Wireless? audio transmission as part of multi-zone system

[jec6613]

Hopefully somebody here can help me with this quandary. I have a Niles MRC-6430 (Auriel) system, and love it, but am looking to put some outdoor speakers on it and cabling them is ... difficult.

We have an enclosed area between our house and garage, and want to get audio there. Putting the speakers on the house is darn near impossible to run cabling to just the speakers (the wall carries a LOT of load), so that leaves attaching them to the garage side, which is very easy to drill through and mount speakers to. The problem is, how do I get the audio to the garage?

The only wires I have run are power, and I also have IP connectivity with 100+ Mbps to there (I can get that to be Ethernet if that's the best choice). I'll install an amplifier in the garage to handle that, but how do I get the two RCA connectors carrying audio out there?

I've found some long discontinued powerline options that are unavailable, and also low latency long range Bluetooth, and then above that we're talking about very expensive professional options. I'd prefer if possible to not do wireless, as it would go through two exterior walls (one uninsulated without sheetrock) to get there, and I already have very busy wireless. What's the most reliable way to get signal there with good quality? Audiophile is definitely not required, but reliable CD quality would be fantastic.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BMXTRIX]

You could do a Sonos Play:1 unit. Just mount it on the wall and plug it in and it will be a part of your home wireless network. You can then stream from any network connected device to the unit. If you wanted to keep it wired, you may plug it into your wired home network as well. It's reasonably priced and gets you what you need.

 

[jec6613]

Unfortunately, Sonos doesn't work on two fronts. First, it would be out of sync with all of the rest of the audio by about 2 seconds due to buffering ... and second, the speaker would be outdoors and at least periodically exposed to snow/rain, and no Sonos equipment is rated for outdoor installation.

 

[BMXTRIX]

What actual wiring do you have available at the speaker location?

Point to point wiring? How many, and of what type?

 

[jec6613]

I have one 15A and one 20A 120V circuit, brought in via BX cable via a convoluted route with no ability to run anything alongside them. The speakers will be on the outside wall, the inside of the wall is unfinished and where the electrical is.

I also have a point to point WiFi bridge into there - currently really only sized for a camera and very modest HA, but it could easily be upgraded to something more substantial (hence 100+ Mbps)

 

[BMXTRIX]

I'm not sure there is a solution to what you are dealing with. Since speakers need to be powered, and amplifiers aren't designed to really be outside, the lack of any speaker wiring at the location you are looking to install speakers is going to be the real issue.

There are some wireless outdoor speakers, that use batteries and bluetooth with local sources. Point to point wireless real time RCA connections tend to be very range limited, and won't work outdoors to get audio to speakers. There aren't speakers that I'm aware of that are outdoor rated that are similar to Sonos.

At the end of the day, while you can send audio over a network very reliably, to get speakers working they need that wire for power and proper audio for the last bit. The few wireless solutions out there are likely not going to cut it because they don't fit your specific needs. At least nothing that I've heard of has been capable of this. Wiring is, by far, the most important piece of setting up audio systems to work reliably and consistently IMO.