When it’s not too cold or too hot I like to work on projects in my garage. These usually revolve around some vehicle related tasks but also include some furniture refinishing and repairs to household items. I like to listen to music while I’m tinkering.
A few years ago I rediscovered a set of Cambridge Soundworks outdoor speakers I purchased back in the '00s and never used. I also scrounged an unused Pyle 15W/channel amp I had laying about. A Amazon Echo Input (the one without a speaker) was enlisted as a source. At the time I subscribed to Pandora. Problem solved.
I gave up my Pandora subscription and moved to Amazon Music. After getting frustrated with the limitations of Amazon Music I unsub’d from that service, too. Finally I wound up on Roon and Tidal. Much happier now. Able to listen to my music and streaming music anywhere in the house. But not in the garage.
I already had the little amp and the relatively nice two way speakers setup at my workbench. The Echo Input was not going to work with Roon. I didn’t want to spend any money on solving this problem. After digging around in drawers and cabinets I came up with an unused first generation Chromecast dongle. How to recycle this for the garage system? Ironically (?) Amazon to the rescue. A $15 HDMI to composite video/analog audio converter was acquired. Both the dongle and the converter require a 5V power supply (no problem, I have lots of USB style 1A chargers). Plug the Chromecast dongle into the converter, plug the converter into the Pyle amp and…oh…you can’t use the Google Home app to configure a first generation Chromecast. Instead download the Google Utility App and initialize your ancient dongle. After that the Home App works fine. The dongle appears in Roon’s configuration and Voila! Roon in the garage. Total out of pocket (in this decade): $15.
The sound quality is perfectly adequate for the environment and listening levels. Now if I could only use Arc with Android Auto…
Link to HDMI converter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H2VKSPT?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
It’s significantly less deep than the sink, so it’s not a big problem. It’s a bit wider though, so there is some drips danger left and right, but doesn’t get really wet (I’m old enough to behave) and it has a rather sturdy-feeling coat of varnish. I can always repaint it or something if necessary. The grille fabric is water repellent, so I hope it stays clean for a while, but should be quick and cheap to replace if need be, now that the frame is built
