Cheapest way to hook up a stereo to my PC

Hi everybody,

I'm lookin for the cheapest possible way to connect my stereo to my PC.

The PC is a laptop which I hung on my wall, I'd like to be able to play
music from that laptop on my stereo.

On the internet, I've already found some solutions but most of these are
rather expensive. Most of these solutions offer a lot more than I need,
such as iTunes integration (I don't use iTunes), their own music player (I
don't need one, I've written my own) and other features that jack up the
price but are useless to me.

Any ideas or suggestions? I can get a wireless router and 2 wireless access
points for roughly 50 to 60 euros, so that's about the budget I'm willing
to spend. Solutions mentioned above cost 180 euros or more, so that's way
to expensive.

Thanks for all suggestions!

Ikke

Ikke wrote:
> Hi everybody,
>
> I'm lookin for the cheapest possible way to connect my stereo to my PC.
>
> The PC is a laptop which I hung on my wall, I'd like to be able to play
> music from that laptop on my stereo.
>
> On the internet, I've already found some solutions but most of these are
> rather expensive. Most of these solutions offer a lot more than I need,
> such as iTunes integration (I don't use iTunes), their own music player (I
> don't need one, I've written my own) and other features that jack up the
> price but are useless to me.
>
> Any ideas or suggestions? I can get a wireless router and 2 wireless access
> points for roughly 50 to 60 euros, so that's about the budget I'm willing
> to spend. Solutions mentioned above cost 180 euros or more, so that's way
> to expensive.
>
> Thanks for all suggestions!
>
> Ikke
What distance do you wish to transmit?
Does your Stereo have a FM receiver?
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=140984

Kev <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in
news:2vOdnbLcQN1TTDLYnZ2dnUVZ8s6gnZ2d@bt.com:

<snip>
> What distance do you wish to transmit?

Only 5 meters within the same room, no walls in between to block the
signal.

> Does your Stereo have a FM receiver?

Yes, it does.

> http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=140984

The price is right, that's a fact! But alas, I've noted the following:
"The TuneCast is only available for use and sale in North America"

As I'm not in America, that's a bit of a problem :)

Thanks, though!

Ikke

Ikke wrote:
> Kev <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in
> news:2vOdnbLcQN1TTDLYnZ2dnUVZ8s6gnZ2d@bt.com:
>
> <snip>
>> What distance do you wish to transmit?
>
> Only 5 meters within the same room, no walls in between to block the
> signal.
>
>> Does your Stereo have a FM receiver?
>
> Yes, it does.
>
>> http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=140984
>
> The price is right, that's a fact! But alas, I've noted the following:
> "The TuneCast is only available for use and sale in North America"
>
> As I'm not in America, that's a bit of a problem :)
>
> Thanks, though!
>
> Ikke
I only went to the "Belkin" web site but it is available in Europe.
e.g. http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...43TY&InMerch=1

Rob <me@privacy.invalid> wrote in news:4f-dnT7eCrfwSzLYRVnyjQA@bt.com:

<snip>
> I only went to the "Belkin" web site but it is available in Europe.
> e.g. http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...43TY&InMerch=1

I've had a look at the Belkin website, and have found the device.

Is there another solution available, without having to go through the FM
receiver?

Ideally, it would be some sort of mini-device which connects to the stereo
via an RCA jack, and which connects wireless to the laptop.

Also, it would be nice if all my stereos in the house could be connected.

Ikke

On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 20:14:33 GMT, in alt.internet.wireless , Ikke
<ikke@hier.be> wrote:

>The price is right, that's a fact! But alas, I've noted the following:
>"The TuneCast is only available for use and sale in North America"

Nope, you can buy them in the EU. Check on amazon.co.uk f'rinstance.


--
Mark McIntyre

On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 20:59:51 GMT, in alt.internet.wireless , Ikke
<ikke@hier.be> wrote:

>Ideally, it would be some sort of mini-device which connects to the stereo
>via an RCA jack, and which connects wireless to the laptop.

Its not so simple.

If you plan to use the wireless network, your PC needs to have some
s/w to convert music into a stream of IP packets that it pushes out
over the network.

Your stereo needs some s/w and h/w to capture and convert the IP
packets back into analogue signal to feed in the RCA/phono ports.

The Tunecast and similar units do the above using FM radio rather than
802.11 and TCPIP, which is simpler and saves money as the reciever is
free.

