[golen]

I am in the process of doing some home renovations and want to take advantage of this opportunity to wire my living room for sound. I am a novice in this area and would like some advice.

I listen almost exlusively to music via iTunes. My iMac is in my office which is about 30 feet from the living room where I want the music.

Should (can) I connect my speakers directly to my iMac or should I purchase a receiver and connect my iMac to the receiver ?

Are there any length limitations on either end ? Any special type of cables/wiring that I should be purchasing ?

I am also looking to do some home theatre sound and wonder if I should try to integrate everything into the same system.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Tom N]

I would suggest you go with a reciever, or seperate stereo components (your choice). Run your Macs audio output to your recievers aux input. You can also run a line output back to your computer so you can record anything from your stereo.

That's the general out look on the subject, the specifics are another matter. You didn't mention the Mac model you are using, and connecting one up to a stereo system is dependent on the type of audio inuts and outputs it has.

My personal method for connecting my system up is as follows:

I have a Quicksilver Mac, to which I added a USB based audio in/out processor. I did this because I wanted to run a digital connection from my computer to the stereo. I used products from Edirol, but therre are many other suppliers of these tpes of processors (http://www.edirol.com). I ran a digital coax (2 in and out) about 35 feet to my stereo system and connected it to the Digital audio in and out connectors. By running digitally, and using coax, I can run the distance I need without probelms, and I have no hum or ground loops problems that can occur when using standard analog audio connections.

Most of my musice is sent to the stereo using iTunes as the source. I save all my music in .AAIF format (no compression) which provides the best quality, though it does use up the most disk space, but hey, hard drives are cheap.

I will in the future, modify this setup and move an older Mac to the entertainment room to drive the setero system and make recordings when I need to ( I convert a great deal of my old record and tape collection to digital). I will connect the stereos computer back to my main office via our local network, so I can manage and store most of the data here in the office, where I have large storage and backup capabilties.

good luck

Tom N.

[Chuck_star]

I purchased a little cable(from Radio Shack) that plugs into my audio out and has RCA on the other end.
$5 later I'm in audio Heaven.

[SeSawaya]

ditto

[macmad]

I can highly recommend m-audio's Sonica USB Audio device. Its a really small box, and has a fiber TOS-Link output which I connect to the optical in on my Sony Amp. Its supports 16/24 bit and AC3, meaning you can play DVD's with full surround sound. I have tried several USB audio box's, but this one sounds totally excellent. I've also put all my CD's into iTunes and use the setup as my hi-fi.

[fishguy]

Which Edirol model to simply play iTunes to a reciever? Any reason to with Coax vs optical? Cost?

[godzookie2k]

mildly related: Do RCA lines have a max length without signal degridation? Example, could I run a line from the back of my mac, via a 1/8" plug to RCA converter and like, 50 feet of RCA line to a reciever? I'm curious about both audio *and* video.

[Dubstar]

I'm running 30 feet of RCA cable from my MDD to my stereo receiver and I'm getting some hum.

[FatBastard]

Originally posted by Dubstar:
I'm running 30 feet of RCA cable from my MDD to my stereo receiver and I'm getting some hum.

I'm a huge fan of iTunes. But I get a humming noise when I'm playing them through my stereo system.

I converted my entire CD library to mp3s and hooked up my Mac to my stereo system. The problem that I had was a humming noise when listening through the Stereo. After months of research I found the answer. The Mac is grounded (three prong outlet plug) and my stereo is not (two prong outlet plug, one slightly larger than the other). This is creating a ground loop, hence the humming noise. I tried many solutions that were advised from various forums, but none of them actually worked. Until I noticed a "ground" screw on the back of my stereo. Making sure that the Mac and my stereo was drawing from the same circuit I ran a wire from the "ground" screw on the back of the stereo to the face plate screw (ground) on the outlet. This completed the cycle and broke the loop. I still get some noise and that's why I'm interested in switching to an optical connection, like the Edirol (I'm guessing the UA-1D).

Best of luck

FB

[justinkim]

I don't get any hum on my setup. What I do get is distortion if the Mac's output level is set much higher than 70%. This means I have to crank the volume on my receiver way up to get decent volume. Somewhat annoying, especially if I forget to turn the volume back down before switching sources.

[golen]

Thanks for the replies. Anybody ever use the wireless AV receiver/transmitters ? Are they any good ?

[nuckin futs]

Originally posted by golen:
Thanks for the replies. Anybody ever use the wireless AV receiver/transmitters ? Are they any good ?

the ones i used were older and used the 900Mhz frequency, so they were crappy. maybe they have newer ones, which use the 2.4Ghz will be better. only problem is it will interfere with the airport (if you have one).

[bridero]

When my iMac and my stereo were only a couple of feet apart, I used RCA cables to an auxiliary input on my receiver.

Now, since my iMac and stereo have been relocated far apart, I simply plug my iPod into the auxiliary input.

The downside is I can't listen to internet radio (although I didn't use that feature very much).

Ciao