Multi-room - what do I need?

[Number18]

Hi
New here and this is my first post! Any help appreciated!

I currently have a new (this year) amp in the lounge, which is a Yamaha RN-800a, hooked up to a CD player and turntable, and wired to passive speakers (Linton 85s).

I want a multi room set up, which the RN-800a amp is set up for Yamaha's MusicCast system. However, I'm reluctant to go down this path for various reasons (eg limited MusicCast speaker options).

What I want is speakers is a multi-room set up, eg lounge and kitchen.

In order to get to this point using a WiiM product, do I just need a WiiM and speakers in the kitchen that can receive from the RN-800a? Or do I need a WiiM hooked up to the RN-800a to emit a signal to the WiiM in the kitchen?

Slightly separately, simply relating to how the WiiM products work:
Can I hook up passive speakers direct a WiiM? Or would passive speakers need an amp and a WiiM?
if it was active speakers instead would it be just WiiM and active speakers required?

 

[Mr_J]

Wiim Amp with passive speakers or Wiim device and active/powered speakers for the none Yamaha rooms. You would also need a Wiim device plugged into your Yamaha, this way each room could play its own music OR if grouped then all would play the same tunes as they'd be slaved (via wifi) to say the device attached to the Yamaha.

 

[Number18]

Excellent, thank you! Much more concise than my questions!

 

[Number18]

Wiim Amp with passive speakers or Wiim device and active/powered speakers for the none Yamaha rooms. You would also need a Wiim device plugged into your Yamaha, this way each room could play its own music OR if grouped then all would play the same tunes as they'd be slaved (via wifi) to say the device attached to the Yamaha.

Might be a daft question: if active speakers in kitchen (or any other room) with the WiiM, do they need to be connected by cable or can they be wireless?

 

[Burnside]

Might be a daft question: if active speakers in kitchen (or any other room) with the WiiM, do they need to be connected by cable or can they be wireless?

They need to be cabled to a WiiM device over an analog or digital connection, or have a compatible Linkplay module in them, like Audio Pro and others have. Being wireless doesn’t imply any kind of compatibility

 

[Number18]

Last question, I think!
We've established I need x2 WiiM devices, one in lounge connected to main system, and one in kitchen connected to kitchen speakers.

From what I've read, the Pro Plus seems like the best one for me (compared to the Pro).
As I need x2, if I had a Pro Plus at one end (lounge or kitchen) and a Pro at the other, is there an ideal way around to do this? Or by having x1 of them a Pro, am I reducing the benefit of having a Pro Plus at the other end (like having a great amp but average speakers, or vice versa)?

 

[Mr Ee]

I very much doubt it'll be the last question!!

I'll throw a spanner in the works...
Your turntable, currently going into the Yamaha - is it going into the Phono input? Do you want to be able to have this play in the 2nd room too?

Essentially, if you want the audio in the two "wiim" rooms to be in sync then you'll have to use a wiim as the music source.
i.e. you'd cast spotify, tidal etc. etc to the wiim and stop using the yamaha as a streamer.
This is because when wiims are in a group, to allow them to play the same music simultaneously this grouping introduces an unavoidable delay.
If you were to take the yamaha line out into the wiim line in then the grouped wiims would introduce a delay before the other wiim got the signal, so the yahama fed speakers would get the sound before the 2nd wiim fed speakers.
I'm aware there is low latency grouping on its way, but it may not be low enough to overcome this problem. (I didn't participate in that particular beta to try it out.)

 

[Wiimer]

I very much doubt it'll be the last question!!

I'll throw a spanner in the works...
Your turntable, currently going into the Yamaha - is it going into the Phono input? Do you want to be able to have this play in the 2nd room too?

Essentially, if you want the audio in the two "wiim" rooms to be in sync then you'll have to use a wiim as the music source.
i.e. you'd cast spotify, tidal etc. etc to the wiim and stop using the yamaha as a streamer.
This is because when wiims are in a group, to allow them to play the same music simultaneously this grouping introduces an unavoidable delay.
If you were to take the yamaha line out into the wiim line in then the grouped wiims would introduce a delay before the other wiim got the signal, so the yahama fed speakers would get the sound before the 2nd wiim fed speakers.
I'm aware there is low latency grouping on its way, but it may not be low enough to overcome this problem. (I didn't participate in that particular beta to try it out.)

Yamaha RN-800a outputs are pre-out, so it may not be possible to output simultaneously with speakers. (need to check.)


@Number18,
If you want to play CD and TT music in two rooms at the same time, you would need to connect everything to the WiiM input and the WiiM output to the receiver input. In that case you would need a phono amp or Ultra.

 

[Number18]

Thinking about it, I reckon it would just be streaming for multi room. I prefer to actively listen to CDs and vinyl.
In which case I'd use the WiiM as the streamer in order to get the rooms in sync.
On that basis, is there any advantage / disadvantage to having one Pro Plus and one Pro?
I'm thinking the Pro Plus for the Lintons and Pro for whatever I get for the kitchen (currently thinking a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 12.1).

 

[Mr Ee]

What amp do you have / are you thinking about for the Diamonds, being passive speakers?
imo, the pro's analog output is just so-so - if it were me I'd spring for two pro plusses unless the amp had a decent dac.
But hey, it's not my money I'm spending here!