CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[kal]

What's the simplest way to play music on an iPod Touch with WiFi and have it feed to an older stereo receiver with analog stereo or digital coax inputs?

I'd like to be able to control the playlists through the iPid Touch just like as if you were playing normally.

It appears the $99 AirPort Express would work: http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/
But it seems like overkill/expensive compared to a $1 analog cable. I'm paying almost $100 just the convenience of not having to get up and walk over to the iPod Touch to change something.

With the AirPort Express what I don't get either is how the iPod Touch knows to send the music over WiFi instead of just to the regular headphone jack/bottom connector. It must be built into the software of the iPod Touch and a firmware/software update has to be done?

(Sorry for the newb questions - I'm not the iPod/iPad user in the house... I just pay for them).

Kal

[kal]

What's the simplest way to play music on an iPod Touch with WiFi and have it feed to an older stereo receiver with analog stereo or digital coax inputs?

I'd like to be able to control the playlists through the iPid Touch just like as if you were playing normally.

It appears the $99 AirPort Express would work: http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/
But it seems like overkill/expensive compared to a $1 analog cable. I'm paying almost $100 just the convenience of not having to get up and walk over to the iPod Touch to change something.

With the AirPort Express what I don't get either is how the iPod Touch knows to send the music over WiFi instead of just to the regular headphone jack/bottom connector. It must be built into the software of the iPod Touch and a firmware/software update has to be done?

(Sorry for the newb questions - I'm not the iPod/iPad user in the house... I just pay for them).

Kal

[Nashou66]

I use two airport expresses. they work great, and not only can you use it to transmit your music from any iTunes program via wifi you can also extend your wifi signal, and also connect a printer to it or say a cable box/Sat box for control of the DVR etc via
a mobil App.

The Apple TV will do the same and also carry video and has more options.

Also you can have the music play on one, or all Airport express's and the Computer's speaker simultaneously.

I actually am going to sell all my ELAN stuff just because of the ease of this system.

Athanasios

[ecrabb]

Hey Kal -

Yes, if you have the luxury of being able to park the iPod touch right next to the stereo, and you don't mind getting up to change tracks or playlists, then the Airport Express is overkill and the $2 cable is fine.

However, the point of Airplay isn't just to eliminate a cable or save getting up. Since it's a Wi-Fi device, you can send audio to that AirPlay point from anywhere in the house, from different sources, and to several different destinations. Where it gets cool is when you have several different AirPlay devices.

Let's say you have an Airport Express in the living room, an AppleTV in the theater, and a Pioneer AirPlay Speaker in the kitchen. You can dial up a playlist on a computer in your office with iTunes on it, and send the same audio to all three zones - all wirelessly, all synchronized, with independent volume control. You can even play video to video-capable devices (Apple TV). So, now you're talking about a whole-house A/V distribution system that would have cost thousands of dollars a few years ago that now costs a few hundred.

Then throw something like an iPad with iRule and iTunes Module into the mix, and now you can have full, integrated system control over multiple rooms of equipment, lighting, and more, plus distributed A/V - for a tiny fraction of what that would have cost even five years ago.

Throw third-party software into the mix, and stuff like XBMC which can act as an AirPlay client, and the opportunities really open up.

This is why I've been ripping my entire CD collection to Apple Lossless. I'm north of 400GB, on my way to 600-700GB before I'm done. I've got an AirPort Express in my office, and an AppleTV in three other rooms, so I have four output zones. Being able to call up any song from any album we own and listen to it anywhere in the house means we're listening to more music and watching less TV and we're loving it.

SC

[ecrabb]

Oh, and if you watch Craigslist, there are some steals. I'm going to pick up a brand new in the wrapper Apple TV, tonight for $60, or $40 off new.

SC

[kal]

Thanks guys. I think I'll just stick with a simple cable for now since we really have little need for anything fancy.

So a 1/8" stereo to RCA cable like this will work:



I have buckets of these. But that's an analog signal that's amplified (affected by the internal volume control on the iPod).

Is there an analog line level stereo out available on the larger connector on the bottom of an iPod Touch? Searching eBay for such a cable comes up blank. It may be a digital only connector based on the pinouts I looked at.

A coax digital out would work too.

Both would be cheap cables to buy and would bypass any internal amps/volume controls but my searches are coming up blank.

Kal

[kal]

Thanks guys. I think I'll just stick with a simple cable for now since we really have little need for anything fancy.

