Thanks for the info. My issue with cable runs is my house. It has a low style roof and I recently had all available space in the attic consumed by AC duct work for a 3 zoned distribution system. We live in Texas, so good AC takes precedent over everything else. And the house is on a slab foundation so there is no room above or below to run cables. I’m going for the Nuc platform in the media closet. Everything in one place except for the speakers. I went through a 500’ spool of 12 gauge speaker wire getting the living room wired up for a 7.2.4 setup. Ran the shielded speaker and sub cables in the indirect lighting spaces near the ceiling. The Roon Ready speaker systems in the other rooms will all be wireless. Or at least that is what I’m thinking. Thanks again…
My wife is agreeing on the Roon Music Server setup so I can listen to music through out the house and she can enjoy it as well. But she would not go for me having headphones on all the time. Thanks.
Hi Mike,
If headphone is not possible then you could look at portable speakers like the Bose Soundwear, that are placed over your shoulders and allow you to hear music while still be free to hear any one speaking with you.
hope this opens some possibilities
Filipe
Given your aural afflictions I won’t whine about my tinnitus any more!! It does prove that whistling ears don’t prevent you from enjoying good audio.
My ROON endpoints are scattered around the house too. I us power line Ethernet connection (ie thru the 240AC wiring) and with the latest kit the connections are solid, but I have never actually measured bandwidth.
Cheers
Thanks David for that information. I’d not heard of Power Line Ethernet connections and that sounds very interesting. I’m curious now if that would work with the media closet on a separate circuit. Will check into that. Thanks again.
I think Powerline is a very good option for you @Mike_LC but with your separate circuits you’ll have to test and YMMV. The official “word” as far as I understand it is Powerline units should be used on the same circuit but in general they will work across circuit breakers if the wiring is good, distance isn’t too far and there are no devices causing bad electrical interference. The things that are most likely to block the Powerline signals are EMI (electro-magnetic interference) and RFI (radio frequency interference) protectors.
I’ve used the product below from Netgear and it’s been very solid. 2G speed, 2 network connectors and you don’t lose a power outlet.
Of course there are quite a few good options out there so this isn’t the only one.
They can work but also can cause problems. Roon knowledge base
Ethernet Over Power (EoP)
The quality of Ethernet Over Power solutions varies quite a bit, and generally it will be less reliable than Ethernet. There are times it can work well, but if you’re having a problem and powerline ethernet is involved, we recommend temporarily replacing the ethernet over power connection with a real ethernet cable to see if things improve.
Thanks Craig and Ged for the information. I do like the possibility of using powerline Ethernet between the router and endpoints assuming the original signal quality was maintained. Infrequent interruptions to individual locations might be acceptable if that was my only choice. But interference, interruptions or degraded signal between the core and router could eliminate the benefits of using the music server. This information has provided additional options to consider. Thanks again.
I used these for quite a while with high end endpoint and speakers in a pool house until I could get a hardwired connection there. Never had any problem with them. Good luck!
I had powerline but had problems so moved to a mesh wireless network and it works so much better. For me, YMMV.
My office is not easy to get a wire run to. I will eventually tackle it but in the short term I tried out some tp link powerline adapters. They were ok, but would occasionally wedge up. I’ve switched to Moca adapters and get better throughput and better reliability.
I can vouch for the Nucleus. I have the basic one and it seems absolutely fine.
Ethernet over power can also cause audio interference on sensitive kit. It used to interfere with my Phono stage when I used them. Your better using a more robust wireless system such as ones from Unifi than using EoP.
Consider mesh wifi. MoCA works better than EOP, but not much. IME, the modules crap out over time.
Thanks to everyone that replied, much appreciated. I actually have a good wireless network. It doesn’t reach every inch of the house with the same signal strength but it does get the job done. Currently the PC running Roon is 60’ from the router and works 99 percent of the time. It pauses occasionally and I have to hit play to continue. It should be fine when I get the NUC in the media closet with Ethernet to the router. Thanks again.
For me it worked a lot better. Barely got 100mbps with EOP. With moca, 900+ mbps. And I’m pretty sure moca is full duplex, so faster than wifi on 2 counts.
MoCA worked good for me too (when it worked). I had two sets of modules fail on me. The mesh wifi has been great for me, although most of my key components are hard wired. 900mbps is impressive speed. Much better than what I’m getting.
Time will tell on how well these MoCA adapters work for me in terms of reliability. I’ve only had them a few months. I also like that the unit in my office has a built-in 4-port switch so that saves me from having to power a separate switch. FWIW, my devices are from actiontec. Glad you got something that’s working for you–not much is one-size-fits-all.
I have ordered the NUC kit for the media closet to wire the core to router. Will be ethernet or hdmi to the roon ready player in the main sound system and wireless to other endpoints. I am interested in getting the signals out to my shop. I read one post that mentioned a good signal with EOP out to the shop. If that will work going back through 3 breaker boxes I will be impressed. The power and cable drops originate next to the shop so maybe the moca or eop will get me there. Worth a try.
The NUC8I7BEH with Rock is up and running. Build and setup was easy enough following the instructions found on this site. Have the HDMI connection from NUC to OPPO player but haven’t been able to get that working yet. Enabled HDA Intel PCH HDMI0 and tried to select Device Setup - all remote devices lost connection. Apparently Roon disables the power button after it comes up and with no connection I could not shut it down. Had to pull the plug. It came back up ok. A little worried about trying that again.