MediaMonkey forum

Apologies upfront for the super-basic nature of these questions!

I am running MM 4.1.14.1813 on a PC laptop with Win 10 and have copied my CDs to an external hard drive (as Virtual CDs). I would like to get some wireless speakers to place around the house so that I can list to music (primarily the aforementioned CDs but also from online services such as Pandora). The laptop does not have Bluetooth built in, so I would prefer to use my home wifi.

Naively, perhaps, I was thinking that I could just get some wireless speakers, sync them to the laptop, and -- voila -- problem solved. I would use MM to choose my musical selections and magically the sound would pour forth from the speakers. The more I read about multi-room wireless speakers, however, the more I feel in over my head.

So, questions:
1. Is this the point at which I need to figure out the intricacies of UpnP and/or DLNA?
2. Do I need a DAC?
3. Will I need the WASAPI in order to make this work?
4. Is there some other piece of equipment I will need?
4. Should I forget this idea entirely and just buy headphones with a really, really long cord?

Thanks in advance for any constructive assistance, even if it's just to point me to stuff I should be reading so I can ask more intelligent questions about this!

MediaMonkey can only stream to DLNA (UPnP) clients and can only stream to one at a time (when streaming to (Play To) a client). This means the client would need to have its own multi-room capability (Sony may have this on higher end portable speakers).

Note: Multiple clients can stream music from MediaMonkey individually (each there own music files).


For example the following speakers can stream from MediaMonkey using DLNA (your wifi network): http://www.sony.com/electronics/wireles ... rs/srs-x88

You can also use an Android device to stream from MediaMonkey (there is even a MediaMonkey App) and that can connect to speakers/headphones by either wired or bluetooth method.

When you're using DLNA your bypassing the local player thus WASAPI/DAC don't come into play.

Thanks, Lowlander -- This is quite helpful. I was looking at Bose but they require bluetooth and that seems like a weak link in the chain (although the Bose salesman felt otherwise, of course). I'll see what else I can find!

Hi,
Regarding BT speakers. It can be good experience when you find good BT PC dongle that support Audio Streaming and show itself as sound card when connected to speakers.

Unfortunately only time when I made such setup was for a friend few years ago before he was moving abroad. I only remember that we have changed several BT dongles before we found one that works.

Thanks, Pavle, but doesn't BT have limited range? My house isn't huge but I'd want the signal to travel from one end to the other and through walls.

I hadn't been thinking about multi-room use when I started this project and am now wondering if using MM was a mistake. It has worked great for converting my CDs, but it seems very limited in playback. Or maybe that isn't a problem with MM but just streaming for a PC. Hoping to not regret this decision and really don't want to start over completely.

HI,
Can I ask you how much you want to spend on the setup?
How many HiFi/playback devices you have currently around the house? (Smart TVs, Internet capable AV receivers, Amps, Speakers)

The Sony Speaker I linked to has Bluetooth, DLNA and Chromecast capabilities, can be connected wired and wirelessly and has multi-room capability (haven't tried this as I only have 1). So it certainly has flexibility and uses industry standards instead of proprietary ones.

Hi, Pavle -- I'd prefer to not spend more than about $200 (or so) per speaker. We only have one TV and don't plan to run it through the wireless speakers; we're not big tv watchers. I have a couple of older wired speakers (and 20+ year-old amp) but also hadn't planned to run the signal through them, although that might be handy.

Pavle -- I'd prefer to not spend more than about $200 (or so) per speaker. We only have one TV and don't plan to run it through the wireless speakers; we're not big tv watchers. I have a couple of older wired speakers (and 20+ year-old amp) but also hadn't planned to run the signal through them, although that might be handy.

Lowlander -- I checked out the Sony you linked to and, in the process, discovered this: http://www.sony.com/electronics/wireles ... rs/srs-zr5

This one may be exactly what I'm looking for. Most of the negative reviews at that site and on Amazon have to do with Bluetooth dropping (seems to be a common complaint) and since I don't plan to use Bluetooth all that often this doesn't worry me.

Feeling much better!

You have to hunt for it, but it does seem to have DLNA which for now is what you'd need for MediaMonkey (MMW). MediaMonkey 5 will have Chromecast support as well.

The one thing I don't know is if Songpal Link works with DLNA streams to stream to multiple speakers. Also note that a Smartphone/Tablet would be needed for the Songpal App which is how the speakers is controlled.

Hi,
200 should be more than enough. Regarding TV I would suggest to buy HDMI Extender thru CAT5/6 Should be cheap enough so that you can run Audio and Video To TV from Computer, Re AMP There are also Audio transceivers Using WiFi, And solutions like Sony one are good.

There is also AirPlay which is one of wide accepted solutions and works with MMW quite nicely http://www.mediamonkey.com/addons/brows ... ay-output/

More info Wireless on https://www.lifewire.com/best-wireless- ... ou-3134931

One Note: Many people do not know but most Realtek onboard soundcards are capable to send multiple stereo streams simultaneously to up to 6 audio Devices (Proven and tested myself with some driver tweaks), but it is wired and lag less.

Also a friend of mine found out that buying older AV receivers and much higher quality Speakers or using Android based STB media center to connect to existing equipment serves equally good.

Also I'm currently unable to test but like Lowlander said Chromecast could be also a solution.

I ope I have not add much of confusion.

I.GIVE.UP.

I cannot figure out how to play songs in MMW and listen to them on my wireless speaker. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong in MM or if my PC is set up incorrectly or if it's the speaker, but it's not working. I'm going to forget about MM, return the speaker to Amazon, and lick my wounds for a bit.

I really had high hopes that MMW was what I was looking for but it's hard to guess what's going wrong when I can't talk to someone knowledgeable and get help. Bummer.

Hi,
Thank you for the patience and effort to solve all confusion regarding DLNA with your sony speakers. As I already told you I never understand why manufacturers tend to complicate such easy things like linking and changing reception mode.

Let me know if you need any more help.

Hello, again -- I have decided to get my wireless speaker out of the closet, dust it off, and try once again to get it to work with MMW. What can I say? I'm a masochist, apparently.

Here is the situation at this time:

I can play my audio files to the wireless speaker using WMP or simply by navigating directly to the external drive where they are stored. In either case, I can select a file, right-click on it, choose Cast to Device, and select the speaker name. Voila! Music pours forth from the wireless speaker.

Close WMP and open MMW. Now the only way I can listen to my music files is with my computer's "default" speaker (the one I can choose by right-clicking the speaker icon at the lower right). Only options there are the "wired" speakers. No bueno.

I have tried right-clicking in the play bar on MMW > Choose player but the only option there is Internal Player. If I go to Tools > Options > Player > Choose player > UPnP/DLNA Renderer, the drop-down field directly below this is empty.

Any ideas appreciated. Thanks.

Hi,
Thx for trying to help.
I would suggest that you install Alpha build of MM5 as portable as it should support chromecast http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... 86639&sd=d

Also it would be nice that you attach few screenshots of WMP playing track and if you have time http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... ?f=30&t=69 create debug log trying to Set DLNA player in MMW.