Cheap bluetooth boards any good?

[$10_LR-5555A]

Has anyone added a bluetooth board like a VHM-314, HW-245, etc to their vintage stereo/amp? Fixed a Sony STR-1800 and I am thinking about adding a bluetooth board like this. Just wondering what peoples experience with these bluetooth boards are. Decent sound quality? Fairly easy to install?

Figured this STR-1800 would be a good platform to test stuff out as I've wanted to do something similar on other stereos/amps. Got it on ebay for $28 shipped. Missing knobs, missing power wire and found it had a bad fused resistor (R 902). Had one laying around and been listening to it for hours... Bought it to salvage the internals for parts and use the chassis for a project but it is showing potential as a garage unit. For sure thought it would've blown the resistor again...

 

[Brickbat]

I've used similar low-cost BT modules. They seem fine. BT isn't ever a super high-fidelity technology, but the ones I've tinkered at worked as well as could be expected...

 

[$10_LR-5555A]

I've used similar low-cost BT modules. They seem fine. BT isn't ever a super high-fidelity technology, but the ones I've tinkered at worked as well as could be expected...

Yea I should have clarified "Decent sound quality?" As long as it actually works... and as you would expect something that is a few dollars to be. Years back I purchased cheap headphone amp boards and they were worse than those mp3 players you used to be able to get at stores for a few dollars. Just needs to be good enough to be able to turn it up and drown out the sound of ultrasonic cleaners, grinders, etc while not being total trash. No need to spend a bunch on something that I won't be able to tell much difference in that setting. It will most likely be used to stream music to from a phone reading flac/mp3s from a NAS.

I'll probably end up ordering a couple different ones to try and update this thread with my thoughts.

 

[Lavane]

I tried a few cheap Bluetooth receivers. I wound up just using an old smartphone and tablet with 1/8" jacks to plug into my main, garage, and several bench systems. I just plug one into whatever system I'm using to stream music.
It just sounds better to me. One set of adaptor cables for each system was cheaper than a set of cables and a Bluetooth reciever for each system.
I do like my Bluetooth remote controled power outlets. I have four amplifiers connected to those type outlets.

 

[djnagle]

I’ve used these with a number of non-BT receivers and Amps. 25 buck from Amazon. They work great.



Bluetooth Audio Adapter for Music Streaming Sound System, Esinkin Wireless Audio Adapter Works with Smartphones and Tablets, Wireless Adapter for Speakers

https://a.co/d/evVPCs9

 

[$10_LR-5555A]

I tried a few cheap Bluetooth receivers. I wound up just using an old smartphone and tablet with 1/8" jacks to plug into my main, garage, and several bench systems. I just plug one into whatever system I'm using to stream music.
It just sounds better to me. One set of adaptor cables for each system was cheaper than a set of cables and a Bluetooth reciever for each system.
I do like my Bluetooth remote controled power outlets. I have four amplifiers connected to those type outlets.

That is definitely a good way to go! I have an old ipod that I use for my main setup. Due to the placement of the receiver and main work bench though I would need a 20+ ft cable which I'm sure can be a decent bit of money or for a custom cable at least $20 worth of mic cable, rca jacks, and 3.5mm jack. While the bluetooth board is a few dollars (I ordered 3 for $8) and I can wire internally with a short run of mic cable and tap into 5v power on the receiver board. I think the bluetooth board will get me up and running fast for cheap while I plan a better quality solution from an Asus Tinker board since I have a bunch laying around. Just need to dig into the software and possibly additional hardware for it.

What power outlets do you use? I thought about getting some of the Wyze outlets since I use their led light bulbs.

I’ve used these with a number of non-BT receivers and Amps. 25 buck from Amazon. They work great.

It looks like that device is always on which would be very annoying... The spot this receiver would be in would not be easy to plug/unplug all the time. Since there is no switched ac outlet if to fix the always on issue I need to wire it into the receiver I think it defeats the purpose of a plug and play solution. Maybe implementing a wireless outlet could be a good solution with this for someone.

 

[Lavane]

That is definitely a good way to go! I have an old ipod that I use for my main setup. Due to the placement of the receiver and main work bench though I would need a 20+ ft cable which I'm sure can be a decent bit of money or for a custom cable at least $20 worth of mic cable, rca jacks, and 3.5mm jack. While the bluetooth board is a few dollars (I ordered 3 for $8) and I can wire internally with a short run of mic cable and tap into 5v power on the receiver board. I think the bluetooth board will get me up and running fast for cheap while I plan a better quality solution from an Asus Tinker board since I have a bunch laying around. Just need to dig into the software and possibly additional hardware for it.

What power outlets do you use? I thought about getting some of the Wyze outlets since I use their led light bulbs.



It looks like that device is always on which would be very annoying... The spot this receiver would be in would not be easy to plug/unplug all the time. Since there is no switched ac outlet if to fix the always on issue I need to wire it into the receiver I think it defeats the purpose of a plug and play solution. Maybe implementing a wireless outlet could be a good solution with this for someone.

I bought the remote outlets from Amazon. They have singles and some with three outlets. The multiples can be controled individually. DO NOT ever buy the wifi controled outlet strips! I tried one, I had Two big Tube mono blocks and two tube stereo amps plugged into it. I could select whatever amp I was going to use with an app on my phone. One day I went to turn one amp on and all four outlets came on at once. The sudden big inrush fried the outlet strip and caused a problem with one of the mono blocks. The strip wouldn't shut off either, I had to yank it out of the wall. Then I had to repair the amp. But the Bluetooth outlets have been trouble free.

 

[$10_LR-5555A]

I bought the remote outlets from Amazon. They have singles and some with three outlets. The multiples can be controled individually. DO NOT ever buy the wifi controled outlet strips! I tried one, I had Two big Tube mono blocks and two tube stereo amps plugged into it. I could select whatever amp I was going to use with an app on my phone. One day I went to turn one amp on and all four outlets came on at once. The sudden big inrush fried the outlet strip and caused a problem with one of the mono blocks. The strip wouldn't shut off either, I had to yank it out of the wall. Then I had to repair the amp. But the Bluetooth outlets have been trouble free.

That's very interesting. I believe the Wyze ones are wifi but they are only 1 outlet each and meant to control 1 thing each. I'll have to read some in-depth reviews and will keep the bluetooth ones in mind. Just recently saw the Wyze outlets being used in a wood shop so I figured they must be pretty good. They had them connected to Alexa for voice control of the equipment.

 

[$10_LR-5555A]

I ended up getting VHM-314 and MH-M18 boards. Both sound good when you consider how cheap they are. Main difference I found was the VHM-314 board seemed to output at a higher volume level and with the MH-M18 I had to turn the volume on the amp more than I normally would. Will be using the VHM-314 for putting in stereos/amps but the MH-M18 would be a good alternative for a project with little free space.