Post #638518 by TikiHardBop on Wed, May 30, 2012 10:31 AM

I'm a big fan of the Logitech series of wifi music players. I have two older versions of the Squeezebox Touch installed in my house. Basically, if you can get to it on your computer, either locally or through a streaming service, you can play it through the Squeezebox. They manage your local music library via iTunes and they have great support with pretty much every streaming service and even local radio stations. They communicate to your computer via wifi, so no wires. I have one downstairs on the other side of the house and I have no problem streaming to it at all.

The Squeezebox Radios have built in speakers, but the Touch, and if you want to go big, the Transporter, connect in through your amp. They have really good remotes, but like Swanky mentioned above, there are apps from Logitech and from independent developers that allow you to control them via phone. I've had no problem controlling either unit from my phone from anywhere in the house. Logitech also makes some good remotes, which also happen to work really well with the wifi players.

Like any good engineering project, really think about how you're going to use the system before designing it. Don't skimp on the outdoor speakers (or heavy duty speaker cable). I bought some really nice outdoor speakers from Polk and they've been great through many tropical storms. For the deck, I have an amp indoors with a separate volume for A & B speakers. The B speakers go out to my deck. I also went really big with the power for the amp because you always find yourself running more cable than you first expect (and it's more power).