Can I connect an amp to my router's ethernet port?

As a follow up to a previous thread/post...

Is there an amp on the market, that can connect to my Vigor router, via
one of its ethernet ports, and feed audio from my wireless laptop?

I have unpowered speakers, mounted in the ceiling. My Apple powerbook
G4 is wirelessly connected to the net via my Vigor 2600G ADSL router
and also contains my iTunes music collection. The router is on the
wall, right near the ceiling speakers, and before I go out and buy a
wireless receiver and amp, to connect to these speakers, I'm wondering
if there's an amp that could be hard-wired (via ethernet) to the
router, and pick up net audio and my iTunes music that way!

Is this wishful thinking? Is there a low-cost amp with an RJ45 port
and, can my router pick up audio from my laptop's iTunes and feed this
to such an amp, and could this also receive streamed audio from the
net, as do some of the wireless systems?

I'm just thinking of cutting out the wireless part of the system, if
this can be done, and is cheaper than buying a dedicated device(s) such
as a squeezebox or Airport Express and separate amp to power the
speakers.

cheerz
deano.

deano@yesits.freeserve.co.uk wrote:
> As a follow up to a previous thread/post...
>
> Is there an amp on the market, that can connect to my Vigor router, via
> one of its ethernet ports, and feed audio from my wireless laptop?
>
> I have unpowered speakers, mounted in the ceiling. My Apple powerbook
> G4 is wirelessly connected to the net via my Vigor 2600G ADSL router
> and also contains my iTunes music collection. The router is on the
> wall, right near the ceiling speakers, and before I go out and buy a
> wireless receiver and amp, to connect to these speakers, I'm wondering
> if there's an amp that could be hard-wired (via ethernet) to the
> router, and pick up net audio and my iTunes music that way!
>
> Is this wishful thinking? Is there a low-cost amp with an RJ45 port
> and, can my router pick up audio from my laptop's iTunes and feed this
> to such an amp, and could this also receive streamed audio from the
> net, as do some of the wireless systems?
>
> I'm just thinking of cutting out the wireless part of the system, if
> this can be done, and is cheaper than buying a dedicated device(s) such
> as a squeezebox or Airport Express and separate amp to power the
> speakers.
>
> cheerz
> deano.
>

I suppose you know that what you want is *a lot* more than an amplifier.
--
Cheers, Bob

deano@yesits.freeserve.co.uk hath wroth:

>As a follow up to a previous thread/post...

Which you didn't bother identifying so I have no clue to what you're
referring.

>Is there an amp on the market, that can connect to my Vigor router, via
>one of its ethernet ports, and feed audio from my wireless laptop?

Yes. These are essentially computahs that will decode streaming audio
from the internet or from your computer. Some will also do video. For
example:
http://www.slimdevices.com
The "tuner" can be fed from wired ethernet or wireless. You can also
build your own out of a small form factor PC such as EPIA or mini-ITX
with 5.1 audio.

>I'm just thinking of cutting out the wireless part of the system, if
>this can be done, and is cheaper than buying a dedicated device(s) such
>as a squeezebox or Airport Express and separate amp to power the
>speakers.

That depends on what you're time is worth. There's no magic "ethernet
to audio" converter, which seems to be what your suggesting. There
has to be a way to convert multiple encoded audio streams to 802.3
ethernet and back to analog audio. You also have to have some method
of control. At this time, that means a computah which is not cheap or
simple. Removing the wireless part of the puzzle doesn't save much
money.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> deano@yesits.freeserve.co.uk hath wroth:
>
> >As a follow up to a previous thread/post...
>
> Which you didn't bother identifying so I have no clue to what you're
> referring.

I didn't bother, because I thought it would muddy the waters, and the
subject of this thread, in conjunction with the content, of my initial
post, seemed pretty conclusive. I believed there was certainly enough
info to establish what I'm trying to achieve, and therefore prompt a
relevant response, regardless of the previous thread, to which I
referred!

My reason for including the referrence, was for the benefit of those
who'd read (responded to) my previous topic, and who may think I was
being impatient for starting a new, related thread, such as this.
Whereas I, having posed new questions, at the end of the
above-mentioned thread, and having received no replies, thought it best
to begin a new topic, thus!

Thanks for your reply... I get the jist that I should just go ahead
with the 'consumer targetted' wireless solutions to networking home
audio. I thought it just seemed to follow that a 'wired' solution was
available that could utilise the same technologies as a 'wireless'
device, and therefore remove the need for products such as the Airport
Express, between amp and router. I've read articles about
'professional' needs for such devices and, indeed, they are available,
with price tags to match. My need is very basic, and low-cost, just
something to listen to while in the downstairs shower, or while cooking
in the kitchen, other than whatever happens to be playing on the TV, in
the lounge, to which these speaker zones are currently connected.

If @£80 for an Airport Express and @£50 for a small amp (for each or
both of the zones) is the cheapest solution, then that's what I'll go
for! I may even treat myself to a squeezebox after christmas, and when
I'm really flush, perhaps the Sonos system....

cheerz
deano.

deano@yesits.freeserve.co.uk hath wroth:

>I thought it just seemed to follow that a 'wired' solution was
>available that could utilise the same technologies as a 'wireless'
>device, and therefore remove the need for products such as the Airport
>Express, between amp and router.

