soundhd

Looking to put together a wireless music system for the home. I'm an older guy so would need a system easy to use when it comes to ripping/importing/downloading (whatever it is called to now days) my music collection. The Bluesound Vault 2 seems to be a pretty good all in one piece of gear. Just wondering if there are any Vault 2 owners out there and if you have the time could you reply with any info good or bad about how the unit is to work with? I have very little experience with software and my only experience with computer audio is my I-Tunes and my Ipods. So again I need something easy to use. thanks A computer audio "newbie"

I know they handle the Bluesound line....hopefully other home wireless music system gear not listed on their web site.....as for the Linn gear...way out of my price range.............

Thanks to sixchannel and realhifi for the local info...and yes Overture Audio is going to be my first stop.....hope they handle other lines besides Linn.....good gear but very pricey..........thanks again.

First thanks for all the quick replies. I will try to answer the question as best I can. 1. (Why do I want to do this?): I will still be doing my "serious" listening in the basement listening room, LP's, CD's (there is till nothing like listening to great LP)...but it would be nice to be able to access anything in my collection from anywhere else in the home like when I am doing other "stuph" around the house. My music collection is stored in the basement and getting up and down the stairs these days is getting harder (I am in my late 60's), so wanting to listen to a certain CD can be a hassle and right now I can only listen to my LP's downstairs so digitizing the LP's would be really nice option (I forgot to mention that I have HBB 850 professional CD recorder/player in my system downstairs that I use to convert LP's to CD so I can add LP tracks to my I-Tunes). 1a: Would also give me something to do during the Michigan winter months mostly, I am involved in the classic car hobby during the summer months but I don't "do" winter anymore so I have a lot of spare time during the winter. 2. Computer equipment: My wife and I both have our own desktop computers (her's is a couple years old mine is about 5 years old I guess). We also have a 10 year old laptop so she can access the internet from the back deck. Don't do any gaming. Computers are used for mainly communicating with friends & family, getting information about any of the hobbies I am involved with, shopping (hate to shop at department stores...we both do most of our shopping on the net). Have an older wireless router in the home (for the laptop)....will probably need a get a more updated one once this wireless system project starts. Own a "smart" phone (I-Phone 5s..a smart phone with a dumb user...LOL) use it mainly to check on the weather when I am out with my classic cars during the summer months and make phone calls.....it's only turned on when I am away from the home. So as for computer equipment I guess it is pretty basic. 3. What brand(s) home wireless gear I purchase brand does not come into a factor at this time. The Bryston name came up.....I am very happy so far with their products that I own but not limited to whatever they have for the wireless system...just basically interested in how the music sounds when it all said and done...CD quality is fine...my ears are not what they used to be.....Ease of downloading the music into the system and accessing it is very important to me and I do understand I would need to convert "all" of the rest of my LP's to a CD format in order to download those.. I don't have a lot of money to spend but I guess mid pricing will work.......better then the "cheapest" but cannot afford to "best" I guess is the best way to put it. Seperate components will work I guess just so I do not need to take a computer class to be able to make it all work together correctly. If I can get a player/storage unit that can handle the whole collection that would be perfect and aagin the ease of downloading and ease of access to the collection is important to me. 4. As for the systems in different parts of the home I guess a wireless receiver (or whatever they are called) with the amp built in would work in those rooms...like I stated in my posting I have 4 rooms with JBL studio monitors in them and would like to keep the use of those so being able to replace the older stereo receivers powering those will free up shelf space.....you can pretty much listen to "any" radio station now over the net so do not need a tuner anymore..... Anyway hope this answers any of the questions. thanks again

