Ways to have audio output without wires

I'm trying to find a way of using my home speakers/amp without actually having to connect them. There are two laptops that use them normally (so I don't like changing the connection all the time) and I'd rather move the speakers to a place that's away from the couch. I'm not sure how to do this though...

The options I can think of are:

some kind of wireless jack-jack connection
finally getting a media server

Unfortunately I can't find any good product for the first solution. I've seen some headphones which have the receiver integrated and a separate transmitted, so in general the idea is already out there, just not the way I need ;) I've seen also http://www.miccus.com/products/blubridge-mini-jack, but I'd have to have a compatible receiver which I can't find on its own (maybe there's some application that the media server could use?).

As far as media server goes... many of the plug servers look really interesting, but I'm not sure how to create an audio output and how to redirect the input really. None of the plug servers I've seen so far advertises the option of audio output jack port. I think this part could be fixed by getting one with an usb port and a separate cheap usb soundcard. I hope that input can be sorted out in some rather simple way. I've got Linux running on both laptops so I hope that would be possible to configure jack/pulse/whatever to use the remote endpoint, or even write a simple local-/dev/dsp:network:media-server-/dev/dsp forwarder.

So the main question is... are there better ways? Are there any out of the box solutions? Or maybe this was already done by someone and described somewhere?

viraptor

Posted 2012-03-25T10:17:45.600

Reputation: 505

Answers

It's easy enough to configure PulseAudio on a plug computer to run as a daemon under a separate user. From there it's just a matter of using padevchooser to choose the remote system as the preferred PulseAudio server and then push "play".

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

Posted 2012-03-25T10:17:45.600

Reputation: 100 516

Maybe I missed it in specs, but I couldn't find any interesting plug computers which have standard jack audio output. Do you know of any? (or if tonido will work with usb soundcard, it seems like the most interesting option to me). – viraptor – 2012-03-25T11:10:50.527

1Raspberry Pi has a stereo audio jack, but no built-in wifi. Any plug computer can use USB audio, but you may need to build the module for it and install PulseAudio yourself. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2012-03-25T11:17:37.960

I'll go with this option probably... it costs just a bit more than some proper wireless audio transceivers and gives me much more features. – viraptor – 2012-03-25T11:27:04.250

The Logitech Wireless Bluetooth Speaker Adapter will connect to any speakers that can facilitate a standard analogue RCA or 3.5 mm jacks.

Transforms any speakers into a wireless sound system for your bluetooth-enabled computer, smartphone or tablet!

I imagine other manufacturers have similar products.

Almost certainly requires active monitors (or a Hi-Fi amp). Transmitting an audio signal is one thing, transmitting hundreds of watts of power to passive speakers is best done using wires.

Here's another

The Model 1540 turns your speakers into wireless speakers. No more running long speaker cables. Set up your home theater rear speakers without a big cabling project.

The transmitter will send the music at 5.8 GHz up to 100 feet. You will enjoy better than CD quality with uncompressed digital wireless audio. The receiver has a stereo speaker amplifier built in and connects directly to any passive loudspeaker. The built-in amplifier delivers the efficiency of conventional class-D amplifiers while at the same time delivering far lower audio distortion.

enter image description here

RedGrittyBrick

Posted 2012-03-25T10:17:45.600

Reputation: 70 632