Step-by-Step Multiroom Audio Setup with Max2Play

Multiroom Audio – the link between smart home and hi-fi audio – is gradually finding its way into our households: Several players are controlled by a central control unit (usually an app), so that the whole apartment can be filled with your favorite music – optionally even synchronized. Often in this field, several smart (internet-enabled) speakers such as Sonos, Bose SoundTouch or Teufel Raumfeld are connected to each other via manufacturer software. These systems can then be expanded as desired with more of the manufacturer’s speakers. This usually works well, but isn’t really affordable for me. However, such setups cost several hundreds to thousands of Euros. In addition, the supported services and features of these speakers are usually limited and can only be used ideally with the manufacturer’s own products.

But most of us still have one or two „offline“ speakers at home. Wouldn’t it make more sense to make those speakers smart and multiroom-capable instead of buying new expensive speakers? With the help of Raspberry Pis and suitable sound cards, this can actually be done easily and inexpensively. Both components are simply stacked together, connected to the loudspeakers with common audio cables and set up via the Max2Play web interface.

In this series of articles, I’ll show you step by step how to assemble and set up such a system.