Playing digital audio through a 1990s amplifier

[John Rumm]

I don't tend to use any google software while using it (unless you include Android on the phone), so it is not fussy what drives it IME.

The audio quality is pretty decent IME - probably slightly better on the "Audio" than the normal HDMI one feeding a HDMI to A adaptor.

There are ways of integrating those into plex as well IIUC.

Yup the server requirements are not that onerous unless you want to do real time video transcoding on it.

Let us know what solution you go for, might be worth doing a wiki page on that...

[John Rumm]

I have noticed that it is fussy if you want to stream the soundtrack of a video to a combination of normal and audio devices at the same time.

Not yet noticed any problems with audio only content to a normal (i.e. HDMI) chromecast.

[newshound]

Not quite the same, but I repurposed a dead smartphone for my wife (the microphone had failed, nothing else wrong with it). I have a 32GB SD card in it that can hold a vast amount of music. She actually plays this via bluetooth on a Google Nest speaker. All that you would need is a bluetooth to analogue out dongle. The phone does all the storage and control, except that you could also use your wifi volume/balance/tone controls.

[Andy Burns]

The situation seems to have improved since I tried it last, I had to use the RadioPlayer app rather than using voice commands, but now both work.

However, as you say, it doesn't like mixing and matching, if I start something on a chrome HDMI device, it won't allow multi-room audio to chromecast audio or other nest speakers.

[Martin Brown]

If you take a punt on one it would be interesting to know the outcome!

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Well we all do this, as bog standard amps have not changed much over the years unless we are talking the new all and dancing multi amp surround sound monsters. Also depends what you want to ply. For example an Amazon Echo dot is cheap and has a 3.5mm socket for stereo phones of line out, If you are talking personal on hard drive stuff, simply link your analogue out of your pc to an aux in. Its often more likely to be interference free if you use a usb sound box like the Behinger cheap ones and get a separate powered usb hub for the puter to enable it to not pick up crud from inside the computer and also bypass the terrible realtech hardware and drivers they use nowadays that clip off the start of tracks.

Brian

[Caecilius]

I'm planning on opening the amp up and checking/replacing the electrolytic caps. From what I've seen through the vent holes in the case it looks quite simple inside.

The amp is a 1993 vintage Marantz PM-44SE. Not sure how good it is compared to modern equipment, but I'd like to make use of it if I can.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

I used to use a Zen Stone with its own memory to contain the tracks. However if this person has a media server or similar, get an Android phone and I'm sure there is software for browsing remote drives for it. The main issue is how to get the audio from the phone to the amp, you could use wire of course, but there might be a bluetooth way of doing it as well, as I say I use a computer with a wireless keyboard to do the job. It would be easy if you have a large screen tv to display the picture on. Brian

[Caecilius]

I like the box you made for the Pi - much softer looking than the ugly ABS boxes you usually see.

I'd not heard of volumio before so I'll check that out - thanks for the pointer.

[Paul]

There is a view of inside the unit here.

Paul

[Steve Walker]

I use a Cambridge Audio (Sonata) NP30. In my case it is reading over the network from a DLNA server running on my home server, but it can read from a PC, NAS or simply a USB stick instead.

It can navigate through artists, tracks or folders, but it can be a bit slow to scroll through very long lists. Reorganising them can help significantly.

There is an app to control it from your phone, but that is iPhone only, so I've never used it.

There are many similar devices available new and second-hand.

[Adrian Caspersz]

Philips finest ...

If it works as original, no reason not to keep it.

Nothing staggering in modern equipment other than the reduced size of it and the provision of many lights and buttons, most unnecessary ...

[Caecilius]

Yes, that's the amplifier I've got. As I thought, nice and simple with lots of space inside.

[D.M. Procida]

I should have mentioned since it didn't occur to me but others have mentioned this: installing and setting up Volumio doesn't require any particular technical skills. You need to be able to download an image and use a GUI tool to copy it to an SD card, and that's about it.

Daniele

[newshound]

One of the easiest ways to do this is to store it on an old smartphone and use the standard "Player" app. Could even use headphone socket.

[tony sayer]

In article [e-mail], Caecilius [e-mail] scribeth thus

Just do it I've re-capped many audio amps and test gear times over time in this office theres a QUAD 33/303 combo built in 1967 still going strong:)...

[John Rumm]

FYI, plex server is a standard add on for QNAP NASboxen. It does get a bit memory hungry[1] if handling lots of video files, but does a nice job on Music collections. (I have around 400 albums on it at the moment)

[1] I upgraded mine from the stock 2GB to 8GB since I had the SODIMs spare...

[Andrew]

Ribbon cables (ugh) and a non-toroidal mains transformer, so presumably a 'budget' amp ?

[RJH]

I've been using the free version of Volumio for quite a while and find it fine. I'm going to give Plex a go - do you happen to know if Volumio and Plex can co-exist on the Pi?

Impressive! I've used one of those horrible plastic boxes but will at some point use something more attractive.

[jkn]

OT: I used to have the Sony amp that went with the tuner you have there. I got it cheap from a S/H shop. IIRC it hummed quite a bit; I think I fixed it by recapping the PSU. I can't exactly remember why I no longer have it...

J^n