Hi..I am an older Audiophile. Still listen to vinyl (still have all my vinyl LP's since I started buying them in the early 60's but also listen to Redbook CD's and SACD's. Have a nice 2 channel system in my main listening room (Bryston preamp, crossover & amps running into a pair of JBL 4350's, with VPI Scoutmaster turntable, Sony SACD 1 along with a FM tuner and a IPOD dock). 3 other smaller stereo systems around the house with smaller JBL monitors and 2 Surround sound systems for video. I have 4 IPOD classics that I use for playing music in my vehicles. I use two I-Tunes (one for my favorite albums and the other for my favorite tracks) are used just for the IPODs (whenever I get a new LP or CD I "import" the tracks I like the best into my I-Tunes for playback on the Ipods). I use WAV files for the IPODs (think they sound the best).....so far disc space has not been a problem...have just under 2600 tracks on the one IPOD with about 15GB left to use. Currently have 1153 CD's/SACD's and 518 LP's (not huge collection but I like it). Also have never downloaded any music off the internet...guess I like the "feel" of the "hardware" in my hand......old school.......LOL Very interested in putting together a home wireless music system. Really do not know much about them. Would be nice to be able to access any track or album/CD title remotely. Have some questions hopefully someone can answer. 1. What are the components needed for a home music server/wireless system? 2. What is a media player used for? 3. Can a system play tracks in a “shuffle” mode? All tracks, genres, etc.. 4. What track information is needed for the system to work correctly? 5. Can the system play albums in their entirety? 6. How are the tracks loaded into the system? 7. Can the size & style of fonts be picked for the information displayed? 8. If the server is located in a remote part of the house can it be turned on and shut off remotely? 9. Can tracks be inputted/downloaded into the server from a remote location in the house (laptop or desktop computer)? 10. How much disc space does a Redbook CD take up when downloaded in whatever format is best to use but still get good playback quality..(.do not like MP3's in any form). 11. How large of a storage unit (think that's what they are called) would I need for my collection as it stands today? 12. Can the system be turned on and off remotely? I guess I can replace the receivers with a wireless amp for each set of speakers (except for my main system). I am also concerned about when using whatever one uses to control the system (IPAD, phone, laptop, etc...) how the "font" looks.....my eyes are not what they used to be ...I use all "caps" when inputting track information into my I-Tunes....easier for me to read. Sorry for all the questions but thought I would use this forum first before going to one of the local Hi-Fi shops so I can at least have some idea of what I am talking about......... Thanks Old guy from Ann Arbor, Michigan

Looking to get into a HD music system to add to my current system. How many minutes of 24/96 type music files can be stored on a 1 TB hard drive. When looking for information about music storage on a hard drive all you can find is how many songs/tracks can be stored (it is always in the thousands) but never any info on minutes or hours...... thanks

JBL 4350's............it "IS" the Holy Grail.............

JBL 4301's and 4401's..........

Not sure what your budget is but if you can swing it money wise go with studio grade AKG's..........they are the best.........

Most highend stereo shops are able to transfer vinyl to a CD.....call around and see....

I would go with the NAD but most "good" stereo shops will let you take a unit home for a couple days......try it out if you can........

I am a "old time" audiophile...still listen to vinyl. The farthest I have gotten into "digital" music sources are Redbook and SACD's and I am a big user of I-Tunes which I just use for putting my favorite music tracks from my CD collection into the WAV format on my personal 160GB CLassic Ipod...(I also use an older 120GB Ipod Classic for listening to my favorite "concept" albums, Floyd, Genesis, Yes, Moody Blues, King Crimson, some jazz titles, etc...)..have only ever downloaded one album off of I-Tunes because it was free....LOL. Have decided to expand my system(s) in two ways.... (1)...Setup a home wireless system that I could use my Ipod's for a music source for parties/gatherings, etc... at home (2) get into a server based HD Music system for listening on my main playback system in my basement listening room. (short system discription: it is a Bryston based system (pre-amp, active-crossover, amps), JBL 4350's for speakers, music sources are a Phillips SACD1000 player, HHB CD burner, NAD 5-CD player, FM tuner; analog section is a VPI Scoutmaster with speed controller running through a Quicksilver phono pre-amp. As for (1)...looks like a Sonos system would work out great for my needs (have two other stereo systems in the home so the Sonos system would be able to connect to each of those). As for (2)....not sure where to start......would be doing all the listening to HD tracks on my main system downstairs so assume would need to install/add a DAC to that system. As for downloading the music files I just purchased a new Dell desktop computer (a Inspiron 600; Intel -Core i5-3330CPU@ 3.000GHz; 3.00GHZ; 8GB RAM; 64bit; Windows 7 Home Premium; 1 TB HD) which is in my upstairs office so I hope this will work ok for downloading HD music files. I do want to use a stand alone music server for storing the files (not sure if I will need to keep that unit downstairs with my main system or if it can be kept upstairs in my office next to my computer). NOTE: I am not an expert computer user by any means, I basically do e-mail, use word/excel for keeping track of things, use I-Tunes (as mentioned above) and shop and look up info on different forums related to other things that I do, music, classic cars, etc.....a very basic computer user. So hopefully you can see where I am coming from and maybe some of you can give me some sort of direction where and how to start equipment and software wise for getting into HD music. Would I need to take some sort of class/instruction somewhere to learn how to do all this computer music downloading? Is there a book called HD music for dummies somewhere? (silly question but who knows) I have looked around a bit on the internet at sources of HD music and have found quite a few titles that I would be interested in purchasing once I have a system setup for it. Any help and/or guidance would be appreciated. Thanks

I agree, Harbeth's are probably some of the best speakers that I have heard.....but very pricey.......$5,000 to $10,000+ for a pair.........still one can pick up a very nice used pair of JBL's for much, much less and still have great sound........ PS: and high end electronics do make a big difference in the quality of a play back system....but if on a tight budget....good speakers are your best bet for quality upgrade to start with............

