Cheap air play setup??

[jwajcosmo]

Hey,
Im looking to create a sort of multi room speaker set up in my house for under $350 using airplay. I already have a TC 2tb, ATV2 and AE i my house all of which are the latest model. I am looking to have roughly 4 zones and two sub-zones. I also have a macbook pro 13" and 10 plus iOS devices. I currently have one set of bose speakers I plan to use in one of the zones.
Thanks in advance,
Jwaj

 

[waw74]

4 zones plus 2 sub zones, so 6 sets of speakers all together? one of which you have. You'll spend more than you want on just speakers.

you have 3 options

• airport express + speakers (lots of possibilites, but still $99 for a new express plus speakers)
• airplay enabled speakers (not that many options have been released, and most are high end)
• airplay enabled A/V receiver + speakers (a few options, pioneer and denon both have released one in the $500-550 range, not including speakers).

a fourth option is airfoil, a program with similar functionality. from airfoil you can send audio from any one program (OS X or windows) at a time, you get to choose, so not just iTunes, works great for pandora and such.
Plus they have a receiver program that works on OS X, Windows, Linux, and iOS. You can also transmit to airplay devices (express and such). (transmitter program is $25, receivers are free) You can not transmit to the receiver program from your iOS devices or directly from iTunes though.

i use airfoil, an old 1st gen iPhone that has a broken screen, and a portable speaker dock for speakers in the bathroom.
I also have the denon avr-1912 in my living room, and an older airport express + powered speakers in my kitchen. whole system works pretty good.