WiiM Mini with Echo 4th Gen to create WiiM Group with Pro Plus

[Erebus]

After much deliberation and some excellent advice from fellow Forum members, I've just taken advantage of the Prime Day deals and ordered a WiiM Mini together with an Echo 4th Gen Speaker, which is currently discounted by a massive 53%! So together with the generous WiiM discount and some Amazon credit I've been saving, I managed to get both units for AUD$167 with free delivery!

The idea is to use the Echo as a supplementary speaker in our living area as our Q Acoustics speakers do not face our main listening area. Doing it with the WiiM Mini and the Echo connected via the 3.5 audio cable offers me a (hopefully) foolproof and simple way to create a Group in the WHA, meaning everything played through my WiiM Pro Plus will play on the Echo simultaneously. My technical capabilities leave a lot to be desired, so this seemed like a simple and affordable option. Originally I had hoped to buy a WiiM Sound Speaker, but they are still not available and I fear their price may be somewhat prohibitive for my limited budget.

Does anyone else here have the same or similar setup? I'm always keen to hear constructive feedback, advice and suggestions.

 

[Burnside]

Using the Echo's line-in from a Mini linked in the WHA to a Pro Plus isn't too far removed from me using a WiiM Pro feeding two Echo Plus speakers which works well.

If you have the Echo in an Alexa device/room group with the Pro Plus and Mini defined under the group's speakers setting, you should be able to use voice control to play Alexa supported services on the speaker setup assuming you have enabled Alexa in the Wiim Home app for your each of your WiiMs.

 

[Erebus]

If you have the Echo in an Alexa device/room group

Thank you for the info. Much appreciated.

I got the WiiM Mini as well so that I can create the Group from the link icon in WHA, which seems a much simpler option. I do use Alexa from the Pro Plus remote mic, but mostly just to ask it to play our local radio station, which works really well. We have a local app in Australia called RadioApp, which is built-in to Google and Alexa devices, so all you have to say is Play the particular radio station, and after asking for your postcode (only the first time) it plays the local station you've requested, with Alexa saying, playing .... from RadioApp.

 

[Erebus]

To those who understand these things better than me, given I intend to use the Mini and the Echo in a WiiM Group with the Pro Plus, are there any special settings required when setting up the WiiM Mini? For example, do I select WiFi for Input given I assume it will receive its input that way from the Pro Plus? I understand that Output will be Aux/Line for the connection to the Echo speaker, but what do I set for Vrms etc?

Basically, what I am hoping to achieve is that everything played through the Pro Plus - CDs, Streaming, Local Files - will also be played through the Echo simultaneously, but I've not located any specific instructions for this particular scenario per se, hence my queries here.

 

[Burnside]

To those who understand these things better than me, given I intend to use the Mini and the Echo in a WiiM Group with the Pro Plus, are there any special settings required when setting up the WiiM Mini? For example, do I select WiFi for Input given I assume it will receive its input that way from the Pro Plus? I understand that Output will be Aux/Line for the connection to the Echo speaker, but what do I set for Vrms etc?

The WiiM Mini will automatically choose WiFi as its input when it’s a secondary device in the group. I haven’t seen input impedance mentioned for an echo device but if you find leaving it at is default 2vrms causes distortion when you play at a reasonable volume, then try reducing it to 1Vrms or less.

Basically, what I am hoping to achieve is that everything played through the Pro Plus - CDs, Streaming, Local Files - will also be played through the Echo simultaneously, but I've not located any specific instructions for this particular scenario per se, hence my queries here.

You’re basically using your Echo as a dumb powered speaker connected to your Mini, so there won’t be specific instructions per se. You should however check in the Alexa app under the echo device’s settings (under the cog which appears on the pop up page when you select the echo from the main device page) that its aux audio is set to line-in. You should also be able to control its volume from the buttons on the echo, so it’s probably better that you set this at its max and control the mini’s volume from the WiiM home app.

 

[Erebus]

Thank you, @Burnside, that is excellent information and very helpful. So the Pro Plus and the Mini connect via WiFI?

 

[Burnside]

Thank you, @Burnside, that is excellent information and very helpful. So the Pro Plus and the Mini connect via WiFI?

