Hello. I am new to this site and to hi-fi in general. I am writing because I am moving in for the kill with whole home audio but am now immobilized by doubt after reading the humorous thread concerning the B&W 683 floor standers and the new refrigerator for Ganesh.
My misgivings stem from advice regarding the source. I have what I believe to be a fairly complicated scheme to work within, but long story short I am/was setting up a DAW in my office, installing Phoenix Gold in-ceiling speakers in most rooms and establishing my family room as the theatre/listening room. It is in this room that would like to place the 683's. I plan to do all of this with assistance of my brother who does home installation for a living and can get a good price on B&W. He has more than once raised an eyebrow to my Frankensteinian leanings but has, perhaps for the sake of comradery, not openly contested me.
What I need is some perspective on my plan to couple PC audio (192 kbps mp3 slowly being converted to lossless) with hi-fi by way of an audio network receiver of some as yet unnamed stripe.
I planned to stream audio over my wireless network or just run it downstairs using Cat 5, but then select a power conditioner, receiver, amp and speakers based on research and critical auditioning...
But am I wasting my time with my PC in the signal path? Any help would be appreciated.
As I just noted on another thread, my PC has become an integral part of my hi-fi experience. I've ripped my entire CD collection to my hard drive using the Apple Lossless format.
From there, my PC is connected to a wireless router, the Apple Airport Express, which also has the handy feature of streaming audio from iTunes to your stereo. It has a SPDIF mini-jack output which you plug into your receiver/external dac/whatever, and you're set.
Thanks for your reply Stephen. I am by no means a PC loyalist, but I am nonetheless resistant to moving over to Apple-reliant technologies. Are there PC alternatives that don't suck?
Only one I am aware of is the Slim Devices Squeezebox, which is considerably more expensive (299 versus ~90) than the Apple solution. I imagine there are probably others out there though.
Note: In the Apple products case, it is both the "Router" and the "Something". The Squeezebox connects to the wireless router though from what I've read.
Awesome. From the thread that I cited above, I learned that the pairing of Amp and Speaker is very important. (In my case B&W with Rotel, I believe?) Now I am wondering: what about the receiver? I don't want to drop over a thousand dollars on speakers and then make them limp along on crutches...
I would stick with Rotel if possible from a price perspective.
Note: If you are buying separate amplifiers, then you don't need a receiver, you just need a surround processor.
Of course the converse is true; if you buy a receiver, you don't *need* separate amplification (although it wouldn't hurt anything).
A receiver is usually a more cost effective solution, not to mention convenient (one box versus many). However, a separate amplifier + processor tend to give a little bit better quality. I would suggest auditioning both, as you might be satisfied with the sound quality of a Rotel receiver (they are among the better ones out there), and appreciate the lower cost and reduced clutter.
Stephen makes a good point. If you have a multi zone capable receiver, I don't think you need a seperate amp. Not knowing what kind of receiver you're referring to, you may need a multi channel receiver. Your brother would know exactly what you need in this redard.
Have you tried out the Sonos music servers? They can sound pretty respectable for multi room installation type stuff. Their are a few models to choose from and a bunch of different options. They can get pretty expensive though.
"What I need is some perspective on my plan to couple PC audio (192 kbps mp3 slowly being converted to lossless) with hi-fi by way of an audio network receiver of some as yet unnamed stripe."
or am I missing something. If you did not start with lossless you cannot unlose something you already lost or have I overlooked something or other?