Sound Drop Out When Attempting to Use Multiple Speakers

Disclaimer: I've spent 3-4 hours searching for the answer, so - I'm posting another "Sound Drop Out" thread.. sorry!

I have 1 new AirPort Extreme, and 3 Expresses. I can stream music to one at a time without much problem. As soon as I try to go to more than 1 the sound gets very, very choppy (this includes 1 airport express and the computer speakers).

My iTunes library is on a USB airport disk shared from the Extreme.

I see many posts about not being able to connect to multiple speakers with Leopard 10.5.1 (which I am using) - but I am not getting the error messages those people are seeing. Also, my firewall is configured correctly.

My network is well within 150ft. The extreme is creating a network, and all the expresses are configured to join the network. I thought of setting up a WDS network, but would this be worth the trouble (I am having problems getting it configured correctly)?

I doubt signal strength is a problem. If I can stream to the express alone, why cant I play to the express and the computer speakers simultaneously? That wouldn't have anything to do with the wireless network signal strength?

Looking forward to your suggestions. I'm spending way too much time getting this to work. Apple is supposed to "just work" -right? LOL.

Posted on Dec 11, 2007 10:23 AM

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1 reply

Jan 27, 2008 8:41 PM in response to Destin Hoffmann

I think this has to do with the airport scanning for different networks. I have 2 airport express stations hooked up in different rooms, and the speakers drop out all the time. It *****.

But when I watch the airport on my laptop (streaming the music), the time counter next to the airport icon goes away momentarily. I think it's somehow disconnected from the network, or is scanning networks.

There are a number of posts regarding the airport constantly scanning networks, but I haven't found anything yet that helps keep the airport connected. It definitely seems to be worse in the evenings when a lot of people are using their computers.

When your speakers drop out, do the numbers next to the airport icon (on the serving computer) freeze or disappear?

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Sound Drop Out When Attempting to Use Multiple Speakers

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