DIY Multi-Room Audio Help?

[Zarathustra[H]]

Hey all, Could use some suggestions here, as I am failing big time in my quest to get mutli-room audio working well.

Scenario. I have a amplifiers in multiple places in my house. All can plug in and play from my phones, others from their respective local sources, but I'd love to be able to walk around the house, and listen to the same thing everywhere.

To this effect, I decided to make the Denon receiver in my living room the master source, since it has Spotify connect, and Zone 2 RCA outs.

My goal is to have the following four locations play at the same time:
- Livingroom (Denon receiver and surround setup)
- Kitchen (an amp, a pair of bookshelves and a small sub)
- Office (amp, two bookshelves and a sub)
- Porch (carrying out a small temporary portable amp and a set of speakers during BBQ's etc.)


First thing I tried was a basic RCA to Wireless transmitter. It had two problems. It would start dropping signal and cutting out after a surprisingly short distance. The latency was also pretty bad, meaning that between nearby rooms you'd get an echo effect. That, and the sound would cut out whenever the microwave went on. So I nixed that idea.

Next a snaked a longish (75ft?) RCA cable down into the basement from the denon receiver and up into the kitchen. This works, but the sound quality is not the best. It's not terrible mind you, but it doesn't sound as good as when connecting to the kitchen amp directly from a phone. Not sure if this is the wire, or just that Zone 2 outs are mediocre.

Then I tried to use a splitter, and another 100ft cable to also run the sound into the office, and as soon as I added the splitters and connected the 100ft cable, the sound started cutting out and being very distorted. So, long wire runs are obviously problematic.

Since one splitter didn't work right, I haven't even tried wiring in the split for the porch yet.

So, are there any alternatives? How do people usually do this? Signal boosters? Better wireless transmitters? Can it be done somehow in software, where delay can be tweaked so that all sources sync?

I'd appreciate any suggestions!

 

[MMitch]

I have limited knowledge on the question but the long RCA issue are more than probably caused by the length of it and/or electrical noise around. Have you tried a wifi solution ? (or hardwired to LAN)
Otherwise you could use an active solution to amplify the sound mid run of those RCAs.

 

[Brian_B]

Looked at solutions like Sonos?

 

[MMitch]

Looked at solutions like Sonos?

Even after the latest outbreak they had last week or so ?

 

[B00nie]

If you have WLAN coverage in your house that's your best option. DLNA or Apple airplay.

All you need to do is get a cheap receiver to each room. A raspberry pi for example works for this purpose (but of course it's not for non computer savvy people as you have to install a ready built linux image on it and then configure audio and DLNA). There are multiple easyer (but more expensive) products for wireless audio, DLNA and Airplay. Apple airplay is hands down the easyest to get working.