Airplay with Bose Soundtouch speakers

Question

Level 1

10 points

Airplay with Bose Soundtouch speakers

I have just purchased a Bose Soundtouch speaker with Airplay. I find that when I use my IPad 2 (with IOS7) as an Airplay controller I get frequent breaks in the airplayed music. I have a dual-band router and I am beginning to wonder whether having the IPad on a 5GHz connection and the Bose on its 2.4GHz connection is the cause of the problem. I appreciate that the 5GHz band does not have the range of the 2.4GHz band so it could be an intermittent wifi connection issue. That said, I have not seen any indications on my IPad or Macbook of any loss of 5GHz band connectivity. I confess that I have no idea how Airplay works but I understand that Apple TV uses both wifi bands whereas the Bose does not. I should add that there are less interuptions to airplayed music when I switch the IPad to the 2.4GHz band. Grateful for any thoughts on whether this is just Airplay, a router issue or possibly a Bose speaker fault? Thanks.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7), Epson Printer

Posted on Dec 6, 2013 1:02 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Dec 12, 2013 3:25 AM in response to Lexden

I have had an issue with the Bose too. I have discovered also that it does not connect to a 5Ghz wifi signal which is very disappointing. I am streaming an Elgato TV signal from my iMac to our kitchen where there are many problems with interference from other equipment. Only yesterday I read this brilliant article on OsX Daily and have reset all of my wifi to 5Ghz as I have dual band on everything. The issues with the streaming of the Elagato TV signal are totally solved now as a result of me following the instructions in this article. However, I have the Bose still attached to a 2.4Ghz network and am still having the same issues. If I walk in front of the Bose the Airplay signal still drops out. I am horrified that a manufacturer like Bose who claim to be at the cutting edge of sound technology did not make this - or any of their Airplay devices capable of dual band connectivity. I am considering giving up on the Bose and an currently trying to find a good quality Airplay decide that WILL conenct to 5Ghz. I am speakming to the people at Bang and Olufsen at the moment about their Beolit 12 which looks a lovely speaker but nowehere in their documentation do they confirm whether it is capable of joining a 5Ghz wifi network. I will let you know. Meanwhile here is that awesome article which I used to clear up lots of the issues. Good luck.

http://osxdaily.com/2013/12/11/find-best-wi-fi-channel-wireless-tool-mac/

Reply

Answer 2

Lexden Author

Level 1

10 points

Dec 12, 2013 5:43 AM in response to Douglas Gillespie

Thanks Douglas. Like you, I find it frustrating that Bose does not offer a 5GHz connection option. Support say that 2.4GHz was chosen on the basis of range. I may be returning my SoundTouch as the lack of built in streaming services in the UK make AirPlay connectivity a must for me. A pity as it is a great speaker.

Reply