[gerG]

Oski, I think that you are having the problem that I mentioned above. Wireless with a laptop works fine with incoming data, but with your setup you are trying to stream from your laptop, back to the main router, then back to the AE. The laptop signal is weak, and you will be at the mercy of everybody elses wireless phone, microwave oven, sunspots, who knows whatelse.

Option 1: set the AE up as a wireless router, and connect directly to it instead of the facility router. This will give you reliable music streaming, but no internet access at the same time. It is very easy to switch back and forth, but not possible at the same time.

Option 2: Work with whoever set up the facility router and request access as a WDS node. This would be my first choice, since it will meet all of your needs.

Option 3: same as option 1, but add a second wireless card to allow a second network connection at the same time. This is theoretically possible, but I have not tried it.

Those are the solutions that I can think of just now.

gerG

 

[mshan]

I have also had problems with intermittent dropouts or even complete disconnects from Airtunes once I start a song in the past.

It has correlated with particular hardware (mobo and wireless usb adapter), since the same adapter connected to a different computer never had any similar problems.

I wonder if it's a problem with Windows Wireless Zero Configuration, which apparenty interrupts and reconnects every minute for some reason I forgot why. I've seen this comments on pc gaming enthusiast forums, where they complain about the latency this creates.

 

[Oski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerG Option 1: set the AE up as a wireless router, and connect directly to it instead of the facility router. This will give you reliable music streaming, but no internet access at the same time. It is very easy to switch back and forth, but not possible at the same time.

Thanks gerG for taking the time to help troubleshoot.

Option 1 works and I get music, but since the AE isn't actually connected to ethernet/cable modem, it'll just flash orange in an annoying way. I guess the solution is then to just get cable modem and use the AE as a router instead. Man, I was really like not having extra boxes and cables around with the facility wireless.

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oski Yup, and as much as the USB to Overture sounded really good, the APX to Overture is even better! Slightly more detail and more fleshed out. I had tried optical out to Overture before using the Turtle Beach soundcard and that was clearly not better than USB.

Great news! I actually have an APX, but it's not connected to my Micro DAC because....well....I don't have an optical cable

 

[gerG]

Local cable modem would work great. If you can do that for the same cost, it will save you some grief and have higher bandwidth.

If you go that route, be sure to turn on the encryption in the AE, otherwise your friendly neighbors will all be hooked up through your router.

Another option is some sort of signal booster. Not elegant, but it would work most of the time. Personally I don't like this approach. I prefer to minimize distance and transmit power. I hate it when the fluorescent lights glow when they are shut off

gerG

 

[Oski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teerawit Great news! I actually have an APX, but it's not connected to my Micro DAC because....well....I don't have an optical cable

Definitely look into the Glass Toslink on eBay, it’s a good value (I have the VDH Optocoupler, mainly because it’s white and looks cool with the APX). Also get a Griffen Base Station so the APX can sit next to your Micro DAC.


Quote:

Originally Posted by gerG Local cable modem would work great. If you can do that for the same cost, it will save you some grief and have higher bandwidth. Another option is some sort of signal booster. Not elegant, but it would work most of the time. Personally I don't like this approach. I prefer to minimize distance and transmit power. I hate it when the fluorescent lights glow when they are shut off

Well, inexplicably the APX is working again, this time I didn't even do anything except take a 30 minute nap (it wore me out)?

Unfortunately cable modem is more expensive and I’ll have to deal with more boxes and cables which I was trying to avoid. But I'll let it run and see if this is going to be a regular problem. Thanks gerG for being so patient and generous with your time and advise.

 

[mshan]

Hi Oski:

Have you compared the van den Hull Optocoupler to the eBay or MCM glass toslink cables (with the Airport Express).

Seems like removing a mini to regular optical adapter should improve things.

Also, I read somewhere that Wireworld was supposed to be developing a mini to regular optical glass optical cable also. Any know anything about that?

 

[gerG]

I thought of a band-aid fix for the flashing LED. And no, not sticking white tape over it.

Find an old router, wireless or otherwise. Plug it into the ethernet cable, and the AE will think that it is in charge and go green.

If you like to hack, you could do the above trick, and coerce a wireless router to connect to your facility wireless router. Sort of Rube Goldberg, but a fun hackproj if you get bored. Old wireless routers are easy to find.

I would still look into option 2. There has to be a geek who maintains the facility router. Adding the AE to the router as a WDS device is as simple as adding its mac address to the permission table, iirc. Other than that the setup is the same as joining a network. At that point you just point your laptop at the AE as your wireless connection.

The fact that any of this works just amazes me. I have a friend who has a much more complicated wireless network than mine, and he streams video!

edit: I should mention that it took me a couple of weekends of frustrated hacking to get my network doing what it does. The reset buttons on all 3 of my AE are well worn. The oldest of the 3 has older firmware, so even when I thought that I had the routine dialed, it behaved with a mind of its own. It would have driven me mad, if I weren't already there.

gerG

 

[ken36]

This is way far over my head.

 

[Oski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mshan Hi Oski: Have you compared the van den Hull Optocoupler to the eBay or MCM glass toslink cables (with the Airport Express).

Hey mshan, I haven't compared the Optocoupler to the Glass Toslink, but will have a chance to do so at the upcomine Nov. 12 NY Meet. Jahn has the Glass Toslink. I'm not expecting much difference in sound though given they are both glass fiber as opposed to plastic (though the OC has a spherical fiber termination at the plug end which is supposed to help reduce dispersion of the light). Based on reviews on AudioAsylum however the OC was very well received along with I believe the Nordost...both of which are kind of pricey though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mshan Seems like removing a mini to regular optical adapter should improve things.

Yeah, I suspect that too. Unfortunately mine has the regular toslink termination at both ends because I was initially thinking about connecting my CD player to the Overture (both of which with regular termination). VDH actually makes the OC with toslink-mini toslink or mini - mini as well. I may yet invest in the toslink - mini, though the prospect of spending so much on an optical cable isn't all that appealing...so I also wonder how much the adaptor is affecting the signal transmission?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mshan Also, I read somewhere that Wireworld was supposed to be developing a mini to regular optical glass optical cable also. Any know anything about that?

I think that was mentioned in the original Coda/Overture thread, and I thought HeadRoom was in contract with WireWorld to produce some of these cables for them to sell on their site, but I haven't seen any word of it since either.

 

[Oski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerG I thought of a band-aid fix for the flashing LED. And no, not sticking white tape over it.

LoL, that actually crossed my mind too! Since I believe there has to be many others out there that would buy an APX just for music streaming and/or printer sharing purposes only (without wireless routing per se) that it could be setup up to work directly with a computer and result in a green indicator for having a good signal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerG I would still look into option 2. There has to be a geek who maintains the facility router. Adding the AE to the router as a WDS device is as simple as adding its mac address to the permission table, iirc. Other than that the setup is the same as joining a network. At that point you just point your laptop at the AE as your wireless connection.

I think you are right and I hope they'd be willing to do that and know that it's only for my own use and I'm not opening it up as a router so my whole floor can get free wireless service (though the idea of being a wireless Robin Hood is cool).

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerG edit: I should mention that it took me a couple of weekends of frustrated hacking to get my network doing what it does. The reset buttons on all 3 of my AE are well worn. The oldest of the 3 has older firmware, so even when I thought that I had the routine dialed, it behaved with a mind of its own. It would have driven me mad, if I weren't already there.

Thanks for making me feel better about that, I was really feeling like a bit of a dolt...and thanks again for all the help.