Multi-room Audio Help. iTunes/HomeHifi/OutdoorSpeakers

[emayhem]

Hi there,

I need some help with what to buy and what to do. These are the two things I would like to be able to do.

1. I have a MacPro that I want to be able to play music from on my Home Stereo and also on Outdoor Speakers (that I am yet to buy, ideally they would be Wireless).

2. I want to be able to able to play music on my Home Stereo but also on the Outdoor Speakers if my MacPro is turned off.

The solution might be to buy an Airport Express for the Mac and Home Stereo and Wireless Speakers for Outdoor Use but I have some questions on what is possible with this set up.

• I am unsure of the quality of Wireless Outdoor Speakers, so if I got a second Airport Express for Non-Wireless Outdoor Speakers, could I still use those speakers from my Home Stereo if my Mac was turned off?

• Is there anyway of having outdoor speakers that are Wireless and can have music played on them from my MacPro but also my Home Stereo?

• Also, if I would like to be able to play different music on the Home Stereo and Outdoors, is this possible without two Airport Express Units?

Hope this isn't too confusing, thanks for your help in advance.

 

[waw74]

your post is a bit confusing, but here a few things about airtunes

**the express only functions as a remote speaker for iTunes (you have the option to make the music you're playing there come out of somewhere else), so if you don't have a computer awake and on the network, there is no way to get audio out of the express.

**as there is no way to play 2 songs at the same time in iTunes, You can't have different music coming out of 2 different expresses unless you have 2 computers.

**there is a program called airfoil that will let you send audio from programs other than iTunes to an express. It will also let you send audio to any mac, pc, or linux box that is running a special program.

**If you wanted 2 different outputs, you could run airfoil and iTunes at the same time, but you would have to have a second music program (like pandora or last.fm) running.

**with both airtunes and airfoil, you can send to multiple locations (including the local computer) at the same time, and they're all pretty much in sync with each other.

**if you want to be able to play music without your computer being on, look at TV. You can use these to send audio to an express. I think, but not sure, that you can also send music from your mac to these like they were an express.

**if you want to use the outside speakers with both the express and the stereo you would need a switch (like the MK-1 here)of some kind to choose which input you wanted. it's also possible that your wireless speakers could come with 2 inputs

 

[sandman42]

**if you want to be able to play music without your computer being on, look at TV. You can use these to send audio to an express. I think, but not sure, that you can also send music from your mac to these like they were an express.

Yes, you can. The TV can be an AirTunes 'target' and receive streamed music originating from your computer. To use the TV as an AirTunes 'source' you'd have to manage your TV's content to make sure whatever music you wanted to play (when your computer's off) is on the TV's hard drive.

 

[emayhem]

thanks waw74, all that info is excellent. I will investigate and see how I go.