is already the B&W zeppelin air, which is big & pricey, so out of the picture.

iHome have announced a product, not sure when that is coming out though.
 
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