Advice for a newbie setting up a system

[bukweet222]

I am extremely glad that I have found this site, there is so much information for a person to learn and everyone seems so willing to share his or her knowledge.

 

I only recently have gotten into digital media as a means of quality playback on my system, I always used CD’s and have accumulated a CD library of about 1800 CD’s, so going digital is new to me.

 

What has converted me was the recent purchase of an Airport Express, the ease of finding and changing music is unbelievably fast with my Mac Book Pro but now I have to re-rip my music with the settings that you have suggested. Thanks for posting that information on settings, it was extremely helpful, this newbie appreciates all the useful tips to fully enjoy going digital. I will not ask which format, I have made my choice and will keep that private, this seems to one of two choices.

 

Here is are some questions that I have and the equipment that I have:

 

* Current equipment is Linn Cassik Movie DI, Linn Chakra 6100, Linn 5140’s (Aktiv –mains), Linn 5120 (center), Mission Freedom (rear), Linn 12.45 (sub), Linn interconnects, Linn K600 and K400 speaker wire, Mac book Pro (year old), Western Digital My Book 1TB, D-Link Wireless N Router (DIR-615).

* Is there a loss of Sound quality going wireless, D-Link router to Airport Express and analog jack to Linn Classik Di? Router is another room with hard drive, AE is about 15 feet away from router.

* Will using the Airport Express comprise sound quality?

* I have a Western Digital 1TB, will most likely upgrade to D-Link® 4-Bay Network Storage Enclosure (DNS-343), any issues with this as a NAS? What are the advantages of the Drobo over the D-Link?

* With my current equipment what would be the ideal setup for sound quality and what should the next components be that I should consider purchasing? DAC? Cables? Etc.

* We will be adding an additional Mac book to the household, is there any way of syncing both Mac’s I tunes to the same library on the network? If I use one Mac to add music to the library can the other Mac also be update with the new information, hope that makes sense, two Mac’s one library.

* Once I get my system at home setup what is the easiest way to transport music to be played at the cottage? I have 2 I pod’s 20GB and a 80GB but is there any other way? The cottage does not have high speed internet access.

* What would be the one piece of advice you would give a newbie that you wish someone had given you.

 

[Innertuber]

* We will be adding an additional Mac book to the household, is there any way of syncing both Mac’s I tunes to the same library on the network? If I use one Mac to add music to the library can the other Mac also be update with the new information, hope that makes sense, two Mac’s one library. Pretty easy to do. One way is to put all the music on server and point both Macs at that data. You have everything the same then on both Macs. I can only use one of two at any given time (usually). It tends to lock out the second for me.

 

* Once I get my system at home setup what is the easiest way to transport music to be played at the cottage? I have 2 I pod’s 20GB and a 80GB but is there any other way? The cottage does not have high speed internet access. I create 20 or 80GB playlists and dump them to the iPod. Plug it into remote system with mini to RCA jacks. Get a small home FM transmitter if you want it all over the cottage and plug iPod into your own radio station.

 

* What would be the one piece of advice you would give a newbie that you wish someone had given you. - Get it all working before you start worrying too much about upgrades. Enjoy it. #2 - Keep it organized before it gets out of hand.

 

 

 

[Mr.C]

* Is there a loss of Sound quality going wireless, D-Link router to Airport Express and analog jack to Linn Classik Di? Router is another room with hard drive, AE is about 15 feet away from router.

 

Yes, the dac in the airport express isn't very good. You should go optical from the AE to the Linn Classik.

 

* Will using the Airport Express comprise sound quality?

 

Only if you use the analog output or have higher than 16/44.1 files that you're playing back. Make sure your computer settings are set so that itunes is outputting 16/44.1.

 

* Once I get my system at home setup what is the easiest way to transport music to be played at the cottage? I have 2 I pod’s 20GB and a 80GB but is there any other way? The cottage does not have high speed internet access.

 

What do you mean by this? If you have another digital system set-up in the cottage, then you'll have a hard drive there. To transport you music to this hard drive, just take your mybook up to your cottage with a computer and transfer it to the cottage HD. Or vise versa.