You might find this works for you:
https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...?hau-01004&P=4
I know its designed for video, but it works fine for audio too, and it
works with the GB-PVR software which is much neater than the Hauppauge
stuff.

>Also, it would be nice if all my stereos in the house could be connected.

You're looking for
http://www.simplysonos.co.uk/acatalo..._Brochure.html
.... and a 2nd mortgage...
--
Mark McIntyre

> Only 5 meters within the same room, no walls in between to block the
> signal.
>
> > Does your Stereo have a FM receiver?
>
> Yes, it does.

Search eBay for "linex fm". I've got one of their units (an older model).
It's a USB soundcard that transmits on an FM frequency. Your PC sees it as
another soundcard.

Works reasonably well.

"Ikke" <ikke@hier.be> wrote in message
news:Xns98BCDFEA16E87ikkehierbe@195.130.132.70...
> Rob <me@privacy.invalid> wrote in news:4f-dnT7eCrfwSzLYRVnyjQA@bt.com:
>
> <snip>
>> I only went to the "Belkin" web site but it is available in Europe.
>> e.g. http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...43TY&InMerch=1
>
> I've had a look at the Belkin website, and have found the device.
>
> Is there another solution available, without having to go through the FM
> receiver?
>
> Ideally, it would be some sort of mini-device which connects to the stereo
> via an RCA jack, and which connects wireless to the laptop.
>
> Also, it would be nice if all my stereos in the house could be connected.
>
> Ikke

Hi,

Just to throw something else into the wind. (I have two of the following
gadgets and make use of them often.)

The FM receiver idea is definetly the easiest (and cheapest) way to go,
_but_ :

- Since you said you were looking to put a network together and wanted to
run something through a network

- They are cheap, if you can find them.

- Not only will it give you audio over a network, but also video. You can
do other things like stream internet radio stations and get all sorts of
data as well. They also are small enough to travel with. I take one with
me in my laptop bag when I am on the road and use it to stream stuff that
coming from home.

- Catch: you'll have to be willing to tinker a bit to get the most out of
them. There is a great open community built around these providing software
and forums though.

The animal is the Hauppauge MVP player.
http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/produ..._mediamvp.html

The open project is GB-PVR.
http://www.gbpvr.com/
(A number of folks there are from Europe. The MVP player can be found in
Europe. Hauppauge is European company even.)

I bought my players from Radio Shack when they were being cleared out. The
second one, I only paid $25 for. First one was $30-something. Dig around
and ask on the forums, may find a source over there for cheap...

If you are a "golden ear audiophile", you probably won't be impressed with
the audio, but I find it works just fine with me with the one I have hooked
up to an HDTV and DD/DTS receiver...

Just another idea to throw out and, admittedly, not the best one -- unless
you like playing around with things...

Eric

Ikke wrote:
> Hi everybody,
>
> I'm lookin for the cheapest possible way to connect my stereo to my
> PC.
>
> The PC is a laptop which I hung on my wall, I'd like to be able to
> play music from that laptop on my stereo.
>
> On the internet, I've already found some solutions but most of these
> are rather expensive. Most of these solutions offer a lot more than I
> need, such as iTunes integration (I don't use iTunes), their own
> music player (I don't need one, I've written my own) and other
> features that jack up the price but are useless to me.
>
> Any ideas or suggestions? I can get a wireless router and 2 wireless
> access points for roughly 50 to 60 euros, so that's about the budget
> I'm willing to spend. Solutions mentioned above cost 180 euros or
> more, so that's way to expensive.
>
> Thanks for all suggestions!
>
> Ikke

Do you have input jacks on your stereo? If so, they make stereo cables (not
sure what store there, I get em at radio shack in the us) for about $8 that
go from the headset plug on your laptop to the rca stereo aux input jacks on
most stereos.. Fraid it may be extremely cheap and simple to do it wired,
instead of wirelessly.... :)

Will this Media MVP work without a TV set? That is, just running the
audio outputs to a stereo?

Looking it over briefly, I get the impression that they are using the
TV as the interface for controlling it...

It would be great if it worked like an Airport Express, but without
being stuck on ITunes. Also without the $130 price tag of Airport EX.

