Novice here. After becoming frustrated by repeated dropouts in my SBT/Roon/Tidal system I decided to activate an unused Apple Airport Extreme as an extender of my home wifi network, and to hardwire the SBT into this extender via ethernet cable. I created a new zone in Roon and Roon recognizes the extender and its new zone. On screen, all looks perfect: When I choose the new zone and play something my Roon screen tells me it’s playing, but I hear nothing.
The technique for hardwiring an SBT, according to the old Logitech forum, requires having everything running through LMS, and naturally I’ve deactivated it in order to use Roon.
I’ve rebooted the SBT a few times.
Roon Core is on a laptop, and when I choose Ethernet on the SBT settings it automatically defaults to my laptop via streaming.
of course you can. You just need to set the SBT up to connect to your network and get an IP address from your DHCP server (which is usually part and parcel of your broadband router).
Thanks for the response…Have just tried that but it seems that the SBT has to run through LMS in order to work. I get message: Cannot connect…make sure LMS is currently running.
And I assume that I get it to connect to my network by “adding another library” and typing in the IP address of my server there?
User the Touch’s screen to navigate to networking, ensure LMS is not running and that Squeezebox support is enabled in Roon then have the Touch connect to the wired network. It should find Roon masquerading as LMS and connect to it.
I was able to do all of that before making my post. That is, Roon recognized my new zone and it appeared that everything was working but I couldn’t hear anything.
Was making a new zone for the hardwired connection necessary?
So, oddly, I’ve gotten the SBT to connect to the ethernet but now when I go to Settings in Roon under my new zone Roon crashes…so I can’t access the settings choices. One step forward, two steps back!
Yeah, so it looks like Roon has identified this new zone’s output as “Airplay Streaming”, which would mean the Airport is outputting only through the 1/8th" output and USB but not communicating with the SBT via ethernet cable. Could that be right?
And to be more clear, if I go to Settings>Audio>Networked>extender settings (the gears next to my Airplay Enabled Device) and hit the gears, Roon crashes.
I reconfigured the Airport Express to act as a bridge rather than extender but still no luck. The SBT is refusing to connect to the ethernet. Am beginning to conclude that the Airport Express is the weak link?
In the course of supporting our microRendu and sonicTransporter products I do a lot of network support on customers networks. I have found Apple network products to be the cause of many of the networking problems that users have. They have a way of 1/2 bridging networks so some protocols work and some do not.
This can be very frustrating.
I would recommend getting rid of your Airport and replacing it with inexpensive HomePlug adapters. There will solve your problems now and keep you from having problems in the future.
I’ve looked into homeplugs but have not yet tried them. I live in an 80 yr old house w lots of original wiring, seems that it would not be the best solution, unless I’m mistaken. Seems that most who find success w homeplugs are in relatively new homes. But if you think this would be the best course of action, better than an extender, I may just roll the dice.
Also, TBH I’ve been considering purchasing a microRendu to replace the SBT. May I conclude that you advocate using homeplugs instead of inexpensive wifi extenders/bridges? Thanks in advance.
Yes I always recommend HomePlug over WiFI extenders. Wifi extenders cause nothing but problems. HomePlug almost always works even in old homes.
This is one of the best. It’s the new A/V homeplug spec. Very good for audio.
It’s from Amazon so you can send it back if it wasn’t work for you.
Although the best recommendation I can give you it to get an electrician to run Cat6 Ethernet to your listening room. For around $150 it will completely eliminate all networking problems.
The microRendu + a good USB DAC would be a big upgrade over your SBT.
Hear, hear once more. This is not an empty phrase, but very sound advice. In my experience, a solid, well-cabled network is the only road to enjoy networked media reliably trouble free.
exactly, one of the benefits the house I bought was the original owner built a central closet with conduit running to all the other parts of the house. He had an intricate video cable splitter system with COAx running everhwnere, first thing I did was run ethernet everywhere through the conduits and out to wall plates, replacing the coax wall plates.
I’ve ordered my microRendu. One concern: I have a Marantz 8005 and have been using the onboard DAC via Coax for listening with the SBT. The USB input on the Marantz is notoriously touchy about what’s on the other side. Will I have any issues with the microrendu and the Marantz?
Also, I’ve installed the HomePlugs…have been frustrated by further issues with Roon not being able to find the SBT through ethernet. Still searching for an answer.