Play Music from CDs Throughout a House?

[Anderton]

Yes, I know you can do this with streaming. Yes, I know you can use Google home, Sonos, or whatever to stream something like Spotify throughout the house. But here's what I want to do.

 

Have decent speakers in several rooms, and have them play whatever is playing on a CD player (they still exist!).

 

So far, the only option I can think of is to send line-level signals over wires to powered monitors. Surely there has to be a more modern way.

 

Second choice would be adding an audio-to-Bluetooth adapter to the CD player, and have something that receives Bluetooth in the various rooms. But AFAIK, it's not possible to have two Bluetooth receivers pair to a single transmitter.

 

In my ideal world, there would be a wi-fi transmitter connected to the CD player, and a wi-fi receiving device in each room, that could pick up the wi-fi signal and generate a line-level output to powered monitors.

 

Any ideas?!?

[nursers]

Craig I use this - LINK to connect my old stereo and then control it. I believe you can link multiple units?

[Mike Rivers]

Apparently there's a Bluetooth standard for exactly this purpose, and several manufacturers who make speakers with built-in "broadcast receiver" Bluetooth. There are several manufacturers that support this standard so you don't have to get all of the same speakers. It's the sort of thing that I see at CES, wonder about the fidelity (apparently they have pretty good bandwidth), and then forget who makes them (because trade show exhibitors don't hand out literature any more).

 

KEF has ads for their wireless monitors in several of the magazines that you probably read or write for. See if they offer anything inspiring. Tell them you want to review them and you'll surely be able to try them out. They can use WiFi as well as Bluetooth, so that gives you the option for greater range if you have a high-powered whole-house WiFi router.

[Anderton]

The problem I'm finding with most of these systems is that they expect you to use their Bluetooth speakers, and I want to be able to use conventional studio monitors as well as some mobile Bluetooth speakers I have. But, I think I've found a solution. The Aluratek ABC01F is both a Bluetooth transmitter and receiver. So I can connect one to transmit from my CD player or receiver, and pick up its signal on the iLoud or whatever. But, it seems like I could also buy another one of these to pick up Bluetooth audio and send it into a speaker.

 

Then again...I don't have a landline, but my place is wired for phone service. If they used all four conductors for the original wiring, maybe I can just use that to deliver line-level audio pretty much everywhere. Hmmm...

[Mike Rivers]

Other than being another set of batteries that need to be charged or wall warts that need outlets, that looks like it could be a good solution. Thanks for the research. Aluratek makes all sorts of Bluetooth stuff with assorted inputs and outputs, Bluetooth versions, RF power, and battery capacity.

 

I don't think that home builders have cheaped out and started wiring telephone jacks with only two-conductor cable. In the old days, phones needed an extra wire for the ringer, and more modern houses were wired with four conductors for two phone lines. However, standard "station wire" isn't shielded and isn't twisted pairs, so unless you had balanced outputs on the source (not difficult) and differential inputs on the speakers (that might require a transformer or an Anderton circuit) you might have problems with hum. If the house is wired for Ethernet, that would be great. Ethernet cable always has four twisted pairs. You'll still want balanced connections but you can run AES3 or any of the Dante-like variants through it. No need to make excuses about Bluetooth fidelity, and it can go a few hundred feet.