New Construction – Wireless Network Setup...HELP (Please)!!

[Craig DuVarney]

I am currently building our second home/retirement home in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. In addition to setting up a wireless network, I would like to setup a whole home audio system based the design by Ken Rockwell (http://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/how-to-create-a-whole-house-music-system.htm). This design calls for an Airport Express in each room, which would be connected via Ethernet cord to a switch (which would then plug into a router). The Airport Express would also be connected to a small 50-watt amp (AudioSource AMP-100) in each room. From there a user could use an iPod Touch/IPad/IPhone or Wireless PC Tablet/Laptop with iTunes or TuneBlade to steam music to each one of rooms.

I have already purchased the 12 Airport Expresses and the 12 AMP-100s needed for each of the zones. However, I don’t know what to do about the router. The design referenced above calls for an Airport Extreme. In this case the Airport Expresses would be programmed to seamlessly extend the wireless network, which I believe is also called a roaming network. I am a bit concerned about using the Airport Extreme as the router because (a) I don’t use Macs, only an iPod Touch for my music, (b) the tests on SNB show the performance of the Airport Extreme to be lower than other similarly priced routers, and (c) I need to be able to run my VoIP business phone, multiple laptops, and a couple Roku’s via this router, and I am not sure how setting this up on the Airport Extreme would compare to a traditional router. Also, I may want to add some “SmartHome” features to this setup, such as temperature and moisture monitoring, a hard-wired or wireless weather station, etc.

My other option (I think) would to configure the Airport Expresses simply for streaming music via Airplay, still hard-wire them via the switch to the router, but not use them to extend the network. Instead of the Airport Extreme as the router I could purchase something like a “NetGear R7000 Nighthawk AC1900” instead. I am guessing that this router would have enough power to cover a 3000-3300 sq. ft. home, but I do have large steel beams and a large rebar-enforced concrete wall on the back of the house, since the home is built on the side of a hill. I am not sure if this would interfere with the wireless network. If there were dead areas, I see that NetGear sells network extenders. I have never used one of these, but I guessing they would solve that potential problem, and extend the network much like the Airport Express would extend the Airport Extreme.

Also, I know NOTHING about Ethernet switches. I also don’t know how many Ethernet lines I should run to each room. I am going to need at least one per room for the Airport Express, but I am not sure if I should run a second line just to be safe. Of course, this will affect the number of ports I need on the switch, but beyond that, I don’t know what specs I need to look for in an Ethernet switch. My guess is that a very basic Ethernet switch, but I don’t know which one to buy or what to look for, based upon my design.

If someone on this forum could help me with my questions and/or “point me in the right direction”, I would really appreciate it. Also, let me know how I can support this site, as I would like to give back since this site has been incredibly helpful. Again, thank you in advance for your help!!

 

[System Error Message]

i would say you've been scammed. OpenWRT can do this and supports many more routers. Since routers have usb ports you could attach a basic usb soundcard that costs a lot less than the AMP-100 and if you want volume you can get desktop speakers with base. You only need an AMP if you intend to use speakers that use connectors not compatible with PCs.

There are also wireless or networked AMPs which are not only cheaper but have video out as well so you can have TVs in different rooms. For the price of that AMP-100 ive seen AMPs with way more inputs and outputs and better quality and more options than it.
You can get dumb ethernet switches and they will work fine. The ethernet switch is going to be the center of your network and you only need one for your whole house not every room. Does your house have 12 rooms that will have audio? Lets take a specific type of house, you could have a garage, basement, attic, living room, dining room, 3 bedrooms. Are you saying that you would add speakers to the basement and attic? The living room with tv would already have speakers so it does not need the solution you read about.

Regarding wireless networks since wifi signals have decent range you dont need a wifi router or AP in every room, get yourself some MIPS or ARM boxes to handle the work and have some central APs for wifi.

Looking at the style of the website it looks like it is trying a layout popular among scammers, its probably trying to get you to buy their product the AMP-100 in bulk.

If you want my opinion on this sort of system, i would go with 2 wifi routers like the AC3200 spread out, i would use cheap tablets (you can get them that have chinese chipsets for like £50 for A7 quad cores with 2GB ram) in the rooms. If i want decent speakers than they can be powered seperately instead of from the tablet but i would find it wasteful to have speakers that require amps in every room. As for the server who says servers costs $30k? You can build your own media streamer server for $1000 or a lot less by salvaging components (2nd hand case?) or reusing PC components. It would also have the benefit of being able to run plex and stream movies too. If i want to go further i could also plug in LED projectors to the tablet and mount them all for much cheaper than what the site suggests and get both video and audio streaming available to the room for a lot less but with some sci-fi feel, than all you need is a remote control app on your phone to control the tablets.

If you want really simple and cheap, have wifi, have a media server (which it really is just a PC running an OS and something like plex), get yourself some bluetooth speakers and have your phone stream the music through wifi from the media server to the speakers. Even more savings there.

 

[Craig DuVarney]

The AudioSource AMP-100s cost me under $40/unit (incl. shipping) on ebay. The Airport Expresses cost be about $55/unit, so my cost is under $100/zone, not including the speakers, wire, etc. A Sonus Amp is 20 watts (vs. my 50 watt amps) and costs $500. In my opinion, I am ahead. Also, I am happy with this portion of the design, and do not believe that I have been scammed at all. Finally, the speakers I am intending to connect would be traditional passive (mostly) in-wall speakers.

My concerns/questions are mainly focused on the router (Airport Extreme vs. "Traditional" router like NetGear product referenced above), switch selection, etc.

 

[System Error Message]

at $40 for a basic amp is fine i guess and speakers have various connection types so you may not even need an amp.
You're stuck to an airport that has audio. Basically you're vendor locked with your solution whereas mine takes into account possible upgrades such as video and isnt vendor locked. If your focus is really music there are complaints that the amp is just too sensitive in turning on or off. Also having your own server which really costs a lot less than what the website claims lets you do so much more such as use it as a router, backup your files, use it as a NAS and if it runs linux can make a really good print and scan server that wont require the clients to have drivers and will work with apple products too.

Any switch will work obviously, but if apple stops making airports with DACs than you wont be able to upgrade without making your sound system useless.

 

[KenZ71]

If it were me / my home I would pull 2 or 3 cables to each location in different colors. Maybe use a scheme where white is primary, yellow backup 1, orange backup 2. Also label all cables! Bedroom 1 gets 1 stripe with a sharpie, bedroom 2 2 stripes, etc. This organization will be invaluable if troubleshooting later.

Cmpl.com ships from Brooklyn NY and has great prices.