WiiM Amp with Turntable Setup and Second Zone Chromecast?

[scoseg]

Hello,
I think the WiiM Amp is just what I'm looking for. I would like to connect my turntable to it via RCA and power two Era 4 bookshelf speakers that are 6 ohm in my living room.

I already have a Chromecast audio device connected to a cheap Amp powering an outdoor speaker. It seems I can group the WiiM Amp to the Chromecast if I wanted to play the same music from my phone to the WiiM which is synced with the Chromecast, is that correct?

Anything else I should consider for my setup so I could stream music from my phone to one or both rooms and play records just to the living room?

Thank you!

 

[Mr Ee]

Does the turntable have line out (as opposed to phono out), or do you have a phono preamp?
Yes, you can create a google home chromecast group for both devices.
I know you specifically said records in just the living room - which is good, as I'm pretty sure you won't be able to play that to the cc audio too.

Edit: there are posts on here about mismatches (for want of a better word) with their turntable line out gain and the wiim rca input.
iirc, the wiiim doesn't like much more than 1V on the analog input. I think that applied to the amp as well as the pros...

 

[Mr Ee]

And, just so you are aware, but may not care or notice, the analog in will be converted to digital then back to analog again.

 

[scoseg]

Thank you so much for the reply. The turntable is a U Turn Orbit with a Pluto 2 Phono preamp. Notes say it has a bypass switch if that matters.

That said, is the WiiM Amp still a good fit or should I consider a different solution in the WiiM product set or other solutions for my setup?

And thanks for letting me know about analog to digital to analog. Ideally it would be straight analog but sure I couldn't tell the difference in sound.

Thanks again!

 

[Mr Ee]

play the same music from my phone to the WiiM which is synced with the Chromecast

Others may/should comment here, but regarding this, do you literally mean music on your phone, or do you mean things like spotify, qobuz etc.?
Also, android or apple?
Not got apple myself, but does it play nicely with chromecast?
Presumably whatever you use now can cast to the CC audio, so maybe a moot question...

different solution in the WiiM product set or other solutions for my setup

Seeing as they are passive speakers you need some sort of amp.
You could get a pro plus, but then you'd still need an amp anyway. Maybe the small, single box wiim amp is all you want?
Perhaps a benefit of a separate amp could be that it could be an all analog amp, and you could choose whether to plug your turntable directly into it to avoid the additional conversions.
And/or consider replacing the CC audio with another wiim, so you could group the two wiims to hear the TT outside and have gapless playback, which CC diesn't support.

So many options...!

 

[canard]

Does the turntable have line out (as opposed to phono out), or do you have a phono preamp?
Yes, you can create a google home chromecast group for both devices.
I know you specifically said records in just the living room - which is good, as I'm pretty sure you won't be able to play that to the cc audio too.

Edit: there are posts on here about mismatches (for want of a better word) with their turntable line out gain and the wiim rca input.
iirc, the wiiim doesn't like much more than 1V on the analog input. I think that applied to the amp as well as the pros...

the pro "plus" is 2v on the input...

 

[Mr Ee]

the pro "plus" is 2v on the input...

Could be, I just saw someone wrote "in the manual it states 1V on the analog input" when talking about the pro +.
Don't have a pro + nor an amp, and not used rca in on my pros and not read the manual, so I don't know more than that!

 

[canard]

and wiim amp 2v like plus
it was observed verified by measurement..
but the pro is more at 1v
(this part of the manual was just not revised after the pro it seems)

 

[harkpabst]

That said, is the WiiM Amp still a good fit or should I consider a different solution in the WiiM product set or other solutions for my setup?

And thanks for letting me know about analog to digital to analog. Ideally it would be straight analog but sure I couldn't tell the difference in sound.

In theory, a straight analog amplification (potentially using a Class D power amplifier) is all that it's needed. In practice however, the conversion should be transparent and it opens up the world digital sound processing for analog source.

WiiM already offers a 10 band graphical or 4 way parametrical equalizer. Room correction has been promised to be on its way, too.

I cannot see a better match for your needs in the WiiM product range.

On a side note, it is true indeed that Chromecast can only distribute those sources to a group, which are actually streaming over the Chromecast protocol. As soon as you change the input on the amp to e.g. line-in, the Chromecast group has no effect.

 

[scoseg]

Others may/should comment here, but regarding this, do you literally mean music on your phone, or do you mean things like spotify, qobuz etc.?
Also, android or apple?
Not got apple myself, but does it play nicely with chromecast?

