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Wireless, unobtrusive speakers for the kitchen - how to stream?

C

chbla

New Member
Hi there,

I'm looking for wireless speakers for my kitchen, to listen to radio (news) etc in the morning, quality does not need to be that good I guess. They should be:

- unobtrusive
- rather small or flat so I can position them nicely
- wireless (see below)

I'm not sure how I will stream to them, options are basically the following:

- stream from my home automation tablet via bluetooth
- stream from my media pc (wifi, bluetooth)
- use chromecast audio

I'm not sure if 2 speakers are needed, or if maybe a good stereo single system does it.
That depends on the size I think.

As for the price, I'd set a first limit to 200$/EUR.

Can anyone suggest something, also a wireless "system" as I'm not sure if there are good wifi speakers, if it's better to use bluetooth or chromecast, etc..

Thanks a lot,
Christoph
 
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Not sure what may be available in your neighborhood but around here Sonos, Bose, iHome, Logitec and others make speakers that will connect to your home WiFi network. They run the gamut from unlistenable to impressive with prices ranging from $50 USD to several hundred dollars.

I don't know if Crutchfield.com ships overseas, but there is lots of useful information on their website. No association or affiliation, just a satisfied customer many times over.
 
I like the Bose and Sonus Bluetooth speakers. I particularly like the Bose SoundLink® Mini Bluetooth speaker II. It is very small, but produces amazing sound for it's size, particularly the bass. It's hard to believe something so small can do this. Has an internal rechargeable battery that lasts up to 10 hours, or can remain in it's charging base for stationary use. Can be linked to your cell phone to receive calls. Range: 10m, size: 51 x 180 x 58 mm. They are about US$200.
https://www.bose.com/products/speak...dlink_mini_ii.html#v=soundlink_mini_ii_carbon

I don't work for Bose, I just like the way these things sound. The Sonus speakers also sound pretty good, but are much larger, if that matters. Two can be paired for stereo, I don't think the Bose can do this.
 
I thought it might be cheaper to stay away from complete systems like sonos, where you get much more. But I'm not sure if there are
more basic versions of those as well, because basically what I need is only a speaker that allows me to stream to it.
A battery is not really needed as it will stay at the same place most probably all the time.

Another option might be to just use a "normal" speaker and add wireless capabilities to it using a chromecast audio.

One more thing I was very impressed with is one of these induction "speakers". My friend has one and if put on a table, the
sound quality is much better than I have expected. I think they are only available as such portable "fun" speakers ,not something
larger, more sophisticated. One would have to try it though, but you could hide them everywhere.
 
Amazon Echo is cool for its voice control, but SQ isn't its best feature.

Best SQ by far in a $200 tiny wireless moisture resistant speaker will be the Sonos Play:1. It offers DSP driver correction, and, if you can beg, borrow or steal an iPhone, has TruePlay room correction, which will make it sound great even in a tile kitchen.
 
I would recommend the Sonos Play1 too!

They seem a bit expensive but sound great and have great feature, as an example the one in my bedroom wake me up in the morning and play a bell sound each hour :)

internally they have their own media server with at least a 600MHZ multicore cpu. They do not need an active server, only a network share to stream so your router can be used
 
I came across the Bose SoundTouch 10 wireless music system which seemed to be what I was looking for.

How do the Sonos Play1 compare to it? Advantages/Disadvantages?
 
chbla said:
I came across the Bose SoundTouch 10 wireless music system which seemed to be what I was looking for.

How do the Sonos Play1 compare to it? Advantages/Disadvantages?
Click to expand...
The single advantage of the Bose is Bluetooth support (they've dropped AirPlay support on their current line). Bose has been through three complete redesigns in three years, and still lag far behind Sonos in features and usability. Planned obsolescence at its worst. Sonos products from 10 years ago are still fully supported and updated with every firmware release.

Bose supports three or four streaming providers, Sonos 60-70 worldwide.

For SQ, plenty of reviews out there, all favor Sonos, usually by a wide margin. Bose colors the sound of its products to a high degree; Sonos strives for highly accurate sound. Lots of folks prefer the Bose sound. Not me.
 
Read a lot of reviews now - according to those the Bose sound better, while the app is not really on the same level as Sonos.
Bluetooth and preset buttons are a big advantage though in my opinion. Regarding the app I do not really care as I need an API only, which
bose seems to have done quite well.

Apparently you can specify other streams through the API easily
 
A professional review that compares the Bose SQ favorably to Sonos'? I've not come across one, quite the opposite. Owner reviews, maybe.
 
It was mostly user reviews, I just did some quick searches - I would not dare to say that users cannot be expert though :)
Can you please link some of those "professional" reviews?

Thank you,
Christoph
 
OK, just go ahead and buy the Bose. It will be obsolete and completely unsupported in two years. Just don't say you weren't warned.
 
No need to react like that. I meant audio professionals that give more detail to why the quality is worse, how they compared it, etc - where they fall short specifically etc
Although I'm not a fan, Bose has quite some experience with compact speakers.
Things like software support, apps, etc can be fixed - missing bluetooth and buttons cannot.
 
Assuming get you're using your phone to direct streaming get audio, you could try one of those Lepai amps with Bluetooth and a pair of Minimus 7 or similar small speakers. I'm considering this setup for our kitchen, but the wife doesn't know it yet....
 
That would also be an option, yeah .. but usually the all-in-one solutions are bettern in terms of quality and APIs. I have some Tripath Amps here with bluetooth, and those that have BT integrated produce a lot of noise, I think this is a common problem.
You could of course just add an external BT module though or wifi through a chromecast audio
 
rwartner said:
inexpensive Bluetooth speakers - try tjmaxx. They had boxes of them to sell for Christmas.
Click to expand...

Great idea!!! The best thing is that you can find a TJMaxx in every shopping area of Europe!!!

CHBLA, if you will use Googlechrome Audio you don't need wireless features for the speaker, because that's Googlechrome Audio's (GA) job. Just run a wire from GA to a T-Amp or to an active speaker and you are done. Dayton Audio has a new line of active speakers for home wireless audio, think of a budget Sonos system, Denon has another, and Logitech's has good ratings. Here are alternatives:

+ http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-mark2-wf-powered-wi-fi-speaker-with-bluetooth--300-6502

+ http://www.parts-express.com/harman...ss-bluetooth-and-wi-fi-speaker-white--322-106 - Black Available too

+ Here you can see different ones: http://www.crutchfield.com/g_370250/Wireless-Home-Speakers.html

+ Inexpensive and highly rated in many sites: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_543AIRGO1/Russound-AirGo-Powered-Outdoor-Speaker.html?tp=63340 and http://www.crutchfield.com/p_775IBN26G/iHome-iBN26-BT-Black-Grey.html?cc=02&tp=63340.

+ Here you will find the usual suspects: http://www.crutchfield.com/g_385750/Wireless-Multi-room-Audio-Systems.html

+ The active monitor approach using GA: http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/20-of-the-best-affordable-monitor-speakers-570959
 
@PR Audio, thanks a lot for the detailed list! I'll have a look

The only thing I don't like with chromecast audio is that it only works via wifi, and it even needs an internet connection if I remember right.
An API like Sonos or Bose have, would also be nice.. but I'm not sure if I really need it.
 
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