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Whole Home Audio with a Squeezebox
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Logitech SqueezeBox Duet
Whole home audio is great when it works. It should be simple, but rapidly becomes complex and costly very quickly. The cheapest and easiest way is a bunch of radios throughout the house tuned to the same station. We've all experienced it intentionally or accidentally, walking from room to room without losing the music is great.
The barriers to creating whole home audio are many. The complexities of wiring, powering, and controlling so many zones can be addressed with a variety of methods and products. Once that is solved, you still need good audio sources. This area is particularly hard because the technologies and options are changing rapidly. I enjoy the radio, but the commercials are increasingly driving me away. I love music during dinner, but the ad for the upcoming monster truck rally can ruin any meal. My satellite system has some excellent commercial free music sources so we connected it to the audio system, but unfortunately it is unreliable. The kids program the DVR to record all sorts of shows, so dinner might be interrupted with a change in programming to Adam-12 (see the man). What I really wanted was my MP3 library to be available to the system.
Most of the whole home audio systems support this via their own proprietary media server typically sold for $2k or more. I don't like the price or the technology. The primary benefit of these branded solutions is complete integration with the in wall keypads. Instead, I set up (and highly recommend) a Netgear ReadyNAS. This is a fairly robust network attached storage solution. Mine is used for data backups, photos, music, and videos. The solution is expandable, utilizes RAID protected disks, and has a light operating system for basic applets - all household computers access it. Most of the whole home audio media server solutions I found required the music be stored (duplicated) on them locally - which means adding new recordings to each device manually. I have enough trouble maintaining one library (which I intend to keep on the ReadyNAS).
At the time I selected my system (2007), the whole home audio folks just didn't have their hands around MP3 yet. Most of them embraced it at some level via iTunes. The stupidest award goes to Colorado VNET that insists MP3 is unacceptable (all you iPod users are wrong) and they only support higher quality WAV formats. Not only would I have to duplicate my library, but triple the size it consumes (by upconverting the MP3 files to WAV files without increasing audio quality whatsoever). Sonos gets MP3, but don't get wired controls and I wanted a wired solution. I looked at Niles, Russound, Nuvo, Yamaha, and a few others. I chose Russound CAV6.6 with the iPod dock as my solution (though will no longer use the iPod dock as it kills iPods with continuous operation). I prefer the single big amp approach over distributed in room amps. Distributed amps and digital media could create a synchronization issue. I have that with my HDTV in the family room and composite TV in the Kitchen (fed from same satellite receiver). The audio is off just enough that you can only have one (loud) source.
To solve the problem, I checked out the Logitech SqueezeBox solution which far exceeded my expectations, and I highly recommend it as a component to whole home audio. Not only did it liberate my MP3 library, but it improved my music options and increased my control over the system. Prior to the SqueezeBox I was limited to FM radio stations, Satellite audio, the iPod deck (sans iPod) and a CD player. I wanted HD (FM) radio, but Russound didn't offer that.
I am using the Squeezebox Duet which includes two components; a receiver and a controller. The receiver is a small box that plugs into the Russound or any sound system;s audio in jacks via standard RCA connectors. It converts the MP3 or IP music source into a wired RCA signal. It gets the IP music either wirelessly (built-in wifi b/g/n) or over wired RJ45 LAN (10/100). This unit is in my basement next to the Russound (I haven't touched it or seen it since I installed it).
The controller is a very clever wifi remote control that provides complete control from anywhere in the house. The wifi remote is ingenius because its range is easily expandable via simple access points. The controller comes with a charging base, I keep it handy on my desk. To make it all work, you need one more thing... the SqueezeCenter server. This is free (open souce) software similar in concept to iTunes. It is available for multiple systems including Windows, Macs and Linux, and (get this) the Netgear ReadyNAS - so my SqueezeCenter is running alongside my music on the NAS drive. It uses a plug-in architecture for third party applets. For example, I installed a podcast plugin and it downloads automatically my favorite podcasts via RSS.
SqueezeCenter scanned my drives and found all my music. Human interaction with SqueezeCenter is not great. It uses simple web pages, so things like drag and drop are lost. The good news is you don't use it for much other than basic set up. Most interaction is through the intuitive controller. The biggest limitation is creating playlists which is best done in separate software. There is a way to get SqueezeCenter to read iTunes playlists, but I could not get that to work, but gave-up after discovering Media Monkey.
One big benefit of using something other than iTunes is the SqueezeCenter supports many more audio formats: Lossless (Apple Lossless, FLAC, WMA Lossless), uncompressed (AIFF, WAV, PCM), and compressed (MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, MP2, MusePack, WMA). Note: I am using iTunes for my iPod, so I am duplicating some playlist maintenance, but I am not duplicating the actual music library. Now, whole home audio isn't an audiophile thing - ceiling speakers just don't get left/right in the same way. But I've been playing my MP3 library on crappy 2 inch iPod dock speakers for years - 9" in wall/ceiling speakers sound much better - throw in some FLAC recordings and it borders "impressive". But the real key is a single library - accessible to all the computers and the house audio system.
The Squeezebox controller offers significantly more functionality than the Russound wall keypads. Not only is it portable, but it has complete song information (including album cover). All the options you would expect on an ipod regarding things like shuffle (track or song), continuous repeat, volume, it even has a sleep and alarm function (Hello Russound!). One controller isn't sufficient for the whole home, but the SqueezeBox solution can be configured with multiple controllers and/or multiple receivers. So I could put a controller on each floor or even in each room. Or set up multiple receivers as inputs for different room zones.
This is what I set out to solve, so I was feeling done - but the SqueezeBox solution also supports "Music Services". This effectively means the SqueezeCenter can play Internet radio too. So now, I have Pandora, Last.FM, Slacker, Napster, and many other sources of audio. That HD radio station I wanted happens to stream, so now I have it after-all. I upgraded my Pandora account to get higher quality music and I am getting exposed to a variety of new artists - commercial free and with song/album information. When Pandora (or a different service) plays a song I don't like, I just grab the controller and "teach" it a thing or two about good music. Quality, manageable whole home audio, check.
The only problem I have with this SqueezeBox and Russound solution is the wall controllers are pretty dumb; reduced to on/off and volume. Turning on music means turning on the Russound zone(s) first and then getting the Squeezebox controller to select and play the media. I would just leave the Russound on all the time, but it has a slight hum noticeable when there is no audio. There is a another solution I am going to look at next called CasaTunes which integrates the MP3 library directly to the wall contollers (works on Russound and Nuvo). There are other products in the SqueezeBox line-up too. I am considering the BoomBox for the kids - in room stereo and alarm clock in one.
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