Beginner advice - Multi room audio played from Android

[spookypitboss]

Hi, and thanks for having this awesome forum. Lots of good info on here! I had a few questions about setting up a mutli room speaker setup. I want to buy a "home theater in a box" to replace an old setup I have, so I figure that's a good starting point.

My goal is to be able to play music from my Samsung Galaxy S4, to a home theater system, and have the option to play it simultaneously in other parts of a multi story home. I have bluetooth, NFC, DLNA, AllShare and a bunch of other features on my phone, and plan on moving all my music onto it with a bigger SD card soon. I have a home wireless router, with great range, and is 5ghz dual band. I want the ability to play a "playlist", through whatever app works best for having everything synced onto my phone whenever I buy new music. The reason I say that, is with my current Sony blu-ray player, playing things via DLNA from my phone, it basically lists all my artists, and I can't play playlists or anything like that, it's very basic and time consuming to use. I would really like to use this feature when having people over, and having music play throughout the house. I will eventually add speakers outside as well. I'm just unsure if I should be shopping for DLNA speakers, or keep everything one brand.

I was looking at a Sony home theater system, that has a "Party Streaming Mode" to stream music simultaneously from the home theater system, to additional speakers, but there's a whopping two Sony HomeShare compatible speakers that this will work with. So maybe I should look elsewhere for what I'm after. Hopefully this is a relatively common thing people do now, as I'm just trying to find the best route to do all this through.

Any and all help is appreciated!

 

[ImcLoud]

whats your budget?

 

[spookypitboss]

not huge, we're buying our first home in about a month. Planned on spending around $500 on a entry level home theater system, and $200 or so per/additional speaker.

 

[Hobbit]

The question I have is why do you want to stream music from your phone as your main source? There are many devices out there, in fact most AVR's, that you can setup a home network and stream the music from your home computer. It doesn't matter whether it's a mac or pc, and you probably already have your music backed up on them. Possibly in a less compressed format. Furthermore, many of these AVR's have USB ports where you can plug in a thumb drive and possibly a hard drive - they're both dirt cheap now - with all your music. The AVR's also have access to internet radio stations. Mine gives me many play back options.

You can also look into internet radios. Most have phone apps that you can run them via, as well as create playlists, etc. Some allow you to play playlists from your computer too. There are also bluetooth devices that will take the audio out and transmit it to another device in your house.

 

[spookypitboss]

The question I have is why do you want to stream music from your phone as your main source? There are many devices out there, in fact most AVR's, that you can setup a home network and stream the music from your home computer. It doesn't matter whether it's a mac or pc, and you probably already have your music backed up on them. Possibly in a less compressed format. Furthermore, many of these AVR's have USB ports where you can plug in a thumb drive and possibly a hard drive - they're both dirt cheap now - with all your music. The AVR's have also have access to internet radio stations. Mine gives me many play back options.

You can also look into internet radios. Most have phone apps that you can run them via, as well as create playlists, etc. Some allow you to play playlists from your computer too. There are also bluetooth devices that will take the audio out and transmit it to another device in your house.

That would be fine too, I just want the ability to play saved playlists, and have good control over everything. My current DLNA certified Samsung TV and Sony Blu-ray player will do this, but they simply show a list of songs, or artists. Maybe newer receivers do this, I'm not sure. I also use Slacker a lot for music, and my wife uses Pandora, we both have the same galaxy S4, so I thought (maybe not) it might be more simple to go that route?

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate the info!

I'm open to a receiver that doubles as a 5.1 surround sound system for the living room, but will also play through whatever other room I have hooked up. I just thought going that route would be much more expensive to buy each component separately.

Here's the home theater system I originally was looking at :

Premium 3D Blu-ray Home Theater System - BDVN8100W Review | Sony Store U.S. - Sony US

 

[JMJVK]

If you want to use your phone as a source, you should only do it when connected via MHL to HDMI, user either Neutron or Poweramp (both paid software players), or you will loose a great deal of sound quality. If on top of this you use a lossy codec format like MP3 or AAC, your in for a world of sadness, sound-wise. BlueTooth is not too bad in a car, but in the home, it is less than stellar, and in my opinion, only acceptable when playing lossless files with a premium software player.

Try to find a good second-hand receiver like a Harman AVR 3600, and used JBL, Polk or Energy bookshelf speakers. I purchased my AVR 3600 used, for 400$ in July 2013. It has been flashed to latest firmware, and supports MHL, and 3D. Given the power of this unit and price I've purchased for, I think it was a fabulous deal. The man I purchased it from paid 1200$ for it a year or two prior to selling it to me, and it was in mint condition with box and all documents. Really great speakers can be had for 100~200$. If your willing to go into more vintage stuff, some really fantastic stuff from Kenwood, Technics and JBL can be purchased for less than 200 a pair with enough ooomph and sound quality to give a good run on many speakers cabinets selling for 700$ per unit.