My background (and have been "retired" from it for about 15 years now) is Pro Audio doing mostly concert mixing but a little of studio work both as a "mixer" and a player. Speakers make the biggest impact on how well a playback system sounds. You can take an "average" amp/receiver (something you would find at a "big box" store) play a CD through it with a "big Box" level speaker system then replace the speakers with a very good high end set of studio monitors and there will be a world of difference. One does not need to upgrade the electronics to get a good high quality playback....just use good high quality speakers.....and my opinion is use a set of studio monitors..... Studio monitors are made to give a flat EQ playback......will not "color" the sound.......will accurately reproduce the music as it is heard at final mixdown as long as the system has been EQ'd using a realtime analyzer, preferably a 1/3 octive unit to make sure your system is putting out a "flat" response using "pink" noise. In most cases one would not need to add much in the way of EQ if one is using a good set of studio monitors to get a correct flat frequency response curve. Do yourself a favor and borrow a set from a friend or most music equipment stores and high end stereo shops will let one "try out" a set for a night or two if one is serious about purchasing. Also with the rise in computer based audio one can take thier laptop into a store/shop and try it out right there........ Again Just my opinion (one of many) Been a JBL studio monitor user since the 60's......currently have 5 different models of JBL studio monitors on systems in the home, all from the 60's/70's.......4350's, 4311B's, 4311EA's, 4301's, 4406's. Three of the systems are connected to "average" electronic's except for the 4350's and the 4311's (the two serious 2 channel music playback systems I have)

I am a newbie when it comes to venturing into computer based audio not using I-Tunes. Have decided to make the leap into a NAS based system for various reasons (flexibility mostly) but anyway before I get to my question I have been an I-Tunes user for about 6-7 years now (I am an "older" guy) just for the simple reason for my I-Pod (have interfaces in all my vehicles and docks on all the stereo systems in the home (5). The I-Pod has for the most part just for access to my favorite music tracks from the various CD's & vinyl LP's in my music collection (currently approx 2400 tracks), but I do have a few whole albums in it that I like to play in thier intirety once in awhile (Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, Moody Blues, etc...) mostly concept albums and I-Tunes makes it very easy to do that, all you need is the album name and track numbers (along with the track names). Anyway I have been reading and trying to understand what play back options are available with a computer based audio system (not using I-Tunes). Again I am not a super computer user so (correct me if I am wrong) I will need to use ripping software to "rip" or download the whole CD's and later the LP's onto the NAS (so far plan on using DB Power Amp). I get the impression I will also need playback software also (please someone correct me if I am wrong). JRiver seems to be good program to use from what I have read......which is fine. Probably need to mention in I-Tunes I have alsways used WAV files (hate the way MP3's sound) and so far have always worked for my simple needs with my I-Pod but from I have read FLAC seems the way to go because of the "tag" information...... With the computer based system I am going to setup I will be basically to listen to whole albums (hoping that the form of access will let me listen more to whole albums more then I have been doing in the past)......now to my question..... What will I need to input in the way of "tags" (I think they are called....) track, artist, album names, track numbers, etc... to be able to playback whole albums in the correct track order (1,2,3,ect....)? I am not sure what is all involved in that part.....I have seen postings of users having a hard time playing back whole albums in the correct track order with whatever software they are using...I still am not sure if the problems are with how the tagging is inputed or if it is something with the way the "player" software is set up or being used....since I have 1200+ CD's and nearly 600 LP's I want to make sure I do it right the first time. Just trying to understand it all. Want to keep my I_tunes/Ipod "stuph" separate from the new system. Will be using a desktop PC with Windows XP (later a new desktop with windows 7 or 8) using DB Power Amp for loading the NAS and I guess J River software for playback. Plan to get a Synology DS112 and a Western Digital Red 1TB drive for the NAS setup. Please let me know if I am heading in the right or wrong direction here. Once the NAS is loaded first I will be getting a SONOS system to be able to access wirelessly the files from any of the stereos in the home (the easy acess part....guess I am getting lazy in my old age) and later using some sort of high end player/server along with a DAC to access the files for my main listening system down stairs (also want to dever into High-Rez music files later on) Any help will be greatly appreciated, and again sorry for the long lead in but just want to be understood as to where I am coming from computer tech wise (very low) and where I am trying to go computer audio wise (have always been an audiophile since the 60's). thanks an "older guy" computer audio newbie (sometimes it's hard to teach a "old dog" new tricks.......LOL)