Referring to blog 019 - we ended up with a Denon RCD N7 Network CD Receiver (CEOL). I gave up on Sonos. I got real AirPlay instead. Now we can listen to music at places and by combinations I hadn't read myself to know. Let me go on from blog 019:
Denon RCD N7 (CEOL)
This was bought at Hi-Fi klubben here in Trondheim in July 2011. Bringing it home, the first non-power cable I connected was the home network's ethernet cable. Joy! The only cables I plugged out from the 20 years old Denon Precision Audio Component / AM-FM Stereo Receiver DRA-335R were analogue. It has been tired some years now, together with the Denon PCM Audio Technology / Compact Disc Player DCD-680. Both were also bought at HiFiKlubben back then, and will now be stacked on the loft. Hard to scrap a friend.
The Ceol took charge and asked me if I wanted to update its firmware. Yes, I did - and it did the job in some 30 minutes.
I had bought the thing for its AirPlay capability (there are plenty other nice boxes without), and went to http://www.denon.eu/airplay/en/. First I had to pick out our unit's serial number, MAC address and upgrade ID. Paying with PayPal has always been a pleasure, so I expected the Ceol to be my everything's remote speaker any minute. For 48€ I thought it should. It didn't. Even if I got a receipt that all was fine - and in the background: Apple had got their licence fee. Since I get a salary every month I don't protest if others want some, even if they put it in the bank.
The Ceol told me I could upgrade with AirPort, ok. I pushed the right menu entries, and it said Authenticating for a minute, an hour, a night. All it accepts then is a power off, so I retried. Nope. A letter to HiFiKlubben and a reply from support adviced me to restart to factory settings. The updated firmware and the 48€ investment should be fine. In the manual it's called "Resetting the microprocessor: unplug the power cord, then hold volume up and down simultaneously and plug in the cable, then release the buttons". However, I used the slightly different procedure in the support email: "Total reset (to factory settings out of the box / virgin mode) 1. Switch Off the unit and unplug mains plug from wall outlet. 2. Press and hold both Volume up and Cursor down buttons on the front panel and plug the mains plug into the wall outlet. 3. Release the two buttons."
This worked perfectly (as probably would have the manual's recipe?): AirPlay soon was in the box. And everywhere! Running Apple's Remote app on the iPad now, the iTunes library comes up as usual, but both the Ceol and the computer come up! I get "surround sound" that I did't know. The tv speakers with nice bass sound (from JackOSX router on the Mac Mini, see blog 019) also appeared. And they are in phase (thanks to some clock synchronization messages in the AirPlay protocol I believe).
Now Gary Moore's Ballads & Blues 1982-1994 plays like music has never been heard in this house. At the moment: bliss.
Experience
After a month's use I'd say I'm pretty satisfied with AirPlay. But there are some repeating weak spots:
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Denon RCD N7 (CEOL)
This was bought at Hi-Fi klubben here in Trondheim in July 2011. Bringing it home, the first non-power cable I connected was the home network's ethernet cable. Joy! The only cables I plugged out from the 20 years old Denon Precision Audio Component / AM-FM Stereo Receiver DRA-335R were analogue. It has been tired some years now, together with the Denon PCM Audio Technology / Compact Disc Player DCD-680. Both were also bought at HiFiKlubben back then, and will now be stacked on the loft. Hard to scrap a friend.
The Ceol took charge and asked me if I wanted to update its firmware. Yes, I did - and it did the job in some 30 minutes.
I had bought the thing for its AirPlay capability (there are plenty other nice boxes without), and went to http://www.denon.eu/airplay/en/. First I had to pick out our unit's serial number, MAC address and upgrade ID. Paying with PayPal has always been a pleasure, so I expected the Ceol to be my everything's remote speaker any minute. For 48€ I thought it should. It didn't. Even if I got a receipt that all was fine - and in the background: Apple had got their licence fee. Since I get a salary every month I don't protest if others want some, even if they put it in the bank.
The Ceol told me I could upgrade with AirPort, ok. I pushed the right menu entries, and it said Authenticating for a minute, an hour, a night. All it accepts then is a power off, so I retried. Nope. A letter to HiFiKlubben and a reply from support adviced me to restart to factory settings. The updated firmware and the 48€ investment should be fine. In the manual it's called "Resetting the microprocessor: unplug the power cord, then hold volume up and down simultaneously and plug in the cable, then release the buttons". However, I used the slightly different procedure in the support email: "Total reset (to factory settings out of the box / virgin mode) 1. Switch Off the unit and unplug mains plug from wall outlet. 2. Press and hold both Volume up and Cursor down buttons on the front panel and plug the mains plug into the wall outlet. 3. Release the two buttons."
This worked perfectly (as probably would have the manual's recipe?): AirPlay soon was in the box. And everywhere! Running Apple's Remote app on the iPad now, the iTunes library comes up as usual, but both the Ceol and the computer come up! I get "surround sound" that I did't know. The tv speakers with nice bass sound (from JackOSX router on the Mac Mini, see blog 019) also appeared. And they are in phase (thanks to some clock synchronization messages in the AirPlay protocol I believe).
Now Gary Moore's Ballads & Blues 1982-1994 plays like music has never been heard in this house. At the moment: bliss.
Experience
After a month's use I'd say I'm pretty satisfied with AirPlay. But there are some repeating weak spots:
- Sound level at connection.
I still haven't figured out why it comes on with an enormous volume some times. So, if the amp is more powerful than the speakers, the AirPlay start-up volume may destroy your speakers! For me, it's ok, though. - Sound level up when down or down when up
The app volume control and the real volume may be out of synch before I have touch the app's volume control. So, when I try to push the volume down (from a shown high volume), it increases (from the unit's low volume) - so that the overall effect is increased volume! Aften that up is up and down is down. - Broken connection.
Some times one of the AirPlay "speakers" fall out, and I'd have to manually reconnect. - Speakers out of phase.
One time, while iTunes (version 10.4) converted a bunch of songs to mp3 (and was very busy in one of its "threads"), and it was playing a song simultaneously - the speakers went out of synch. I know this, since it was easy to hear. I would guess 50 ms since it was not that much. - "Connecting to AirPlay unit" when envisaged as already connected.
Every time I find a new melody it seems to disconnect and then needs some extra time to reconnect. I experience this as not necessary. - Outdated display.
I have seen Denon not display the present melody, when I played iTunes through the Remote app. Didn't iTunes send it, or didn't Denon update? It stayed with the other day's melody through a whole playing session. At the moment I dont't know what updates it.
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Hi,
ReplyDeleteTanks for this post. I had the same problem with "authenticating" message during the upgrade. You saved me hours of searching and contacting the support. Nice job!