detlef Posted April 5, 2007 Share Posted April 5, 2007 So, based on montster's suggestion about playing itunes through my stereo wirelessly using Airport Express, I went to the local Mac Store to see if it would work for me. My issue is that I don't use an Airport base station, rather an SMC wireless router. The guy at the store said the Airport Express would find it anyway and I'd be in business. That doesn't seem to be the case and all the set up assistants are all referring to hooking up my Airport Base Station, (something I obviously don't have). Are any of you running itunes through an Airport Express without using an Airport Base Station? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted April 5, 2007 Share Posted April 5, 2007 You may find an answer here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonorator Posted April 5, 2007 Share Posted April 5, 2007 i have an express and a base station, but you don't need both. i set up my parents with just an express and it works fine. you definitely do not need a base station for the express to function. what is more likely happening is that the settings for your SMC and for your express are not happy with each other (my guess). i'd check the protocol settings for both to make sure they are consistent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted April 5, 2007 Author Share Posted April 5, 2007 i have an express and a base station, but you don't need both. i set up my parents with just an express and it works fine. you definitely do not need a base station for the express to function. what is more likely happening is that the settings for your SMC and for your express are not happy with each other (my guess). i'd check the protocol settings for both to make sure they are consistent. OK, so I got into the set up assistant and I think I got it hooked up because the light on the Airport Express is solid green. Also, in itunes, the option now appears in the bottom right to choose "Living Room" which is the name I gave it. However, when I choose it, I get the candy stripe progress bar, nothing seems to happen and then it kicks off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montster Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 OK, so I got into the set up assistant and I think I got it hooked up because the light on the Airport Express is solid green. Also, in itunes, the option now appears in the bottom right to choose "Living Room" which is the name I gave it. However, when I choose it, I get the candy stripe progress bar, nothing seems to happen and then it kicks off. i have the airport express and a belkin wireless router. i remember having problems setting it up, too, but that was three years ago, so i don't remember everything i did. one question: is the airport express located in a place that would have a solid connection to your wireless network? because like twiley's link says, when you're streaming music, the AE goes into client mode. so if the AE is too far away from your router to get a good signal, it won't work to stream music. in most houses, that's not a problem, but thought i'd bring it up. when you go into the Airport Admin Utility on your mac, does it show the name of your wireless network? when i first set it up, i found a pretty good step by step guide online. i'll try to find it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted April 6, 2007 Author Share Posted April 6, 2007 I got it to work. But it cuts out from time to time. I think it's my router. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montster Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 I got it to work. But it cuts out from time to time. I think it's my router. there are a million opinions on routers, but i have a belkin and like it, and i know it works well with the airport express. i believe you can find them most places for about $40 now. also, i've connected my printer to the usb port in the airport express and we can print wirelessly from any computer in the house. but it's not compatible with all printers, and our printer happens to be located near the airport express and stereo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Holy Roller Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 I think we need TimC to investigate this problem. Probably something to do with the flux capacitor again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsfan Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 I got it to work. But it cuts out from time to time. I think it's my router. I had mine working with a Linksys router ok, but I eventually just hard wired it because I kept getting dropouts. A better router would probably aleviate it, but the Airport express doesn't really have a strong antenna either. On this rambling note, make sure you are using the optical out on the AE, the sound quality is far better. If you want to get fancy, I also use a monarchy DIP jitter box to clean up the signal before the DAC. night and day difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted April 6, 2007 Author Share Posted April 6, 2007 I had mine working with a Linksys router ok, but I eventually just hard wired it because I kept getting dropouts. A better router would probably aleviate it, but the Airport express doesn't really have a strong antenna either. On this rambling note, make sure you are using the optical out on the AE, the sound quality is far better. If you want to get fancy, I also use a monarchy DIP jitter box to clean up the signal before the DAC. night and day difference. Lost me there at the end. My router is a SMC which has ethernet ports as well as being wireless (rather common, I know). Are you implying that if I run and ethernet cable from the router to the AE it will work that way and avoid possible drop-outs? That would actually be pretty easy since I already have a hole in the floor near my computer for the cable internet as well as a hole in the floor near my stereo that I run speaker wires to the deck and kitchen. Now, for the second part of your post. I am currently using what is essentially the head phone jack and running a splitter to where I used to plug my CD player into. I assume you are referring to a different way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsfan Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 Lost me there at the end. My router is a SMC which has ethernet ports as well as being wireless (rather common, I know). Are you implying that if I run and ethernet cable from the router to the AE it will work that way and avoid possible drop-outs? That would actually be pretty easy since I already have a hole in the floor near my computer for the cable internet as well as a hole in the floor near my stereo that I run speaker wires to the deck and kitchen. Yes, if you run an ethernet cable from your router to the AE then you will get better throughput and less dropouts. You will also get better performance if you run an