Steve

"seaweedsteve" <seaweedsteve@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1169242542.154955.167680@11g2000cwr.googlegro ups.com...
> Will this Media MVP work without a TV set? That is, just running the
> audio outputs to a stereo?
>
> Looking it over briefly, I get the impression that they are using the
> TV as the interface for controlling it...
>
> It would be great if it worked like an Airport Express, but without
> being stuck on ITunes. Also without the $130 price tag of Airport EX.
>
> Steve

Hi,

Yeah, you need a TV display to navigate around. Yeah, thats how one of mine
is connected: video out to TV and audio out to the receiver.

I mainly just use mine for listening to music: mp3's and occassionaly
internet radio stations... Also occassionaly for data stuff over the
internet (weather, news, sports, etc)...

They can be worthwhile if you can find them cheap and don't mind tinkering
around a bit.

Just remembered a gadget I saw in a recent ad from Microcenter not too long
ago. It was a small little wireless animal that pulled MP3's over a WLAN,
had an LCD screen for control along with a remote, and could be piped out to
a stereo. That would probably be more fitting to what he wants to do.
Can't remember the price, but seemed cheap enough.

Cheers,
Eric

On 19 Jan 2007 13:35:42 -0800, in alt.internet.wireless ,
"seaweedsteve" <seaweedsteve@gmail.com> wrote:

>Will this Media MVP work without a TV set? That is, just running the
>audio outputs to a stereo?
>
>Looking it over briefly, I get the impression that they are using the
>TV as the interface for controlling it...

There's a web interface which runs on the PC.
--
Mark McIntyre

Ikke <ikke@hier.be> wrote:

> I'm lookin for the cheapest possible way to connect my stereo to my PC.

> The PC is a laptop which I hung on my wall, I'd like to be able to play
> music from that laptop on my stereo.

Cheapest would be an adaptor to go from the headphone output of the PC to
the RCA-phono jack input of the stereo. I connect my MP3 player that way.

The sound on that may not be optimal. Here's a Belkin-branded version
http://tinyurl.com/2f89dy I think I paid about $2.99 for mine.

Other solutions are here:
http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/pc-audio.html

I intended to get the HIFI-Link USB-to-RCA
http://www.xitel.com/product_hfl.htm for $50, but never got atround to it.


--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5

"Peter Pan" <PeterPanNOSPAM@AkamailNOSPAM.com> wrote in
news:51b5huF1jip2hU1@mid.individual.net:

<snip>
> Do you have input jacks on your stereo?

Yes, there are several RCA jacks for input (DAT, DVD, etc...).

> If so, they make stereo cables
> (not sure what store there, I get em at radio shack in the us) for
> about $8 that go from the headset plug on your laptop to the rca
> stereo aux input jacks on most stereos.. Fraid it may be extremely
> cheap and simple to do it wired, instead of wirelessly.... :)

True, and I have a lot of these cables at hand, but the stereo and laptop
are situated opposites of eachother in the room. Long story, but that's
where they'll remain.

Therefor I'm looking for a way to do it wireless...

Thanks, and thanks to everyone else who offered advice - I'm sure I'll find
a suitable solution.

Ikke

"Eric" <none@nospam.nnn> wrote in
news:45b14f3f$0$9573$4c368faf@roadrunner.com:

Well, there's no TV in the room (I use my PC and I don't watch that much
anyway), so that's a no-no. But thanks for suggesting it anyway!

<snip>
> Just remembered a gadget I saw in a recent ad from Microcenter not too
> long ago. It was a small little wireless animal that pulled MP3's
> over a WLAN, had an LCD screen for control along with a remote, and
> could be piped out to a stereo. That would probably be more fitting
> to what he wants to do. Can't remember the price, but seemed cheap
> enough.

Aha - I guess I'm off hunting little wireless animals on Google then :)

Thanks again,

Ikke

Mark McIntyre <markmcintyre@spamcop.net> wrote in
news:iek2r29h94vn4f15ehvu60jv3ij9er4fd2@4ax.com:

> On 19 Jan 2007 13:35:42 -0800, in alt.internet.wireless ,
> "seaweedsteve" <seaweedsteve@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Will this Media MVP work without a TV set? That is, just running the
>>audio outputs to a stereo?
>>
>>Looking it over briefly, I get the impression that they are using the
>>TV as the interface for controlling it...
>
> There's a web interface which runs on the PC.

But that doesn't leave much room for my own player, I guess...

Ikke

On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 01:02:47 GMT, in alt.internet.wireless , Ikke
<ikke@hier.be> wrote:

>Therefor I'm looking for a way to do it wireless...

