Help with WiiM Ultra speaker grouping on Roon

[GimmeShelter]

I have a WiiM Ultra and 4 x Audio Pro speakers in other rooms in the house.

When playing on the WiiM Ultra (Living Room) I am trying to group to other speakers in the house but I am getting the following message.

‘4 zones can’t be grouped here’
‘It is only possible to group zones with other zones of the same type(e.g AirPlay with AirPlay)’
‘Zones that use RAAT can be linked with each other, unless they’re configured as private zones’

Can someone help me to group these speakers together, I have no issue grouping speakers when using the WiiM app with Plexamp or any other service?

 

[Burnside]

I guess you can’t group them in Roon as the audio pro speakers aren’t Roon Ready like the Ultra.

However, maybe if you have them defined in Roon as Chromecast endpoints you could achieve that, or perhaps group them under Google Home and see if that group is visible to Roon.

 

[Burnside]

According to this page: “Roon supports grouped playback on audio-only Chromecast devices via the Google Home app. Using the Google Home app, you can set up groups of devices, which then appear as additional audio devices in Roon alongside the hardware devices”

https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/chromecast

 

[GimmeShelter]

I've just opened the Google Home app on my iPhone but it can't find the AudioPro speakers

 

[Burnside]

I've just opened the Google Home app on my iPhone but it can't find the AudioPro speakers

Are they WiiM Edition Audio Pro Mkii speakers? I presumed they were, but if they’re not, I don’t think they support Chromecast, sorry.

You may be caught between a rock and a hard place - the non WiiM edition versions support Airplay but the Ultra doesn’t. The Ultra is Roon Ready and supports Chromecast, but the non WiiM edition Audio Pros don’t appear to support either. All support UPNp I believe, but Roon doesn’t (although there do seem to be complicated) workarounds.

You might need to add some other kit to bridge between these largely incompatible regimes - I wonder if a WiiM Mini which does support airplay, connected to the WiiM Ultra might allow the creation of an airplay group that Roon can handle?

However, as I don’t have Roon I’m only guessing here…

 

[GimmeShelter]

All the speakers support chromecast, I'd have thought they'd be able to be grouped together that way?

 

[Burnside]

In that case, they should have appeared in the google home app. What model/ version numbers are they?

 

[GimmeShelter]

They are all Audio Pro C5A

 

[Burnside]

They are all Audio Pro C5A

Thanks, but I don’t see any mention of Chromecast/google cast support on his page nor in the linked manual

C5A

A small and easy to place multiroom smart speaker. Voice controlled with Amazon Alexa, tell the speaker what to play. Or just ask any question and get answers. With stunning dynamics and deep bass in abundance, the Addon C5A performs bigger than it looks. TOP 3 FEATURES Wireless multiroom sound...

audiopro.com

 

[GimmeShelter]

I was sure they were chromecast enabled, oh well looks like I'm in the market for a new kitchen speaker.

How do they manage to connect to the WiiM Ultra on the WiiM app but not in Roon?

 

[Burnside]

I was sure they were chromecast enabled, oh well looks like I'm in the market for a new kitchen speaker.

How do they manage to connect to the WiiM Ultra on the WiiM app but not in Roon?

Different protocols. When grouping in the WiiM app, they’re using Linkplay’s multi room protocol; when using Roon, they’re using Roon RAAT protocol. When grouping in the google home app, they’re using Chromecast; when grouping echos or alexa enabled devices, they’re using Alexa MRM; when using Airplay 2, they’re using Apple’s airplay protocol. You get the drift - they’re all different and by and large incompatible.

 

[GimmeShelter]

I’ve just seen the Audio Pro C5mk2 has Chromecast.

I’ll buy one of them and that should mean I can at least group the living room and kitchen together through Roon.

 

[Burnside]

Can you group the existing C5As in Roon using them as airplay endpoints? If so, you could “airplay enable” your Ultra by plugging a WiiM Mini into it as that supports airplay and that might then be visible to Roon along with the C5As.

 

[GimmeShelter]

Can you group the existing C5As in Roon using them as airplay endpoints? If so, you could “airplay enable” your Ultra by plugging a WiiM Mini into it as that supports airplay and that might then be visible to Roon along with the C5As.

Yeah I can group all the C5As together.

Would be good to get confirmation that this would work with the mini plugged into the Ultra.

 

[GimmeShelter]

I’ve got an old Apple TV i no longer use, I wonder if i connect that to the Ultra it could then group together?

 

[Burnside]

I’ve got an old Apple TV i no longer use, I wonder if i connect that to the Ultra it could then group together?

Worth a try