It probably should exist, but I don't know of one. One of the dumbest
design ideas is the way speaker are attached to audio hardware. It
currently consists of a high power amplifier, driving huge peak
currents, through very heavy wires, into speakers that invariably end
up on the wrong side of the room. Meanwhile, everything else is
running at 0dBm (600ohms) audio. What it should be are powered
speakers, where the power amplifier is inside the speaker, and 0dBm
audio going to the amplifier. However, that's not being done because
there's always a possibility of noise pickup on the coax lines between
the audio source and these speakers. The solution would be a fiber
optic extension, such as Toslink, between all the boxes. Once the
audio is digitized, it can be distributed to anywhere without any
degradation in quality. The problem is that the protocols used to
digitize this audio vary. The original source might be encoded on a
music CD, re-encoded into streaming MP3, packetized into ethernet,
encapsulated into 802.11, and eventually delivered to the speakers,
which have to decode the various layers in order to recover the
original music. That's why you don't see digital component systems
for high end audio and why low end systems tend to be integrated
conglomerations as doing it all in one box is easier.

>My need is very basic, and low-cost, just
>something to listen to while in the downstairs shower, or while cooking
>in the kitchen, other than whatever happens to be playing on the TV, in
>the lounge, to which these speaker zones are currently connected.

Wireless FM broadcast transmitter? You carry the FM receiver with
you. The only catch is that you have no control over what you're
listening to unless you go to whatever is playing and punch buttons.

>If @£80 for an Airport Express and @£50 for a small amp (for each or
>both of the zones) is the cheapest solution, then that's what I'll go
>for! I may even treat myself to a squeezebox after christmas, and when
>I'm really flush, perhaps the Sonos system....

There are also wireless Bluetooth audio systems. Bluetooth 2.0 will
do stereo hi-fi.
<http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/products/cat1150057/cat5420035/prod29780013>

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> deano@yesits.freeserve.co.uk hath wroth:
>
> >As a follow up to a previous thread/post...
>
> Which you didn't bother identifying so I have no clue to what you're
> referring.
>
> >Is there an amp on the market, that can connect to my Vigor router, via
> >one of its ethernet ports, and feed audio from my wireless laptop?
>
> Yes. These are essentially computahs that will decode streaming audio
> from the internet or from your computer. Some will also do video. For
> example:
> http://www.slimdevices.com
> The "tuner" can be fed from wired ethernet or wireless. You can also
> build your own out of a small form factor PC such as EPIA or mini-ITX
> with 5.1 audio.

Slimdevices seems to be the top end. Fry's is now selling
http://www.rokulabs.com/
Slimdevices has the advantage of being the only player with FLAC
support.

>
> >I'm just thinking of cutting out the wireless part of the system, if
> >this can be done, and is cheaper than buying a dedicated device(s) such
> >as a squeezebox or Airport Express and separate amp to power the
> >speakers.
>
> That depends on what you're time is worth. There's no magic "ethernet
> to audio" converter, which seems to be what your suggesting. There
> has to be a way to convert multiple encoded audio streams to 802.3
> ethernet and back to analog audio. You also have to have some method
> of control. At this time, that means a computah which is not cheap or
> simple. Removing the wireless part of the puzzle doesn't save much
> money.
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

miso@sushi.com hath wroth:

>Slimdevices seems to be the top end. Fry's is now selling
>http://www.rokulabs.com/
>Slimdevices has the advantage of being the only player with FLAC
>support.

According to the FLAC web pile, there's a rather large list of
hardware that currently will play FLAC encoded audio:
<http://flac.sourceforge.net/links.html#hardware>

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> miso@sushi.com hath wroth:
>
> >Slimdevices seems to be the top end. Fry's is now selling
> >http://www.rokulabs.com/
> >Slimdevices has the advantage of being the only player with FLAC
> >support.
>
> According to the FLAC web pile, there's a rather large list of
> hardware that currently will play FLAC encoded audio:
> <http://flac.sourceforge.net/links.html#hardware>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Thanks. It looks like the market is now filling out. The Helios X5000
looks interesting. I noticed the Roku does FLAC only by converting
first to a compressed format before hitting the network.

On 5 Dec 2006 23:34:11 -0800, miso@sushi.com wrote in
<1165390451.247864.243630@16g2000cwy.googlegroups. com>:

>Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>> deano@yesits.freeserve.co.uk hath wroth:
>>
>> >As a follow up to a previous thread/post...
>>
>> Which you didn't bother identifying so I have no clue to what you're
>> referring.
>>
>> >Is there an amp on the market, that can connect to my Vigor router, via
>> >one of its ethernet ports, and feed audio from my wireless laptop?
>>
>> Yes. These are essentially computahs that will decode streaming audio
>> from the internet or from your computer. Some will also do video. For
>> example:
>> http://www.slimdevices.com
>> The "tuner" can be fed from wired ethernet or wireless. You can also
>> build your own out of a small form factor PC such as EPIA or mini-ITX
>> with 5.1 audio.
>
>Slimdevices seems to be the top end. Fry's is now selling
>http://www.rokulabs.com/
>Slimdevices has the advantage of being the only player with FLAC
>support.

Apple Airport Express uses ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec), which is
roughly comparable to FLAC.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>