Your music setup?

[Orb]

Just interested to know how you guys have your music setup?

I have a 200gb drive full of mp3's currently on my personal PC. My Squeezbox2 will be living in the kitchen where I have a network (cable) running to. Currently I only have two rooms networked and all cables meet in a cupboard. My plan is to build a house server (to go in the cupboard) which will be home to my music collection and serve most of the rooms in the house.

What do you guys do?

[max.spicer]

I have a Dell Precision 210, with two PIII 450s that I bought for 20 quid off a mate. This is headless, runs Debian testing and has a 200GB disk. I'm hoping to put this in the loft, but need to wire it first. On this I'm stuffing all my albums in FLAC format, ripped using EAC. I have a wireless network comprising of a laptop and a PC, both of which run SoftSqueeze. I have an SB2 wireless on order that will connect to the hi-fi in the lounge, but that's not arrived yet. :-( In the future I'll probably buy another SB2 and put it in my bedroom along with some powered speakers.

[RiccardoR]

Fortunatly I have networked my home when I bought it years ago. Now my music server is a HP e-PC 40 (an e-bay auction of 160 euro) with a new hard disk of 120Gb already full :-( in my bedroom (it's quite inudible). The computer don't have keyboard,mouse and monitor: I use "remote desktop" software to work on it.
My Squeezebox (wired) is on the top of my stereo in another room and wired in digital with my HT receiver.
I suggest to everyone to use a dedicated computer as server for Squeezebox.
(Sorry for my english not so good)
Bye, Riccardo

[JJZolx]

Right now no dedicated server - everything running from a single Windows XP Pro machine that is my everyday driver - P4 3.0GHz with 1 GB ECC RAM and three 200 GB drives. I maintain parallel FLAC & MP3 music directories. I rip everything to WAV using EAC and queue the encoding for late at night. I schedule a vbs script that I've written to encode the WAVs to both FLAC and MP3, tagging the files and then deleting the WAV. I only play the FLAC library on the Squeezebox. The MP3 library is for portable devices and car stereo once I install an MP3 capable deck.

I have a D-Link DWL-2100AP 802.11g access point in my home office and use my SB1 wirelessly. The Squeezebox is in my main system in the living room adjacent to the home office, so I seldom if ever use the remote to control the Squeebox - just the web interface. The Squeezebox is connected to the stereo via its coax digital out to a Channel Islands Audio VDA-1 DAC with VAC-1 power supply.

A wireless Squeezebox2 on order will be used wirelessly also, in my bedroom music system, ideally without an external DAC. I'll probably replace the SB1 with another SB2 and will some day also build a dedicated music server, though I haven't decided if it will run Windows or Linux as the OS.
________
vaporizer pipe

[Mike Hanson]

I've got two wired Squeezeboxes, one SB1 and one SB2.

They're fed by a dedicated server (Pentium 4/1.6GHz) running Windows 2000 Pro, with a 13GB HDD two 200GB Seagate HDD's for music storage (plus another two 200GB drives in removable trays for backup). Music is stored in FLAC format. The unit sits in the closet, and is controlled remotely using RealVNC.

The SB2 is going downstairs in my music room. It will use an external DAC (probably a Scott Nixon Chibi Saru or perhaps a Benchmark DAC1). Amplification is a Naim NAC52 pre-amp powered by a Naim Super-Cap power supply, and two Naim NAP135 power amps. Speakers are Royd RR3.

The SB1 will be used upstairs in my office. There I have a Naim NAC102 pre-amp powered by a Naim SNAPS2 and MyNAPSC, and a Naim NAP110 stereo power-amp. Speakers are Royd Merlin. For headphone listening in my office, I have Naim Headline powered by another SNAPS2. Headphones are either AKG K240DF or Sennheiser HD330 (depending on which feels more comfortable at the moment).

I'm building custom power supplies to feed the SB's and DAC's, although I'm a ways off completing those (too many hobbies and various other responsibilities).

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

[Stuart Mason]

Hi,

I've just the one SB (SB1-G), wirelessly connected to a dedicated WinXP server (P3, 850Mhz, 500MB Ram, 300GB HD). Currently have a touch under 500 discs ripped to the server, not too many left to rip now, all in FLAC at max compression.

The SB feeds a Non-oversampling DAC which in turn feeds a Rega Cursa/Maia pre/power setup into Klipsch Heresy II speakers. The SB/DAC combination has successfully replaced my Rega Planet CDP for digital duties, but is still kept in its place by an LP12.

I'll eventually crack and order a SB2 to replace the older model in the main system, and assemble a bedroom system with the old SB.

Regards,

Stuart.

[Paulussie]

Hi,

I have a home-built server: P4, 3.0GHz / 1024Mb ram on an ASUS P4C800E, dedicated to audio and video. This machine runs WinXP Pro, has a 2 SATA disk Raid-0 (400Gb) and a separate SATA disk for the OS and temp directories (200Gb). A Hauppauge PVR150 card receives TV for pvr purposes. The server runs Slimserver for audiostreaming and Hauppauge MVPmedia for videostreaming. And runs MusicMagic for audio playlist generation. The system further contains a DVD writer and a CD reader for ripping (EAC for FLAC, Audiograbber for MP3). I have a growing collection of 6000+ songs, 15% FLAC and 85% MP3 (224 / 256 / 320 kbps). The FLAC portion is growing and the MP3 portion is shrinking.

The server is connected to my 100Mb switched LAN. From the LAN via an IPCOP router to a Linksys WAP54G on a second segment and the internet on a third. On the other end of the wireless link is an SB1. (an SB2 is in the mail). The sb1 is connected to a Quad 34 pre-amplifier, which is connected to a very nicely refurbished Quad 405-II that makes itself heard via my latest acquisition, two brand-new and shiny Quad 22L loudspeakers.

And this all sounds very, very good to my ears (and only drops out when the microwave is on ;-).

As my office is 'en suite' to the living room I also control the Squeezebox during the day via its web interface from my workstation. Sounds much better than SoftSqueeze via two €15,- Labtec speakers.

Projects under way are ripping all my LP's (which I still have found no acceptable procedure for) and getting rid of the Quad FM4 tuner to make way for a DAB receiver connected to the server to get radio to the Squeezeboxes.

Paul

[JJZolx]

This machine runs WinXP Pro, has a 2 SATA disk Raid-0 (400Gb) and a separate SATA disk for the OS and temp directories (200Gb).

Why in the world are you running the data volume using RAID0?
________
maryjane

[Paulussie]

JJ,

60% of that data volume is used for video. Files that are read, modified and written. Raid0 makes for a faster drive. It also crossed my mind that for my audio files this is a useless feature :-)

Paul

[John Stimson]

There sure are a lot of details about networking hardware for a "music setup" thread in the "audiophiles" forum!

Take it as granted that my house is wired with CAT-5 and I can get a cable over to where my stereo is.

All my CDs have been stored in FLAC format on my always-on Linux server which runs slimserver. I used CDex with the "full paranoia" setting to rip them.

I have a Squeezebox2 (wired) which feeds an MSB "Nelson" Link III DAC via the coaxial digital output. The MSB DAC is hooked up to an active crossover with volume control and source selector that I built myself, which feeds the 6 channels of a Classe CAV-75 power amp, which runs the tweeters, midranges, and woofers of my home built 3-way speakers. The speakers are a ported-box design and use Audio Concepts 10" woofers, Vifa 5" midranges, and Focal 1" Ti oxide tweeters. -3dB is at around 30Hz.