Connect a Denon AVR-X4000 pre-amp output to "unknown" converter, and then play sound across the LAN to an Airport Express W/speakers?

Question

Connect a Denon AVR-X4000 pre-amp output to "unknown" converter, and then play sound across the LAN to an Airport Express W/speakers?

I have an Airport Express wired to a couple nice Bose speakers. I have it setup so that it acts as a bridge, so it wirelessly connects to my TimeCaptule from anywhere on my LAN where I have a good signal. Now I would like to purchase a Denon AVR-X4000 AVR receiver. I would like to wire some kind of adaptor from the pre-amp output to something that could connect wirelessly to the Airport Express. Does anyone have a recommendation on such a device? It would have to be some kind of converter from a pre-amp input to a wired or wireless network. I have a switch nearby where I would plug in the Denon AVR receiver, where I have plenty of ports available.

Posted on Oct 7, 2013 6:55 PM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

157,896 points

Oct 7, 2013 6:58 PM in response to Bruce Speidel

I'm not aware of any device that you fit your needs, but why not connect an optical digital audio cable between the Express base station's audio port and the Denon, and then, connect the Bose Speakers to Denon's dedicated speaker connectors?

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Answer 2

Oct 7, 2013 7:10 PM in response to Tesserax

That won't work in my situation. I usually put my Airport Express and bose speakers out on my deck, which is 50' or so from my living room. It is in the living room where I would like to put the Denon AVR-X4000. It would be next to impossible to wire a speaker through my house to this area! That is why I use the Airport Express. It has been really nice to use iTunes and the iPad/iPhone to send the sound from these devices across the air wirelessly to anywhere in my home. So long as I have a fair WAN signal, I'm good to put it anywhere there is power.

My thought would be to put on an album or CD in my living room connected to the AVR-X4000 and then use Zone 2 or Zone 3 to play the music to the Airport Extreme acting as a bridge. (By the way, the networking was pretty easy to setup that it connects wirelessly back to my time captule).

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

157,896 points

Oct 7, 2013 7:26 PM in response to Bruce Speidel

Nice AVR by the way!

I had a number of Denon AVR products a few years back before AirPlay was available so using a digital optical audio cable from an Express was my only option to stream from iTunes.

I see that your Denon is AirPlay-Ready and has an Ethernet connection. It of course can then receive AirPlay streams as long as it has network access. It could get access by either an Ethernet connection or by using a wireless Ethernet bridge. Btw, the AirPort Extreme cannot perform this function; only the 802.11n Express base stations support this. Apple calls this configuration a ProxySTA.

I still am not sure how you would get any of the zone audio data to the Extreme or any wireless router as I don't believe the Denon's zone output ports carry the AirPlay protocol. Sorry I'm not much help here.

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