ethernet cable from your computer to the router as well. Now, for the second part of your post. I am currently using what is essentially the head phone jack and running a splitter to where I used to plug my CD player into. I assume you are referring to a different way? You can get this to connect the AE to your stereo. Use the optical out jack on the AE to run the toslink cable to your stereo and let you stereo do the digital to analog conversion (DAC). The DAC in the AE is not that great for sound quality, however, the digital signal it outputs is excellent. The nerdy bit I added at the end is that the digital signal that comes out of the AE has a lot of jitter. Reclocking the signal with a "jitter-box" will improve the sound. You insert it between the AE and your stereo. The best thing you can do for sound quality though is to use lossless compression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted April 6, 2007 Author Share Posted April 6, 2007 Yes, if you run an ethernet cable from your router to the AE then you will get better throughput and less dropouts. You will also get better performance if you run an ethernet cable from your computer to the router as well. You can get this to connect the AE to your stereo. Use the optical out jack on the AE to run the toslink cable to your stereo and let you stereo do the digital to analog conversion (DAC). The DAC in the AE is not that great for sound quality, however, the digital signal it outputs is excellent. The nerdy bit I added at the end is that the digital signal that comes out of the AE has a lot of jitter. Reclocking the signal with a "jitter-box" will improve the sound. You insert it between the AE and your stereo. The best thing you can do for sound quality though is to use lossless compression. My computer is connected to my computer via ethernet cable. The adapter I'm using to connect the AE is the same one pictured (Monster) but it plugs into the headphone jack of the AE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsfan Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 My computer is connected to my computer via ethernet cable. The adapter I'm using to connect the AE is the same one pictured (Monster) but it plugs into the headphone jack of the AE. The mini-jack on the AE is also an optical out. If you look into it you can see the light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted April 6, 2007 Author Share Posted April 6, 2007 If you look into it you can see the light. OK, thanks for the help, but we need to keep religion out of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 I think we need TimC to investigate this problem. Probably something to do with the flux capacitor again. I have not nor will I ever go into a Mac store. Full of gawd-danged hippies. Yer own yer own. But it may be time to change out your dilithium crystals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montster Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 You can get this to connect the AE to your stereo. Use the optical out jack on the AE to run the toslink cable to your stereo and let you stereo do the digital to analog conversion (DAC). The DAC in the AE is not that great for sound quality, however, the digital signal it outputs is excellent. The nerdy bit I added at the end is that the digital signal that comes out of the AE has a lot of jitter. Reclocking the signal with a "jitter-box" will improve the sound. You insert it between the AE and your stereo. The best thing you can do for sound quality though is to use lossless compression. i do something similar, except i had an extra digital optical cable, so i got one of these. basically the same thing, but a lot cheaper than Monster. OK, thanks for the help, but we need to keep religion out of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted August 24, 2007 Author Share Posted August 24, 2007 OK, so new issue. My old router was giving a lot of grief and we ended up with a fancy Mac Airport extreme. After a bit of hassles, we got all our computers to find it. However, my Airport Express won't. The thing is, when I open up Airport Admin Utility, it only shows the new Extreme, not the Express. I've been power cycling everything but to no avail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsfan Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 OK, so new issue. My old router was giving a lot of grief and we ended up with a fancy Mac Airport extreme. After a bit of hassles, we got all our computers to find it. However, my Airport Express won't. The thing is, when I open up Airport Admin Utility, it only shows the new Extreme, not the Express. I've been power cycling everything but to no avail. Did you try resetting the Airport Express by pushing in the little button with a paperclip? That should do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted August 24, 2007 Author Share Posted August 24, 2007 Did you try resetting the Airport Express by pushing in the little button with a paperclip? That should do it. Just did that. Still no dice. I'm still getting a flashing amber signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Buy A PC. Oh, and belkin is junk. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=belkin+recall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cunning Linguist Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Buy A PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonorator Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 OK, so new issue. My old router was giving a lot of grief and we ended up with a fancy Mac Airport extreme. After a bit of hassles, we got all our computers to find it. However, my Airport Express won't. The thing is, when I open up Airport Admin Utility, it only shows the new Extreme, not the Express. I've been power cycling everything but to no avail. make sure your 802.11 protocols are lined up. There's 802.11a, 802.11n, 802.11g, etc. have no idea what they all mean, but i believe they have to match. your extreme and express may be set to different protocols causing them not to find each other. this can be checked and changed in the config settings somewhere. sorry to not be more specific, i'm not at my mac but i remember having this problem. worth a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted August 24, 2007 Author Share Posted August 24, 2007 make sure your 802.11 protocols are lined up. There's 802.11a, 802.11n, 802.11g, etc. have no idea what they all mean, but i believe they have to match. your extreme and express may be set to different protocols causing them not to find each other. this can be checked and changed in the config settings somewhere. sorry to not be more specific, i'm not at my mac but i remember having this problem. worth a look. I recall seeing this option. I'll have another look tonight when I get home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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