Well, I can say good things about the Tunecast II.

I have mine plugged into the line-out of my PC in my study.

I have a radio in my bedroom, about 15 ft away through a brick wall,
and I can hear it fine on that.

I have radios on each of the kids' CD players in the bedrooms up a
floor and between 20 and 30ft away, and its actually clearer on those.
I could even hear it downstairs in the kitchen (probably 30ft through
several walls). The reception was poor mind you.
--
Mark McIntyre

On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 01:05:35 GMT, in alt.internet.wireless , Ikke
<ikke@hier.be> wrote:

>Mark McIntyre <markmcintyre@spamcop.net> wrote in
>news:iek2r29h94vn4f15ehvu60jv3ij9er4fd2@4ax.com :
>
>> On 19 Jan 2007 13:35:42 -0800, in alt.internet.wireless ,
>> "seaweedsteve" <seaweedsteve@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Will this Media MVP work without a TV set? That is, just running the
>>>audio outputs to a stereo?
>>>
>>>Looking it over briefly, I get the impression that they are using the
>>>TV as the interface for controlling it...
>>
>> There's a web interface which runs on the PC.
>
>But that doesn't leave much room for my own player, I guess...

Trouble is, unless you go for the FM based devices, you need extra s/w
to convert the sound to TCP packets and broadcast them over the
wireless network. Your own player won't do that, I guess.
--
Mark McIntyre

On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 19:49:41 GMT, Ikke <ikke@hier.be> wrote in
<Xns98BCD4044F45Dikkehierbe@195.130.132.70>:

>Hi everybody,
>
>I'm lookin for the cheapest possible way to connect my stereo to my PC.
>
>The PC is a laptop which I hung on my wall, I'd like to be able to play
>music from that laptop on my stereo.
>
>On the internet, I've already found some solutions but most of these are
>rather expensive. Most of these solutions offer a lot more than I need,
>such as iTunes integration (I don't use iTunes), their own music player (I
>don't need one, I've written my own) and other features that jack up the
>price but are useless to me.
>
>Any ideas or suggestions? I can get a wireless router and 2 wireless access
>points for roughly 50 to 60 euros, so that's about the budget I'm willing
>to spend. Solutions mentioned above cost 180 euros or more, so that's way
>to expensive.

Reconsider iTunes, which can easily drive speakers wirelessly with the
Airport Express. Works a treat. Highly recommended.

--
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>

>Reconsider iTunes, which can easily drive speakers wirelessly with the
> Airport Express. Works a treat. Highly recommended.
>


I've been pondering this solution for some time now myself. With WDS,
an audio converter and a USB port, the AirportX is a very cool wifi
tool.

The problem, apart from the cost ($125 US) is being limited to using
iTunes.

I found that there is a software fix for that issue. "Airfoil". It
allows you to use other music players with the airport xpress.

http://www.rogueamoeba.com/utm/posts...-12-10-00.html

Steve

On 26 Jan 2007 09:33:41 -0800, "seaweedsteve" <seaweedsteve@gmail.com>
wrote in <1169832821.365731.177090@a34g2000cwb.googlegroups .com>:

>>Reconsider iTunes, which can easily drive speakers wirelessly with the
>> Airport Express. Works a treat. Highly recommended.
>
>I've been pondering this solution for some time now myself. With WDS,
>an audio converter and a USB port, the AirportX is a very cool wifi
>tool.
>
>The problem, apart from the cost ($125 US) is being limited to using
>iTunes.

Refurbished Airport Express units with factory warranty can sometimes be
found in the Apple Store for only US$90 with free shipping.
In fact, they are available as I write this -- see
<http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=D8593B5A&nclm=CertifiedMac>

--
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>

John Navas <spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote in
news:lnnhr2ldspe0auclfs1k66ruafh5bjbre1@4ax.com:

<snip>
> Reconsider iTunes, which can easily drive speakers wirelessly with the
> Airport Express. Works a treat. Highly recommended.

Using iTunes means not using my own player. Since iTunes basically does not
work for what I want, I can't use it anyway.

Thanks anyway,

Ikke

See my link above.

"seaweedsteve" <seaweedsteve@gmail.com> wrote in
news:1170366736.780344.6540@p10g2000cwp.googlegrou ps.com:

> See my link above.

Thanks, but still - $125?? That's way to expensive!

Ikke