Posted on January 31, 2012 by   AirPlay   7 Comments

Creating a Complete Multiroom Audio System Using AirPlay [My Experience]

    We are currently in the process of renovating the bottom level of our house to create a self-contained flat. After being involved with iPhoneBlogr for almost two years and an all-round Apple fan, I took it upon myself to, in someway, express that passion in the building of our flat. My endeavor: to create a full, , built in through the house using .

    Equipment:
    $0 - iPhone 4 (already owned) - used for controlling music, volume, and speakers
    $60 - AirPort Express (802.11b) - Bedroom
    $60 - AirPort Express (802.11b) - Bathroom
    $99 - Apple TV 2G - Lounge/ Room
    $80 - 2x Ceiling Speakers - Bedroom/Bathroom
    $20 - High Quality Audio Cable x20m
    $30 - Other bits and peices - (2x RCA wallplate, 2x 3.5mm to RCA cables)

    Total: $349

    The plan is to have an AirPlay compatible device in each of the main rooms so that music can be streamed to these speakers, wirelessly. Luckily I had the advantage that the building of the flat was only just beginning, this let me wire the house with the appropriate speaker cables behind walls etc.

    After deciding on the location on on the speakers, I began running the wiring for the speakers. This wiring was then wired into the at one end, and the other into the back of a RCA wall plate like below:

    The Airport Express was then plugged into a power socket and a 3.5mm to RCA cable simple plugs from there to the RCA wall plate installed in the wall.

    When the building has been completed I will complete the same process in the bedroom and lounge. With this complete, we will be able to stream music wirelessly to any room of the house, completing the multiroom AirPlay system.

    What do you think? Good use of $350? Would you give it a try? Leave your thoughts below.

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    • Anonymous

      Sounds great Euan! I am excited to hear about the progress! I really need to set something like this up myself :)

    • Richard

      Don’t you need an amplifier of some sort to drive the speakers?  I thought Airport Express needed an amp or power speakers?  

      • Anonymous

        Hi Richard,

        You are right, yes. After making the post when I was talking to someone about it I realized that I needed someway to power the speakers.

        I know have the AirPort Express hooked up to a stereo/amp before running to the speakers.

        Thanks!

        • joshuakeen

          would love to know about how to hook up the airport express to the amp

          • thescragster

            Hi Joshua,

            I currently have a 3.5mm (stereo) to RCA cable running from the AirPort Express to a stereo unit to power the speakers – seems to work reasonably well :)

            Are you thinking of doing a similar thing? Would love to know your plans

    • http://www.gothcandy.com/ Alice Bevan-McGregor

      Just a heads up: if you use bluetooth speakers like I do, and happen to have several, you can use “Audio MIDI Setup” to create a composite playback device which (via iTunes with “This Computer” as part of the set) allows you to do awesome things like set up 7.1 surround from random speakers you have lying around.  You can even use your cinema display as the centre channel.  :D  (And it lets you tweak latency/delay, balance, and channel association quite easily.)  Then there’s Soundflower (free) to let you direct specific applications to various outputs / inputs of other applications.  AirFoil (not free) to AirPlay audio from the rest of your system and not just iTunes.

      These little AirPort Express boxen are actually very powerful when combined this way!