Yamaha RX A1050 And Alexa

[Good4it]

Is it possible to hookup a Echo Dot to play thru my speakers? I tried getting my bluetooth on the AVR to play but no luck.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

Yamaha’s website will list any supported platforms in the “features” section on each component’s web page.

Regards,
Wayne

 

[Good4it]

I checked before I asked. Nothing there. I was wondering if anyone could help.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

If Yamaha doesn’t support it, not sure how anyone here can fix that. Seems beyond obvious, so I guess I’m missing something...? What kind of help are you looking for?

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Verdinut]

My conclusion is, if Yamaha does not mention it in the owner's manual, this means that its product is not compatible with Alexa or whatever you're trying to connect to it. Otherwise, it would have mentioned it as manufacturers always publish what their stuff can do for obvious reasons.

My 0.02 cents.

 

[lovinthehd]

Not a Yamaha guy but looking around found this http://www.yamaha.com/US/MusicCast/?keyword=YAMAHAMUSICCAST&type=custom&ref= and this https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-yamaha-network-receiver-basic-integration/54525

 

[KEW]

Maybe I am misinterpreting your question, but I have done this using an old-school stereo receiver two ways:

The echo dot has both a 3.5mm output and bluetooth.

The first way is to wire the dot directly to the receiver using one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-3-5mm-Auxiliary-Stereo-Splitter/dp/B00LM2Y2U4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1515859543&sr=1-1&keywords=3.5mm+stereo+male+to+to+rca+male+splitter+cable

The second way is to use an inexpensive bluetooth receiver along with rca splitter cable:
https://www.amazon.com/Mpow-Bluetooth-Receiver-Streaming-Hands-free/dp/B008AGQMQC/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1515859731&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=Bluetooth+4.1+Receiver&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/C2G-Cables-Go-03182-Y-Cable/dp/B0002GUBIS/ref=sr_1_8?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1515859921&sr=1-8&keywords=3.5mm+female+rca

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Yep, the 3.5 to rca should do the trick. I just got an echo dot yesterday, but I use an airport express for streaming. Not sure how I’ll use the dot. Maybe give it to my son.

 

[lovinthehd]

Not using this stuff myself....what's the difference between an Echo Dot and Alexa?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Chris, think of Alexa to Amazon as Siri to Apple.

 

[lovinthehd]

So Alexa is an Echo series unit but not shown? Not an apple/siri guy either, altho my Galaxy S4 phone can do the "hello samsung" thing but don't use it but very rarely. I thought Alexa must have something more going on to need special implementation in an avr?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

So Alexa is an Echo series unit but not shown? Not an apple/siri guy either, altho my Galaxy S4 phone can do the "hello samsung" thing but don't use it but very rarely. I thought Alexa must have something more going on to need special implementation in an avr?

Basically Alexa is the AI inside. The “virtual assistant” if you will. So you basically can get into the amazon ecosystem in varying levels. Echo “dot” for example is the entry level device that uses Alexa. The echo “show” is the biggest from what I can tell. I just got one free for switching back to Dish Network. Hallelujah!!! Good bye DTV. Anyways, I don’t even know if it will be useful. I was in the middle of setting it up when we ran into town.

 

[lovinthehd]

Basically Alexa is the AI inside. The “virtual assistant” if you will. So you basically can get into the amazon ecosystem in varying levels. Echo “dot” for example is the entry level device that uses Alexa. The echo “show” is the biggest from what I can tell. I just got one free for switching back to Dish Network. Hallelujah!!! Good bye DTV. Anyways, I don’t even know if it will be useful. I was in the middle of setting it up when we ran into town.

Ah, got it now, thanks. Thought it was a separate thingy.

 

[KEW]

Not using this stuff myself....what's the difference between an Echo Dot and Alexa?

If you are planning to use it as a source of music (my primary use), the Echo Dot is the best one to get!
The original Echo does not have a way to connect external speakers.
The Dot has the same array of 7 mics to help it hear commands from across the house (which works pretty well) but saves money by using a pretty poor speaker. It is fine for speech, but not going to enthrall anyone with it's music reproduction. The Echo is pretty decent for a $100 wireless speaker but has the obvious limit of being mono and a 3.25" tube.
However, if you buy a pair of monitors (I use JBL LSR305's) you can get very high sound quality.

