[SOLVED] Device for Speakers in other rooms?

[NightwishFan]

Hello,

I have a question about what kind of device would best serve me in this situation. I have a homebuilt computer, its a few years old, if it matters it's current soundcard is the build in card to a Asus Sabertooth 990FX (FX-8350, GTX 1070 FTW, 16GB RAM, yada yada), like I said, its an older system that still does what I need it to do. I have a middle of the road speaker system attached to it, I forget what brand it is without moving things, but its a standard 2 speakers and a woofer, nothing fancy, but sounds pretty good for the 70 bucks or so I paid for it.

What I want to be able to do is find some kind of device that would work to not only play those speakers on the computer, but also simultaneously play wireless speaker(s) in my kitchen/bathroom, potentially expandable to other rooms as well, for the purposes of being able to not only listen to music, but mainly podcasts when I'm in the kitchen doing dishes/cooking, or in the bathroom, doing. you know, bathroom things.

I don't really know much about audio components, but I imagine something exists that makes this possible like a volume controller or amplifier, I'm not even sure the terminology thats relevant here which is why I'm focusing on describing the desired functionality, basically a something that can be a whole house solution if desired. I'd prefer something like I said thats expandable, preferably allows me to disable certain speakers with a simple toggle (if I'm not actually in the bathroom, I don't need a speaker playing in there. But also something expandable, because while my aging system may still get my daily needs done now, obviously at some point there will be a rebuild, so I'm looking for whatever device this is that can grow and adapt as my system changes.

I'm also not looking to spend a fortune. Any recommendations on decent wireless speakers would be good too (like I said, something scalable, I assume bluetooth would be the popular medium to make that happen), but I don't need like a whole set of bluetooth speakers, maybe 1 or 2 now, and later if I want to have another room play audio I can add to it.

Thanks

EDIT: Also I have an Echo Dot (not connected to the computer, its standalone with an external speaker I hook up to it sometimes if I want to listen to Pandora), some kind of Alexa integration might be pretty spiffy as well.

 

[NightwishFan]

Thanks to whichever moderator edited the post for me. You're right and its not my first trip to a web forum. I should have known to use paragraphs instead of a wall-o-text.

 

[hang-the-9]

Wireless speakers won't work very well in different rooms, not enough range and too much interference. Unless you do spend a "fortune" for something like a Sonos setup.
Nothing you want will be cheap, especially for a full house with ability to turn off speakers centrally.

My Bluetooth speaker works maybe a room from where it's connected to, after that it drops off often.

You have an Echo Dot, read on how to setup a group of speakers using those. https://www.tomsguide.com/us/amazon-echo-multi-room-music-setup,review-4634.html

IKEA makes a pretty good WiFi speaker that works with Sonos, but read some reviews, I think there were issues with some functions https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/wi-fi-speakers-46194/

Smart sound, like your home talking to you

Would your home like its own soundtrack? Tune in to smart sound, because IKEA and Sonos have been working in collaboration (combining home furnishing knowledge with sound expertise) to bring you SYMFONISK table lamp and bookshelf WiFi speakers. Smart sound means great atmosphere, and it’s easy too.

www.ikea.com

https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/sonos-ikea-symfonisk-bookshelf-speaker

 

[NightwishFan]

Thanks for the info. What about a wired setup? I mean I'm not entirely ruling out the idea of running wires, I just figured if it can be done with wireless, thats of course less hassle on the install. I have a one story house, and its not huge, actually the kitchen, living room and bathroom are in fairly close proximity in an L shape of sorts, punching a hole through the side wall on my living room wouldn't be difficult since the wall in my living room where my computer desk is is shared with the kitchen. Would something like say an external sound card or hell, just a splitter for the 3.5mm jacks do the job or is that going to cause problems in terms of fidelity as well If I were to run an audio cord to the kitchen and have another set of computer speakers in there?

My main issue with the Echo dot being the primary driver behind this is, at least the last time I looked into it, it won't play youtube. Theres a lot of content I watch where I don't necessarily need video, but if I walk into the kitchen to do some dishes while listening to something, my options are to bring my speaker and my phone in there since I can't hear the computer in my living room that well when I'm running the water.

As far as turning individual speakers off and on on demand, thats more of a want than a need. I live alone, so, frankly theres nobody else here to annoy but my cats lol.

 

[NightwishFan]

Just for clarification, if it sounds weird that I'm frequently getting up from my desk to do dishes like that while listening to something. Just for the record its because I have health issues, so sometimes I can only do like dishes for a couple minutes or if I'm making dinner cut an onion or whatever for a couple minutes at a time then I need to walk back into the living room and sit down again. I have energy in short bursts and then I need to take a break.

 

[hang-the-9]

Thanks for the info. What about a wired setup? I mean I'm not entirely ruling out the idea of running wires, I just figured if it can be done with wireless, thats of course less hassle on the install. I have a one story house, and its not huge, actually the kitchen, living room and bathroom are in fairly close proximity in an L shape of sorts, punching a hole through the side wall on my living room wouldn't be difficult since the wall in my living room where my computer desk is is shared with the kitchen. Would something like say an external sound card or hell, just a splitter for the 3.5mm jacks do the job or is that going to cause problems in terms of fidelity as well If I were to run an audio cord to the kitchen and have another set of computer speakers in there?

My main issue with the Echo dot being the primary driver behind this is, at least the last time I looked into it, it won't play youtube. Theres a lot of content I watch where I don't necessarily need video, but if I walk into the kitchen to do some dishes while listening to something, my options are to bring my speaker and my phone in there since I can't hear the computer in my living room that well when I'm running the water.

As far as turning individual speakers off and on on demand, thats more of a want than a need. I live alone, so, frankly theres nobody else here to annoy but my cats lol.

Properly shielded wires are fine to use, you can buy some and see how it works, it's cheap enough https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-50...ocphy=9001834&hvtargid=pla-339250457905&psc=1

Splitting things into too many signals using a cheap splitter you can run into issues, but you can test it again for not much https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-RockS...ds=3.5mm+splitter&qid=1613430326&sr=8-13&th=1

they do make proper audio distribution devices, this is a cheaper one but should work OK, has volume control for each of the outputs https://www.amazon.com/FIFINE-Headp...ds=3.5mm+splitter+mixer&qid=1613430428&sr=8-3