jax2- the only reason i said what i said is because your initial reply indicated that the poster "needed" to do certain things. IMO, there are much better alternatives to what you stated. let me clarify:
to get wireless, there are many options: wireless card in a tower, wireless built in the new macs, airport extreme or any other wireless router, or even a WAP (wireless access point). i use the wap myself. on craigslist or ebay, you can pick them up for around $10. the wap ties into your network (if you don't have 1, you can create 1 using a small 5 port 10/100/1000 hub). you can get these for the cheap, i can even sell you 1 for $10.
as for the squeezebox or transporter, the screen interface is terrible. i have a friend who sells them. the squeezebox doesn't do anything more than the AE but costs $200 more. the transporter is much better than the squeezebox but for the $$$, you can do better. (also, i don't think this unit uses the same dac as in the esorteric units).
i agree with you when using a connection from the AE/squeezebox to the preamp is terrible. and i mentioned in my thread above the option of using a coax or aes cable into an external dac is using a jitter device between a computer and the dac. the optical cable decouples the computer or AE device and the jitter device allows you to use the better cable connections to a dac. also, until they come out with a dac that has comparable quality using a usb connection compared to coax, i would stay away from usb. the new audio research dac7 might be the 1st.
as for remote control of the music, using the iphone or ipod touch blows away using a squeezebox or transporter. you get a full graphical user interface, album art, page of info on all songs/albums/artists with easy scrolling. all for free when using these devices and itunes on a mac.
also, when hooking up a second pair of speakers in a remote room from 1 receiver using an old yamaha, how are you going to control the source, output levels, speaker switching? depending on how old it is, you probably can't. if it has a multi-source and multi-zone capabilities, then it would work. also, when hooking up multiple speakers to 1 receiver that the amp compensates for the impedance that is presented to the receiver. the impedance could drop in half and that could be a bad thing.
to get wireless, there are many options: wireless card in a tower, wireless built in the new macs, airport extreme or any other wireless router, or even a WAP (wireless access point). i use the wap myself. on craigslist or ebay, you can pick them up for around $10. the wap ties into your network (if you don't have 1, you can create 1 using a small 5 port 10/100/1000 hub). you can get these for the cheap, i can even sell you 1 for $10.
as for the squeezebox or transporter, the screen interface is terrible. i have a friend who sells them. the squeezebox doesn't do anything more than the AE but costs $200 more. the transporter is much better than the squeezebox but for the $$$, you can do better. (also, i don't think this unit uses the same dac as in the esorteric units).
i agree with you when using a connection from the AE/squeezebox to the preamp is terrible. and i mentioned in my thread above the option of using a coax or aes cable into an external dac is using a jitter device between a computer and the dac. the optical cable decouples the computer or AE device and the jitter device allows you to use the better cable connections to a dac. also, until they come out with a dac that has comparable quality using a usb connection compared to coax, i would stay away from usb. the new audio research dac7 might be the 1st.
as for remote control of the music, using the iphone or ipod touch blows away using a squeezebox or transporter. you get a full graphical user interface, album art, page of info on all songs/albums/artists with easy scrolling. all for free when using these devices and itunes on a mac.
also, when hooking up a second pair of speakers in a remote room from 1 receiver using an old yamaha, how are you going to control the source, output levels, speaker switching? depending on how old it is, you probably can't. if it has a multi-source and multi-zone capabilities, then it would work. also, when hooking up multiple speakers to 1 receiver that the amp compensates for the impedance that is presented to the receiver. the impedance could drop in half and that could be a bad thing.