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Help....I have a blank slate and am flying blind

I am not an audiophile and am trying to get my arms around the whole thing - quickly. The water is deep. I've never had a nice system and am buying a new house. At the expense of all furniture, I want to rig the place for sound to the chagrin of my wife (who hopefully will not discover this post) and 4 kids (though the kids may well opt for music over furniture):

I basically want the system to be PC driven, but also have a couple of components that I would like to include (Teac H500 CD recorder/player and XM receiver). I have at least 4 rooms to rig and am shooting for low to mid-level audiophile grade.

I am thinking of setting the system up something like this: (but am missing a few pieces, which is where I need guidance):

750 GB external hard drive (just purchase new) --> P4 laptop computer (just puchased used) --> DAC (perhaps HAGUSB and/or something else --> cheap/decent receiver (need to purchase or perhaps a pre-amp with A and B channels):

A channel (for room 1) --> good amp (need to purchase - perhaps simaudio i-3) --> totem hawk speakers (just puchased);

B channel (for 3 other rooms) --> cheap amp (need to purchase) --> russound 10 speaker selector (just purchased) --> 8 inferior speakers in 3 different rooms (have them);

The critical threshold at this point is PC to receiver or pre-amp. I use iTunes and have a ton of music in Apple Lossless format, so compatability is an issue I think. My sense is to avoid a wireless connection and soundcards (I've heard they are inferior), so I think I need some sort of DAC, which is where I get off the bus.

I was looking at a HAGUSB (Hagerman Technologies - under $100.00) and a squeezebox ($299 model). The thing I don't like about the squeezebox is it appears that I would have to control it through their box and not through the PC/iTunes. If possible, I'd like to simply use the laptop as the the control center with iTunes as the interface (if that is the right word). I'd rather not spend more than a few hundred dollars on a DAC (I still have to purchase two amps, a receiver or pre-amp, wire, connectors, protectors, rack, etc.)

The second (less critical) threshold is choice between a receiver and a pre-amp. I suppose I could buy a cheap but decent receiver with an A/B channel, but I don't think I want the music filtered through a receiver. Is there a pre-amp with an A/B selector that I could raise the roof by selecting both A and B? This may affect the DAC connection decision from the PC. I have a couple of other components I want to include (CD player and XM receiver) so maybe I have no choice but a receiver - maybe I just answered my own question. You can see I am processing.

Long way to the short question: What is the best way to get from the PC (via usb?) to a receiver or pre-amp in a way that is both compatible with iTunes and would be considered "acceptable" from an audiophile standpoint at a reasonable cost (under $400.00)?

Any assistance is appreciated. Please respond in crayon and do not use "big" words.
graves
rcstevensonaz
3 posts
 
Sqeezebox is excellent. I have two in my house.

I can control it from the "box" and equally well from my laptop.

On the laptop, I connect to the machine running the SlimServer. E.g. I type "http://192.168.11.2:9000" in my browswer (or create a link) and my laptop is now "browsing" the slimserver (in much the same way that the Sqeezebox "browses" the SlimServer.

I actually have two different SqueezeBoxes in my house. From any laptop anywhere in the house, I can control either Sqeezebox (e.g., adjust volume, change playlist, play/pause/stop, shuffle, etc.).

The DAC on a Sqeezebox is very good. If you are an audiophile with money, you have an awesome amp and you have awesome speakers, then you may (or may not) want to get an off-board DAC. Otherwise, just connect Sqeezebox staight into your amplifier, processes, AVR, whatever. I'm using RCA jacks into my NAD; but it has optical and coax digital if you want to use the DAC built into your AVR instead.

There are other digital music solutions than Sqeezebox, but I've been very satisfied.

p.s., I'm also very interested in this thread since I want to find an effective solution to drive speakers in four different rooms.
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
I pulled cat 6 wire throughout my house and I am running two slimdevices (Transporter) and Squeezebox. It is amazing just how many ways I can access my music as the slimdevices software seems to cover all possibilities.
graves OP
8 posts
 
Follow up question re: the squeezebox (best of both worlds?):

All my music will be stored on a large external hard drive, which I envisioned would be connected to a laptop, which would, in turn, access/control the music via iTunes. I have spent the better part of the last two years importing my CD collections and saving each CD in two formats: AAC (for iPod) and Apple Lossless (for home use). I am now married to iTunes.

I envisioned the laptop being stationary - hard wired to both the external hard drive and DAC/receiver. It would nice for the laptop to be mobile, but I prefer not to have a wireless bridge for the music. Perhaps - with the Squeezebox -- there is a way to have the best of both worlds, a hard wired connection to the PC music with wireless/portable control from any room (or on the back porch) via laptop, which brings me to my question:

Can the Squeezebox ($299.00 version) be hard wired to both the receiver and external hard drive, but controlled wirelessly via laptop so that the music is piped to the pre-amp directly from the external hard drive (via squeezebox), but volume and browsing could be controlled anywhere in the house?

audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Sure, you can use a network ethernet cable to the SB3. Then you can access it using a wireless network from ANY computer. It does not improve the audio quality though.

Steve N.
rcstevensonaz
3 posts
 
Regarding the connectivity, keep in mind that the SB3 solution has three components:

1. The disk storage that contains the audio files. This should be phyiscially wired on the network or directly attached to the PC below

2. The PC (or laptop or media server) functioning as the SlimServer (any old laptop can do). This is the device that will read the files (from the drive) and stream the audio to the Slim Devices. This should be physically wired on the network as well.

3. The Sqeezebox (or Transport or PC/laptop running SoftSqueeze). This can be wireless or connected to the network -- it makes no difference as AudioEngr noted.

[As an aside, the Wireless Sqeezebox also has an ethernet port. You can use this to connect the SB to the hardwired network. Or, you can use the SB as a wireless bridge and use it to other non-wireless equipment to the network.]
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