Squeezebox query

A friend of mine is thinking of buying this Philips wireless music system. He wants to be able to play music from his PC in his lounge and bedroom. The Philips units will allow him to do this but he's also thinking that a SB based solution will give him better sound quality.

So the question is, if he goes the SB route, will he need 2 SB units or is there a multi room solution? He has found this site selling SB3 for around £120. However, that still leaves him with having to purchase 2 sets of amps/speakers.

So any ideas guys?

 

If your friend is serving two rooms, then he'll need two SB's.

I don't know the Philips unit but I imagine it may have a better user interface. I don't mean the SB and SlimServer software interface is bad, it just might be a bit much for any non-techie types. I have a 'techno-phob' brother-in-law who is also in the same situation and I know that if I set up a SB system, I will get called in occassionally to sort out any little issues he may have.

Others here will know more about the Philips system.

 

http://www.audiofi.co.uk/reviews/streamiumwacs.php


For not much more though you could get 2 x SB3:
http://www.multitask-computing.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=10&products_id=397

and 2 sets of active speakers which will sound better

 

Could also look at this when it is released:

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/42/53/227/MT-01/index.html

 

Thanks guys. I don't suppose the SB comes with a volume control? In which case I'll suggest to him a couple of SB3s and 2 pairs of s/h active Tannoy Reveals.

 

Of course it does....
I have SB3's, and would recommend them to anyone. I am no geek & found them really easy to set up (wirelessly). They even provide instructions. ;-)

 

You haven't met my brother-in-law. He can't even use a screwdriver let alone config. SB's

 

Great, so SB3 should be able to feed active speakers directly.

Thanks.

 

They work great with actives!

 

Dev, that link is of course with the American wall warts. FWIW I happily drive an amp (Linn 2250) directly with either an SB3 or a Transporter, i.e. without a preamp, so I'd imagine active speakers would be fine. The output impedance of the Transporter is I believe about 230 ohms. I don't know about the SB3 but I wouldn't expect there'd be a matching issue unless the amp were something unusual.

 

Thanks again guys. FWIW I've suggested SB3 with s/h Tannoy Reveal. I've also suggested that he listens to whatever speakers he fancies before buying.

Steve, cheers for pointing that out. I hadn't noticed the wall wart.

 

With the SB, is it possible to use it to play music which you're streaming over the web? For example, if I were to be listening to music on a website, would it play them through the hifi, or would I need to save them and add them to a playlist?

Also, just being curious, but if you were to watch a DVD or play a game on the pc, would it also be able to send their audio to the hifi?

 

It is possible to do those, but you would need to set up some sort of streaming server on the pc which takes the stuff going to the soundcard and convert it to streaming format

It works best at playing saved files and internet radio, anything else has to be bodged on

 

Another couple of clueless questions.

Is the wireless version both wireless and wired?
Do you need a wifi card in the computer?

Does the wireless version mean you can use it to also connect other wireless devices to the computer? Example, if someone with a wireless laptop came over, would they be able to use it to share my broadband connection?

Can it read from MOre than one source?

Possibly all stupid questions

 

Not at all.

 

1) Yes

2) Not necessarily, it depends if you already have a wireless network. If not, an access point/router will work better than an ad-hoc network using a wireless card (an access point will cost about the same too)

3) Yes, it can double up as a wireless point

4) It can read from one version of slimserver at a time (you can reconnect though), but if you have music on more than one computer then a shared folder with a shortcut in the slimserver music folder will allow access to both on the squeezebox

 

MO, buy one. Definitely the coolest bit of technology I have ever used.

 

I have no wireless network. Nor do I know anything about them

I'd like to be able to listen to music on my computer through my hifi. I'd considered just getting a half decent soundcard to replace the onboard solution, and then connecting it to my DAC.

I also like the idea of being able to share the internet connection and files wirelessly.

It's something I've thought about, but in no rush. Just that with christmas coming up I thought I'd look into it

 

If you don't have a wireless, it is probably best to put in a broadband wireless router, connect your computer to this via network cable and then connect the squeezebox wirelessly to the router/pc

That way you get the best of both worlds as the internet radio will be able to work with the computer switched off

 

I'm lost already.

Anyone know of an idiots quide to wireless?