Wireless audio solutions?

[larkmore]

Hi all. I've been scouring the internet but not really finding what I
want so I thought I'd see what others around here have seen or come up
with. I have my computer in one room and my stereo / tv in the other.
Right now I'm running long (20+ ft) RCA cables from the computer to
the stereo for playback when I want to listen to music and wander the
house. Trouble is I need to crank the stereo and even then it's less
than optimal. What I'd really love would be a wireless way to stream
music to anywhere in the house and just turn on the receiver in the
room I end up in. Anyone out there doing something like this already?

I have already tried wireless speakers/headphones from Emerson.
Granted they were cheap, but they suck even taking that into
consideration. Lots of static, poor volume, eat batteries by the
pound.

I've looked online (NewEgg mostly) for FM transmitters that plug into
a 3/8 inch stereo jack (motherboard/sound card) but most are either
designed for cigarette lighter power or an iPod docking cradle. ALL of
them had lousy reviews and claim best case distance is 30ft in free
air, with most of them barely reaching that, forget putting walls,
etc. in the mix.

I found a couple of bluetooth based units but their descriptions were
a little sketchy and vague.

I am NOT looking to put a computer in every room and just have a WLAN.
Too pricey and wastes too much electricity.

So, I'm looking for both a transmitter and receiver(s) that accept
either RCA or 3/8 inch stereo connections. I have plenty of adapters
from RCA to 3/8 and back so they don't have to match. I'd prefer
something that had little to no computer interaction (software based
control panels, etc.) and I need it to run under Ubuntu 7.10! Power
should be a wall-wart or similar, though powered USB or an adapter to
the 4 pin Molex connectors from a power supply would work too. What
have ya got?

-Will

 

[GT]

Hi all. I've been scouring the internet but not really finding what I
want so I thought I'd see what others around here have seen or come up
with. I have my computer in one room and my stereo / tv in the other.
Right now I'm running long (20+ ft) RCA cables from the computer to
the stereo for playback when I want to listen to music and wander the
house. Trouble is I need to crank the stereo and even then it's less
than optimal. What I'd really love would be a wireless way to stream
music to anywhere in the house and just turn on the receiver in the
room I end up in. Anyone out there doing something like this already?

I have already tried wireless speakers/headphones from Emerson.
Granted they were cheap, but they suck even taking that into
consideration. Lots of static, poor volume, eat batteries by the
pound.

I've looked online (NewEgg mostly) for FM transmitters that plug into
a 3/8 inch stereo jack (motherboard/sound card) but most are either
designed for cigarette lighter power

[text snipped]

How about a custom job:
Cigarette lighter power is 12v - how would you feel about cutting the end
off the cigarette lighter connector and connecting it to (the 12v circuit) a
Molex hard disk power.

 

[DAZ]

Hi all. I've been scouring the internet but not really finding what I
want so I thought I'd see what others around here have seen or come up
with. I have my computer in one room and my stereo / tv in the other.
Right now I'm running long (20+ ft) RCA cables from the computer to
the stereo for playback when I want to listen to music and wander the
house. Trouble is I need to crank the stereo and even then it's less
than optimal. What I'd really love would be a wireless way to stream
music to anywhere in the house and just turn on the receiver in the
room I end up in. Anyone out there doing something like this already?

How much are you willing to spend?
http://www.sonos.com/

 

[larkmore]

Worst case I can rig the 12V power, but ideally I'd like something
already made for the application. I think I've even seen case mod
panels that take a CD bay and convert it into a cigarette lighter
socket. Doable, but a hack.

But that still leaves the question of what to use for the actual
wireless bit. As mentioned, the FM transmitters I've come across seem
downright pathetic and I'm not sure about any other products. The
Sonos seems ok, but _WAY_ too pricey. For that kind of money I'll
just put a few thin clients in each room and run a W/LAN, which I was
trying to avoid...

Anything else?

-Will