How do I hook up airport express to stream music to home stereo?

Please check out the following Apple Support article on how to set up an 802.11n AirPort Express Base Station (AXn) to receive an iTunes stream from your iOS devices using AirPlay.

Ok, please give this one a look instead.

I don't have airplay speakers or receiver; just a plain old receiver and speakers.

By connecting the AXn to either a pair of self-powered speakers or to an audio receiver, the AXn is performing as AirPlay speakers.

If I plug the airport express into the wall, and run the 3.5mm/RCA cable to one of the inputs of my receiver, what do I need to do next?

Your iOS device will need to connect to the wireless network provided by the AXn, and then, you would (for example) use the Music app to stream from the iOS to the AXn.

The AXn can be configured to join the existing home wireless network so that you can both access the Internet and stream simultaneously.

March 2008

Tesserax, You say the AXn can be configured to join the home wireless network and then I can stream music and access the internet simultaneously. When I install the airport utility and it detects the express device (connected to the stereo speakers) it automatically makes it a new network (and I cannot stream music and use the internet simultaneously). How can I install AXn such that it becomes part of the existing home wireless network (rather than a new, separate network)? I'm running windows 7 on a relatively new laptop. thanks

By default the Wireless Mode = Create a wireless network. You want to switch it to equal "Join a wireless network." You will find this option in the AirPort Utility, as follows: AirPort Utility > Select the AirPort > Manual Setup > AirPort > Wireless tab

Thanks. Unfortunately, I cannot even get to manual setup. When I select manual setup I get a message "are you sure you want to switch networks, setting up this device requires switching networks which may interrupt your internet connection". If I say cancel, I cannot move forward. If I say yes, it takes some time to detect the apple device (at which time my home network is no longer connected and the wifi icon shows the apple device as being "connected" but with an exclamation mark). Then I get an error message "An error occured trying to access apple wireless device - make sure your network connection is valid.

Is there a way to get into the manual setup BEFORE it tries to detect the device? If not, I'm not seeing how this will work.

Again, thanks for your help!!

When I select manual setup I get a message "are you sure you want to switch networks, setting up this device requires switching networks which may interrupt your internet connection".

The "correct" answer is "yes" to switching networks. That is because, by default, the AirPort Express is broadcasting its own wireless network. In order to access it with the AirPort Utility, you either need to connect to its network OR temporarily connect your PC to it using an Ethernet cable.

I do say yes, then it attempts to communicate with the device and times out with an error message "an error occurred tyring to access apple wireless network, make sure your network connection is valid". Its AXn utility detected the AXn, yet it cannot access it. I believe this all has to do with the fact that the AXn is flashing amber! I have tried to reset the AXn, reset my modem/router, plugged directly from AXn into my router, plugged directly into my computer (per your advice above). Nothing is changing the amber flashing. I had one of these last year (that finally fried) and it worked fine. I'm thinking that perhaps I have a faulty unit. Thanks for all your help. If you have any advice to get the amber to turn to green, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm heading to the apple store. Best.

It's probably safe to bet at this point in time that the AirPort may be faulty and I would go with your recommendation to get a replacement.