Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Requirements for Multi Room System

I'm wanting to expand my music streaming capabilities beyond my primary listening room into other rooms in the house. I'm not looking to spend as much as on my main room and therefore have also been considering Sonos as an option. However, I love Sooloos and therefore wanted to understand what would be required to expand my current system beyond the single room that it presently serves, or set-up a new system.

The other rooms I am initially looking at are my family bathroom, plus bedrooms and kitchen, which currently only have radios (mainly Pure Evoke 3).

You need zones. The MS200 is the cheapest.

You also need to connect these zones to your MC200. Wired is best. Powerline also can work.

Once you've got your zones you need to be able to plug these into an amp and speakers.

Alternatively some Sooloos kit have multiple analogue outs you could use.

So as well as the Sooloos box for an extra zone, would I need an additional amp as well as speakers? I assume that the connectivity back to my existing MC200 would therefore be to maintain the central library and ability to port play lists between rooms?

Hi,

Your assumptions are broadly correct. The new Sooloos audio endpoint (MS200, MS600, ...) would connect to your home network, it advertises it's presence and the MC200 then makes it available as an independent zone.

This new zone can be selected and controlled just like the zone in the MC200.
Zones can also be linked so they play the same music ... good for parties.

A MS200 and a pair of DSP makes for a very elegant second zone.

Trust this helps.

Regards,
Carl

Just to be clear, I would definitely need another amplifier if I'm not using DSP speakers and not another amp if I am? The first additional room I want to set-up is my bathroom as part of a renovation, so need speakers designed for a humid environment. I have already bought some Artcoustic Diablo Target speakers for this.

As you are obviously aware of the Sonos offerings, think as any Sooloos audio endpoint as a ZP90/Connect without the wireless functionality. Meridian do not offer any ZP120/Connect Amp type offering nor Play type units although many feel that the latter may one day appear in a F80/M80 replacement.

You can mix Sonos and Sooloos. Depending on how you originally ripped your music, it may be possible for Sonos to share the Sooloos music library (not 88k/96k rips) but the success of this is dependant on whether your Sooloos rips contain suitable metadata (if you ripped via Control:PC etc it will not). It is also possible to use analogue output of Sooloos as an input into Sonos so Sonos can mirror (with slight delay) a Sooloos zone.

Personally I think that the Sonos ZP120/Connect Amp type units are a great for non critical zones such as garden or bathrooms where integrated amp makes for simple connection to a pair of speakers.

Hello

Your Artcoustic Diablo Target speakers are passive so you will cetainly need an amplifier if you are planning to use a Meridian MS200.
The MS200 has a variable analogue output so you only require a power amp.

Neil

Thank you for the clarifications and information. I was a little unsure if there was a way to connect everything to my main system using a single amp or other box and then distribute to other rooms.

It seems that a Sonos Connect:Amp (ZP120) will be my best starting point for he bathroom. I really love the play history and information hat builds up with Sooloos, which Sonos does not appear to have, plus didn't really want 2 different libraries of information. I'm aware that my tracks ripped for Sooloos won't directly work on Sonos, but am assuming that there's a way I can convert them without having to physically rip from the CDs again. Playing via an output on Sooloos and into Sonos does also sound like an interesting option worth exploring.

Or look at an MC600.

Sooloos is a NAS drive just like any other so you can map Sonos library directly onto the Sooloos library, ie same music library shared by both Sonos and Sooloos.

However there are two issues which depending on your circumstances may be non issues:

1: If you have any hi res files on Sooloos these will not be playable on Sonos.
2: If you ripped your files directly using Control:Mac/Control:PC, most of the important metadata needed to show track, album, artist info will not have been embedded in the files. If you ripped via third party app, ie dBpoweramp (plugin or otherwise), iTubes etc, and imported into Sooloos, this metadata will have been retained.

Without this metadata, Sonos will only see basic track info when browsing the files and not see tracks accessible via album, track or artist names. This will also be an issue if you reuse the rips in a different system although I believe that if you export from Sooloos this metadata may be reassembled - someone else can confirm.

One way around issue #2 is to export your whole library from Sooloos to a HDD. This then tags all the files with the album info from the library.

Delete library.

Re-import the exported library from HDD.

Obviously this is a bit of a sledgehammer/nut solution but if using Sooloos library for Sonos/Squeeze is important to you then it can be done.

Small libraries won't take that long.

Hi again Dave,

I've just noticed that you have an 861v4 so one option to consider would be to get an ID40 card for your v4 and then use the MC200 for your second zone.

Going for this option would considerable improve the Sooloos AQ in your 861v4.

Regards,
Carl

PS Check out the Restaurant, there's a ID40 in there now.