Hello all. I'm looking for an easy solution to adding a few wireless speakers to my current music set-up, and was hoping you kind folks might be able to fill in some gaps for me.
We're currently using a 2012 Mac Mini as the core of our home entertainment center. We've got an extensive music collection (about 85GB) that is housed in iTunes, and we do not use any streaming services. The Mini is in our living room connected to a Panasonic receiver, along with our cable box, Blu-Ray player and AppleTV. Audio is output to hard-wired speakers. Simple enough.
What I'm looking for now is an easy way to place wireless speakers in other rooms in the house, so that the same music that's playing in the living room can also be heard wherever we happen to be working. Ideally, I'd like to do this without the need for mobile devices, and without having to tell the Mini what speakers I want to use at any given time. I'd like to start the music playing in the living room, then when I move into the bedroom, I want to be able to press the power button on the speaker there, and have it automatically link to the Mini. I'd like to have four or five of these throughout the house, each of which I can activate independently just by turning it on. I would prefer not to have them powered on when I'm not using them.
So I figure I need to use either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth speakers. The Wi-Fi speakers I've looked at all seem to be geared toward streaming services or digital assistants, neither of which I need. For Bluetooth, there are range considerations, and I'm concerned the speaker won't pair automatically with the Mini when it's turned on.
So what's my best play here? Can I trust Bluetooth speakers to pair consistently when activated, or can I expect to be relinking them regularly? Alternatively, are there decent Wi-Fi speakers that would accomplish the same thing?
Thanks in advance!
We're currently using a 2012 Mac Mini as the core of our home entertainment center. We've got an extensive music collection (about 85GB) that is housed in iTunes, and we do not use any streaming services. The Mini is in our living room connected to a Panasonic receiver, along with our cable box, Blu-Ray player and AppleTV. Audio is output to hard-wired speakers. Simple enough.
What I'm looking for now is an easy way to place wireless speakers in other rooms in the house, so that the same music that's playing in the living room can also be heard wherever we happen to be working. Ideally, I'd like to do this without the need for mobile devices, and without having to tell the Mini what speakers I want to use at any given time. I'd like to start the music playing in the living room, then when I move into the bedroom, I want to be able to press the power button on the speaker there, and have it automatically link to the Mini. I'd like to have four or five of these throughout the house, each of which I can activate independently just by turning it on. I would prefer not to have them powered on when I'm not using them.
So I figure I need to use either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth speakers. The Wi-Fi speakers I've looked at all seem to be geared toward streaming services or digital assistants, neither of which I need. For Bluetooth, there are range considerations, and I'm concerned the speaker won't pair automatically with the Mini when it's turned on.
So what's my best play here? Can I trust Bluetooth speakers to pair consistently when activated, or can I expect to be relinking them regularly? Alternatively, are there decent Wi-Fi speakers that would accomplish the same thing?
Thanks in advance!