So a 1/8" stereo to RCA cable like this will work:



I have buckets of these. But that's an analog signal that's amplified (affected by the internal volume control on the iPod).

Is there an analog line level stereo out available on the larger connector on the bottom of an iPod Touch? Searching eBay for such a cable comes up blank. It may be a digital only connector based on the pinouts I looked at.

A coax digital out would work too.

Both would be cheap cables to buy and would bypass any internal amps/volume controls but my searches are coming up blank.

Kal

[Nashou66]

Kal, the Airport express also has optical out built into the 1/8th phono stereo out. they make a special cable for that.

But I never seen a coax out cable from the main connector on the iPods.

They do have Docs that have some different forms of outs on them and some have
IR remotes for the iPod control, But then your going close to the Airport express price.
Look for a used on on Ebay. Its really the most simple yet elegant way.

Athanasios

[ecrabb]

I think the iPod touch does technically have an analog line-out on the 30-pin dock, but I've never seen a plain old "dock-to-RCA cable", so I could be wrong. As far as I know, the only good way to get a line-out out of an iPod touch, iPad,or iPhone is with a dock...

http://www.amazon.com/UNIVERSAL-DOCK-USA-NEWEST-VERSION-Packaging/dp/B004G5ZA5K/curtpalmecrtp-20

It's kind pricey, but it does com with a very nice aluminum remote control.

Of course, you're more than half-way to an AirPort Express.

SC

[zaphod]

i've been using airport express for over a year. works real well. i can play to it from my PC based iTunes or from any of my iPhones/iPod touches.

there are 30 pin to RCA out, but they come with video

i have a 30pin to 3 rca (L,R and composite) cable that i take with me when travelling. useful to connect the iPhone or touch to the room TV for playing movies on the mobile device.

before i got the 30pin cable i had a junker ipod dock that i used. sit the touch on the 30 pin dock and then plug the 1/8" mini into the L/R of the hotel TV or radio (some have an input for MP3 players). then i get a charging while listening.

[kal]

To close the loop:

Well I bit the bullet and purchased an refurbed AppleTV (3rd gen) from the apple store for $95. The regular price is only about $10 more than the airport express and gives me the option to do video as well. Should be useful for surfing on the big screen using the iPad.

Kal

[kal]

To close the loop:

Well I bit the bullet and purchased an refurbed AppleTV (3rd gen) from the apple store for $95. The regular price is only about $10 more than the airport express and gives me the option to do video as well. Should be useful for surfing on the big screen using the iPad.

Kal

[Curt Palme]

Hey, I'll hijack this, as reading it gave me an idea.

I sell a lot of Ipod docks to the arenas and swimming pools that I install. I build a Y cable, one 3.5mm jack for the dock that I hot glue onto a rack shelf, and one longer cable used for non Apple docks. I use resistors to sum the L and R channels into mono, as all the sound systems I put in are mono. So far so good, save of course that the new Iphone 5 uses a different dock. No one has asked me yet for an Iphone 5 dock, although the time will come, I'm sure. SO I use a universal genuine Apple dock for $50ish on eBay as compared to the $89 from the local Apple store.

Everything works fine, save for one broken dock that someone jammed something on top of.

So the question is, how hard is it to link a random Iphone to such an Apple Airport? They'd lose the charging capability of the dock, but I think the fact that they don't need a dock then as they'd wirelessly connect to the sound system would save broken docks down the road....

[Curt Palme]

Hey, I'll hijack this, as reading it gave me an idea.

I sell a lot of Ipod docks to the arenas and swimming pools that I install. I build a Y cable, one 3.5mm jack for the dock that I hot glue onto a rack shelf, and one longer cable used for non Apple docks. I use resistors to sum the L and R channels into mono, as all the sound systems I put in are mono. So far so good, save of course that the new Iphone 5 uses a different dock. No one has asked me yet for an Iphone 5 dock, although the time will come, I'm sure. SO I use a universal genuine Apple dock for $50ish on eBay as compared to the $89 from the local Apple store.

Everything works fine, save for one broken dock that someone jammed something on top of.

So the question is, how hard is it to link a random Iphone to such an Apple Airport? They'd lose the charging capability of the dock, but I think the fact that they don't need a dock then as they'd wirelessly connect to the sound system would save broken docks down the road....

[ecrabb]