I have an unusual problem in need of a solution. I want to set up a second system at our cabin, but the cabin is a totally off grid place with no internet or even a wifi network. I want to cobble together a low tech multiroom system for synced music in the kitchen and living room. I’m also trying to be “financially responsible” (i.e. cheap). Due to the lack of a wifi network I can’t just do two networked players (like a Nova in one room and a Muso or Atom in the other). The units will only play the same music in sync; never one playing one piece and the other something else. I also don’t really need independent volume control; as long as the outputs are pretty close the volumes in both rooms are usually set the same anyway (though I do occasionally turn off the kitchen music and only have the living room running).
My thought of a potentially simple way to do this would be a SN2 or SN3 driving the living room speakers (using a Bluesound Node 2i with USB stick as source), and then use the pre amp out of the SN to send signal to a second amp, like an NAP 100, to drive the kitchen speakers. The speaker cables to the kitchen and living room terminate in the same place, so the components would be together for both rooms (the place is pretty small, but does warrant two sets of speakers). My question is can the pre-out of the SN be used simultaneously when using its internal amp? I recognize the volume of both amps would be fixed together in this setup, but I’m ok with that.
I’ve toyed with the idea of setting up a wifi network without internet, just to allow networked pieces to sync rather than having them wired together, but I don’t want to pay for two streaming devices when all I need is one. I don’t want to pay for both a Nova and an Atom, for example. I wish Naim made a simple networked amp to just drive a separate zone without all the accoutrements needed to stream independently. Is the Naim multiroom protocol proprietary? Or are there other devices that can be synced? I realize I could used Airplay 2, but that only works if I use my phone or similar for a source, and I want to use the USB stick as it’s easy to load up before I go to the cabin.
Thoughts?