With 600$ on my city's Kijiji, one can currently get a Harman AVR3600 for 500$, or a AVR2600 for 450$ and for a 100$, a pair of mint 12" Kenwood 3-way model Jl 57.

For 600$, one gets a fanstastic stereo capability, and slowly adding to the speakers, one can build a very serious powerhouse home theater for a very thrifty sum. You would be much better served by perusing and purchasing from your local Kijiji or Craigslist this way than with a new HTIB from a retailer.


Just my two cents

 

[spookypitboss]

So far, I've decided on a a Yamaha RX-A730 receiver, it's specs are here : RX-A730 - AVENTAGE - Audio & Visual - Products - Yamaha United States I figured I should buy a decent receiver, that is capable of keeping up with me, as I upgrade speakers.

I also am going to buy a Polk TL2600 5.1 speaker package
TL2600 - Satellites | Polk Audio®

The speakers sounded awesome in the store, but I do realize they're not as powerful as the receiver could handle. I plan on buying a larger subwoofer, two floor standing tower speakers for the front two speakers in the living room, and slowly build up from there. I know it's not the best use of money to buy the Polk package, but I figured it's a good starting point.

I also bought a Yamaha bluetooth adapter to stream music to : YBA-11 - Accessories - Audio & Visual - Products - Yamaha United States

The bluetooth adapter and my Samsung Galaxy S4 supports aptX (which I was told is very high quality, compared to previous bluetooth technology).

Essentially the sound "setup" i'm shooting for is a nice 5.1 setup in the living room, and having zone 2 speakers in the kitchen (right next to the living room). When in the living room, we'll just use the 5.1 speakers for surround sound for movies. When we have people over, or want to listen to music, I plan on running all the speakers in both zones in stereo to listen to music.

How does my plan sound?

 

[JMJVK]

So far, I've decided on a a Yamaha RX-A730 receiver

My word !!! This is quite a far cry from the Sony HTIB. I thought you had more modest aims. Congratulations, The Yamaha receiver is a good solid base to build on. Nice choice.

I know it's not the best use of money to buy the Polk package, but I figured it's a good starting point.

Not the best use of money is a big understatement in this case. Yes, I have a strong negative Bias against "cans". Thats' because I've heard too many of them and they all just sound horrible when you start playing music on them. If this AVR is to be your home's only source of music until you beef it up, you may be in for a good dose of regret.

If a pair of speakers used for the Front Left and Front Right are powerfull enough, one can do away with the sub for while, and just send the LFE signal to L+R until the funds are sufficient for a real couch-rumbler, like a Velodyne 12 incher or something of the sort. To accompany the larger, main pair chosen for the front, a pair of decent bookshelf speakers and a center can be had for next to nothing. In doing things that way, you'll have at least one pair of speakers capable of pushing some decent sound through the house when you want to listen to music. Another way to start off, is to get a pair of used full sized speaker, and a used Sub+Cans kit. You can then use 7.1, have decent fronts, and still have a sub from the get-go.


The key for a good start and enjoyable overall experience with an AVR, just liek on a stereo, is all in the two front speakers. These are the biggest and most important part of a system's sound and will make or break a system above any other component aside from the amplifier/receiver itself.


Just my two cents.

 

[spookypitboss]

Gotcha, that makes sense. To make a long story short, my wife and I are working on a "deal" at a local appliances/electronics store and will be spending a lot of money on a fridge, washer/dryer, stove, microhood etc. We figured why not live a little, and get a nice sound setup. As it sits, they have the Polk speaker package, and then a bunch of $300 each and up floor standing tower speakers. I'm stuck on a $500 or so budget on the entire speaker package as it sits not, but already have been finding a LOT of nice subwoofers and nice floor speakers used locally and on eBay. I'm going to ask them if they would break up this Polk speaker package, and swing a deal with nice tower speakers, or a nicer subwoofer too, but I have a feeling they won't.

Can you suggest any speaker "packages" that include a more powerful subwoofer, and two tower speakers? I don't really want to put up four tower speakers, as our living room isn't huge.

Here's a link to the store's site : Home Theater Speakers | American TV
They are negotiable on prices, since we'll be buying a fair amount of stuff there.

 

[spookypitboss]

Thanks for the insight! The reason I strayed away from the home theater in a box idea, was I know from musical experience and owning bass guitars/equipment that a good receiver/amp is where most of the money needs to go initially.

 

[tmurnin]

Actually, I would go completely the other direction. Put most of your money into speakers, speakers, speakers. For your budget, I would really start with a good 2.1 system. Get the best bookshelves you can afford (Ascend and Aperion make great bookshelves at reasonable price points. There are some cheaper Pioneers that people recommend here. Focal 705's are also a great bookshelf that can be found for $350/pr on Music Direct) and pair it with a subwoofer (Hsu is a good internet-direct brand). Most receivers will be more than powerful enough to drive any speakers in your price range. I would step down on the receiver and put the money into speakers for now. You are more likely to need to upgrade the receiver in the future due to technology changes than speakers.