Yeah, if you link them in the WiiM home app, first selecting the Pro Plus as the group primary device then link the mini which makes it a secondary group device, any audio sent to the primary device is delivered over your home network to all secondary group devices.

 

[Erebus]

selecting the Pro Plus as the group primary device

I've been reading the WiiM Support documentation and was curious about Persistent Grouping. Is that something I would need to do, or will using the link icon be sufficient? Does the linking remain using this method or do you have to do it every time to start playing something?

 

[Mr Ee]

I've been reading the WiiM Support documentation and was curious about Persistent Grouping. Is that something I would need to do, or will using the link icon be sufficient? Does the linking remain using this method or do you have to do it every time to start playing something?

The wiims should remain in a linked group until you unlink them (unless you power them off).
Persistent groups are useful as a 'shortcut' way to play to different sets of wiims.
As you have two wiims you'll be able to have at most one persistent group.
Might still be worthwhile setting up the persistent group as you can then easily choose either wiim individually or both grouped without having to keep on going back to the link screen to group / ungroup them.

 

[Erebus]

The wiims should remain in a linked group until you unlink them

That's great. Thank you for the clarification.

 

[Wiimer]

I've been reading the WiiM Support documentation and was curious about Persistent Grouping. Is that something I would need to do, or will using the link icon be sufficient? Does the linking remain using this method or do you have to do it every time to start playing something?

When you create a persistent group, the group name will appear in the device list in Spotify connect, allowing you to switch directly between group and standalone devices.

If you mainly use group playback, I recommend add a numeric prefix such as "01" to the beginning of the group name. This will make it easier for the group to appear at the top of the device list.

 

[Mr Ee]

If you mainly use group playback, I recommend add a numeric prefix such as "01" to the beginning of the group name. This will make it easier for the group to appear at the top of the device list.

Only applies to people like you (us) with a plethora of wiims.

 

[Erebus]

If you mainly use group playback

Thank you for your suggestions. I'm still learning how this Group thing works and don't have the new WiiM yet to test. But I plan to see how it goes using the link icon from the Pro Plus now playing card, which seems simple enough to do - even for me! However, if that doesn't work as planned I shall investigate the persistent group option, which seems a little more complex as it uses presets which I have also never used.

 

[Mr Ee]

Thank you for your suggestions. I'm still learning how this Group thing works and don't have the new WiiM yet to test. But I plan to see how it goes using the link icon from the Pro Plus now playing card, which seems simple enough to do - even for me! However, if that doesn't work as planned I shall investigate the persistent group option, which seems a little more complex as it uses presets which I have also never used.

Indeed, wait for the mini and see what suits you, but there's no need for presets to use groups.

 

[Wiimer]

Thank you for your suggestions. I'm still learning how this Group thing works and don't have the new WiiM yet to test. But I plan to see how it goes using the link icon from the Pro Plus now playing card, which seems simple enough to do - even for me! However, if that doesn't work as planned I shall investigate the persistent group option, which seems a little more complex as it uses presets which I have also never used.

Ah.. I must tell you that persistent groups don't work with presets by Spotify yet. Both persistent group and smart presets are still developing features.

 

[Erebus]

no need for presets to use groups.

Ah, okay. I probably read too much of the documentation and confused myself!

 

[Erebus]

persistent groups don't work with presets by Spotify yet.

Noted, thank you. The link icon option looks like it's the way I should go.

 

[Wiimer]

I probably didn't explain it well enough, so I'll add to it.

If you register a preset while playing Spotify in a persistent group, the group structure cannot be saved. For this reason, you cannot link groups using presets.

However, if a group is already linked, you can press the Preset button to play with that group.

Normally, this will not cause any problems.

 

[Erebus]

Normally, this will not cause any problems

Okay. I don't really understand this Spotify thing you speak of, but I just plan to play everything through the Pro Plus with the WiiM Mini and the Echo as a permanently connected/linked additional speaker. I understand that using the link icon in the Pro Plus will enable me to do this. I don't plan on doing anything else at this stage.

 

[Erebus]

Well the WiiM Mini arrived today. Have to say though that I'm more than a little disappointed that the USB Power Adaptor is no longer included. Box says inclusion varies by region. So not only do we pay a premium for WiiM products here in Australia, now they are removing previously included accessories for us as well.