Airplay breaks up when using multiple speakers

Question

Level 1

4 points

Airplay breaks up when using multiple speakers

Does anyone else have airplay quality issues, when using multiple speakers ?

I stream from the Mac to an AppleTV2, and to Airport Express. When streaming to one, or the other, the stream is OK and good to listen to.

When I stream to both ATV2 and AEx I get broken streams and it sounds awful - chopppy every minute or so at random intervals and differently on both speakers ( i.e. when its choppy or missing on one, the other might be good to listen to)

I've noticed too that if I listen on the mac and am also streaming to either ATV2 or AEx then I get same choppy sound on the airplay speakers ( but never on the mac)

I've tried all sorts to fix it... I am running a Thomson TG587n series router with wireless n enabled.

airplay-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Dec 7, 2011 10:00 AM

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Answer 1

RacoonCreek Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 10, 2011 3:56 AM in response to RacoonCreek

Latest attempt at fix : Experimenting with using an Airport Extreme as the wireless interface. I will bridge the AExtreme, connect into my thomson587n router by cable, and turn off the wifi from my thomson587n

I am suspecting that the router is my problem... perhaps it can't stream enough content to keep two airplay devices fed with enough data.

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Answer 2

Dec 12, 2011 3:19 AM in response to RacoonCreek

Hi! I'm having problems streaming to multiple speakers, too.

My setup is as follows:

- iMac connected via ethernet to Time Capsule (my main router).

- Airport Express extending Wireless LAN

- Speaker A connected via USB to iMac

- Speaker B connected via TOSlink to Airport Express

- Airport Express and Time Capsule software is the current release.

While streaming from my iMac to either one of the speakers, everything is fine. But when streaming to both speakers and doing heavy scrolling and graphics intensive stuff like browsing pictures in Aperture, I hear various clicks and gaps in the local output on speaker A. It's no fun listening to this.

The stream to B does not stop while doing this - it plays fine.

Then, when I select only local playback on speaker A everything is fine. No clicking sounds while doing scrolling, browsing, etc.

I've already sent a bug report to Apple - but no response yet.

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Answer 3

RacoonCreek Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 13, 2011 12:59 AM in response to RacoonCreek

I've fixed my problem - Buying an Airport Extreme has improved the data rate ( but not signal strength) to the devices on my wireless network.

I have my

ADSL line from ISP connected to the modem router (aka Thomson TG587nv2 but flashed with ISPs firmware)
ethernet cable connected from ethernet port on ISP modem/router to WAN port on Airport Extreme
Airport extreme is in bridge mode
Wireless is disabled on my ISP modem/router
Airport extreme is enabled on full power 100% wireless strength and Wide Channels is selected

Pumping great sound to all devices. Party on. I get 5Mb delivered to the most distant device, 60Mb delivered to one that is a little closer.

Next step (unrelated to airplay) is to get a modem only solution and ditch the O2 ISP modem/router/firmware, so that I use more of the Airport Extreme features.

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Answer 4

Jun 20, 2012 6:09 AM in response to RacoonCreek

Hey there!

I solved my problem too. Airport Express is now wired to my Time Capsule. All fine ever since.. 😉

The problem was that the WiFi signal just couldn't really get through the thick walls in my flat. Another router might have solved the Airplay issue, but as I'm using Apple TV and streaming HD content stuttered from time to time, I think this is the most future-proof solution.

Regards

Alex

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