Wiim Sound Lite 4-speaker setup for Retail Store?

[wts3849]

I apologize for my ignorance in advance as I am totally new to smart sound system.
I am thinking of buying 4 Sound Lite speakers for my 800 sq. ft. retail store. I am going to be streaming songs from my Windows laptop over Wifi.

My questions are:
1. Do I need any of the Wiim Amps to connect between the laptop and Sound Lite speakers? Or just Wiim app and Google Home should do it?
2. Is it possible to stream from Laptop? I can't seem to find Google Home app for Windows.
3. Is it possible to setup multiple stereo pairs? Like 2 sets of 2 speakers in stereo. Or maybe a 4-speaker surround setup without center and sub? I am asking because I saw many people saying linked multiple speakers won't sound as good as the stereo set.
4. Are there better options/recommendations for a retail setup? Wiim Sound Lite seems perfect for me because I won't have to run long speaker cables and I never liked bluetooth connections for streaming music.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mr Ee]

Welcome.

800 sq ft (75m2 ish)
I'd have thought each Sound Lite would be a reasonable distance from any other, so not sure how well stereo pairs would work.

1. You ought to be able to group all the wiims in the wiim app and then send the music to the group leader.
I don't see why you'd need Google involved.
Best to use android or ios for the wiim app rather than the windows (beta) wiim app.

2. Streaming from windows laptop - streaming what? Local music files (if so, what software to play them), radio, streaming services?
At the worst you could have the laptop audio out going to the group leader aux in, but all sounds (noises) from the laptop would play.

3. Multiple stereo pairs, yes, but see first comment.
You simply choose which wiim should play which channel(s). Choice of Left, Right, Left and Right.

4. Maybe!!

 

[Wiimer]

I apologize for my ignorance in advance as I am totally new to smart sound system.
I am thinking of buying 4 Sound Lite speakers for my 800 sq. ft. retail store. I am going to be streaming songs from my Windows laptop over Wifi.

My questions are:
1. Do I need any of the Wiim Amps to connect between the laptop and Sound Lite speakers? Or just Wiim app and Google Home should do it?
2. Is it possible to stream from Laptop? I can't seem to find Google Home app for Windows.
3. Is it possible to setup multiple stereo pairs? Like 2 sets of 2 speakers in stereo. Or maybe a 4-speaker surround setup without center and sub? I am asking because I saw many people saying linked multiple speakers won't sound as good as the stereo set.
4. Are there better options/recommendations for a retail setup? Wiim Sound Lite seems perfect for me because I won't have to run long speaker cables and I never liked bluetooth connections for streaming music.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

You don't need a WiiM Amp.

For using it as background music in a store, I recommend creating a group with four WiiM Sound Lite units and playing in all-stereo mode. Mono playback might be ideal, but to my knowledge, WiiM's multi-room group feature does not support mono playback.

You can't achieve surround sound playback with four WiiM Sound units. If your store has a TV and you want wireless surround sound playback, you will need either a WiiM Amp Pro, Amp Ultra, or Ultra. In this case, you also can't wirelessly use WiiM Sound units as front speakers. Alternatively, you will need passive speakers (or active speakers).

At my home, grouping five WiiM devices (including WiiM Sound and Lite) into one group for playback works well. If you encounter issues, I recommend connecting via Ethernet from your router or range extender.

This shows five WiiM devices grouped together in the WiiM Home app. Tapping the channel icon on the right side of each device lets you switch between L, R, or LR channels.

 

[Aquaman]

2. Is it possible to stream from Laptop? I can't seem to find Google Home app for Windows.


Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

If you want to stream from your laptop I recommend foobar2000. It has a UPnP casting feature as of late. You can choose the group leader Sound Lite as the output device in foobar. It works perfectly.

You will still need the WiiM Home App in order to set up and manage your speakers. But for daily use/playback foobar2000 will do the job.

 

[Aquaman]

This shows five WiiM devices grouped together in the WiiM Home app. Tapping the channel icon on the right side of each device lets you switch between L, R, or LR channels.

Doesn't 'LR' essentially mean mono? In the sense that this speaker will play both channels. I guess it will play in stereo regarding its own speaker system, but in the context of the group I consider this to be mono operation.

 

[Wiimer]

Doesn't 'LR' essentially mean mono? In the sense that this speaker will play both channels. I guess it will play in stereo regarding its own speaker system, but in the context of the group I consider this to be mono operation.

With regular speakers, that's how it works, but the WiiM Sound has two tweeters, with the left and right tweeters each reproducing the L/R channels.