I should have clarified earlier. I have Android and will play Pandora, Spotify, etc. The main challenge is we have never been able to get Chromecast to work well with my wife's phone, an Apple. She streams like I do but also has a large music collection from Apple Music on her phone she will want to play as well which is why I was looking at the WiiM in the first place since the key here is ease of use for her being able to play from her phone to the living room and/or the back deck. I only mentioned the Chromecast device since we have it but likely remove it altogether from the equation since it's not something she can use.

I also appreciate all of the exchanges above on 1v vs 2v and the implications of possible feedback. I get the message that Chromecast causes complications with my setup and fine removing it from the equation. I hope some of the nuances and recommendations can inform my options below and happy to hear about recommendations for a simple 2 zone amp to supplement my setup if that makes sense and or an analog amp if it's just powering my turntable.

I have included an image below of the spaces if helpful to this conversation. Painting the place so it's the perfect time to rethink my previous setup. Cat5 and speaker wires (for both the ceiling speakers and the deck speaker) are in the right square in the bookshelf. The ceiling speakers for that wiring are shown by the red arrows and are decent but not the best sound no matter the input. The deck speaker is shown by the square in the right and just outside that window.

So I could have a WiiM Pro and a simple 2 zone amp in the bookcase to power and select the ceiling speakers and or the back deck speaker. I could also put the turntable here. The downside is that I think I'd need to rely on the ceiling speakers instead of the better Era 4 bookshelf speakers I have since the location is not ideal for sound if I had the Eras on the bookshelf since it's sort of trapped in that nook between the kitchen and living room. Maybe I'm wrong and it would be fine and I'm overcomplicating things.

My other option could be to get a small stand and put it in the living room for the turntable and WiiM Amp along with the Era 4 speakers. I don't have Cat5 there but guess WiFi is fine to the Amp. This would mean I would need another WiiM device for the bookshelf so I could have an input to the back deck speaker. I do have an old cheap amp I could use to power the back speaker.

I guess another option is to have an analog setup with the turntable and and use the Era 4 speakers on a stand in the living room. Then I would have one WiiM Pro connected to a 2 zone amp in the bookshelf so we could play music from our phones to the living room ceiling speakers and or the back deck.

Thanks for the help here as I know I'm now getting into questions larger than just WiiM product. Sincerely appreciate the help since I'm certainly overthinking things but hope to have a better listening experience and most importantly, an easier way for my wife and I to listen to music since my previous setup was piecing together a bunch of old equipment I had (Denon 2112CI, etc) that had trouble with both sources and playing those sources to the different zones depending on which input device we were using.

 

[Cúlabúla]

Hello,
I think the WiiM Amp is just what I'm looking for. I would like to connect my turntable to it via RCA and power two Era 4 bookshelf speakers that are 6 ohm in my living room.

I already have a Chromecast audio device connected to a cheap Amp powering an outdoor speaker. It seems I can group the WiiM Amp to the Chromecast if I wanted to play the same music from my phone to the WiiM which is synced with the Chromecast, is that correct?

Anything else I should consider for my setup so I could stream music from my phone to one or both rooms and play records just to the living room?

Thank you!

I used a very high-end turntable with equally high-end MC cartridge and eff-off phono stage for a short while with my Wiim amp. It was ‘fine’ but I knew something was lacking and soon went back to my real analogue amp.

Apart from the smooth and almost clinical playback, the strange thing was that the amp got on a lot better with proper 60s/70s AAA LPs but fared significantly less well with modern digitally-sourced records, which really sounded dull.

While I now play my records mainly from my preferred setup I also have a Rega Eco turntable for 45s which is currently routed through a modest phono stage and into the Wiim. This sounds distinctively ‘meh’.

 

[Cúlabúla]

I had to stop my contribution as this forum is now inexplicably pasting earlier parts of my reply that I haven’t even copied !

 

[scoseg]

Thank you all for the feedback! My turntable sounds fine through the WiiM Amp although I don't have much to compare it to that would be considered higher quality. Streaming from the amp sounds great to my speakers.

On my earlier post I decided to use my old Denon receiver to power the ceiling speakers and the deck speaker. I then have the WiiM amp connected to my nice Era 4 speakers along with my turntable and placed in the back right corner of the image above on an existing bookcase. I have not tried to create a group between both setups and don't think it's needed. Just want to use it for a while to see if it's all duplicative or not.

Thank you!