As long as you don't need the compact form factor, a Dot and a pair of these ($30 when I posted this) will beat the original Echo quite nicely:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I2PFBJ0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[lovinthehd]

If you are planning to use it as a source of music (my primary use), the Echo Dot is the best one to get!
The original Echo does not have a way to connect external speakers.
The Dot has the same array of 7 mics to help it hear commands from across the house (which works pretty well) but saves money by using a pretty poor speaker. It is fine for speech, but not going to enthrall anyone with it's music reproduction. The Echo is pretty decent for a $100 wireless speaker but has the obvious limit of being mono and a 3.25" tube.
However, if you buy a pair of monitors (I use JBL LSR305's) you can get very high sound quality.

As long as you don't need the compact form factor, a Dot and a pair of these ($30 when I posted this) will beat the original Echo quite nicely:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I2PFBJ0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Good to know. However, the "not using" is deliberate. Drives me nuts when either I butt dial it just right, or some update enables it, that the voice activated thing on my phone is on/enabled (and it just starts talking to you about something out of the blue). Creeps me out to just stand there talking to a device, too. Let alone that stuff going out on the net influencing ads/news you're going to get shown...it's bad enuf already just having the phone share what it does already.

I get the convenience for some, tho, but my life isn't so busy I need that sort of assistance. Unless you can re-position your subs/speakers and tell Alexa to use my Omnimic and REW and minidsp and do all the sweeps/measuring and set up and implement an appropriate house curve variations while I go out and ride my bike or something That would be cool....but suppose you'd have to have the mic setup on a robotic device that could position the mic in a coupla positions....a furniture crawling roomba?

 

[KEW]

Good to know. However, the "not using" is deliberate. Drives me nuts when either I butt dial it just right, or some update enables it, that the voice activated thing on my phone is on/enabled (and it just starts talking to you about something out of the blue). Creeps me out to just stand there talking to a device, too. Let alone that stuff going out on the net influencing ads/news you're going to get shown...it's bad enuf already just having the phone share what it does already.

I get the convenience for some, tho, but my life isn't so busy I need that sort of assistance. Unless you can re-position your subs/speakers and tell Alexa to use my Omnimic and REW and minidsp and do all the sweeps/measuring and set up and implement an appropriate house curve variations while I go out and ride my bike or something That would be cool....but suppose you'd have to have the mic setup on a robotic device that could position the mic in a coupla positions....a furniture crawling roomba?

Sounds like Samsung was a bit over-zealous in their implimentation. I have a Google phone and it doesn't respond unless I say "Okay Google".
FWIW, the Dot and the Echo (I believe all versions) have a button on top that deactivates the microphone system to ensure privacy.
They also have the Echo Tap where you must press a button for any command.

 

[lovinthehd]

Sounds like Samsung was a bit over-zealous in their implimentation. I have a Google phone and it doesn't respond unless I say "Okay Google".
FWIW, the Dot and the Echo (I believe all versions) have a button on top that deactivates the microphone system to ensure privacy.
They also have the Echo Tap where you must press a button for any command.

Doubt its all that zealous The phone would tell me about an event on a calendar or voice mail or something like that when I'm not expecting such....just an event in the phone someone assumes you want it to yak to you about.

 

[KEW]

Doubt its all that zealous The phone would tell me about an event on a calendar or voice mail or something like that when I'm not expecting such....just an event in the phone someone assumes you want it to yak to you about.

That still seems intrusive. My phone pretty much works like Google Home (their smart speaker device) and I have Alexa.
If I have an item marked to alert me on my Google Calendar, it will alert me by sending me a notification such that I get a beep and when I check my phone I read the event notice. I don't think I would like for my phone to announce my activities to the world! That seems a poor choice on Samsung's part.
For Alexa, I ask it to "tell me about my day" and it will tell me the time, weather, the next 3 activities on my Google Calendar for that day, then go into the news (I set it to Reuters). Aside from timers/alarms, Alexa will not speak unless spoken to!

 

[Good4it]

Finally got it to pair with my AVR Bluetooth after many tries.

 

[Verdinut]

We have to be careful about invasion of privacy! I am not using any communication gadget available except the home phone and GMail. I only use the cell phone for emergencies or important communications. As a matter of fact, my cell phone is 99%+ of the time Off.

Everyone is trying to spy on us now, not only web phishing! It's enough! It's up to everyone of us to make the decision not to use stupid invasive products!

We only used to have invasive surgeries. Now, we have invasive communications. What's next?
What about Peace of Mind?