High fidelity streaming music with Apple Technologies & A/V Receiver

I’ve been thinking of blogging my home theater setup for quite sometime, here you go. If you have a hi-fi A/V Receiver and want to setup some sort of Audio Server based out of your mp3/aac collection, or even better ITunes Collection in your house, and possibly setup remote control for managing your music collection and had no clue how to go about it, here is the setup. Of course, I’m heavily biased for Apple Products for their seamless integration.

1) A/V receiver with a standard AUX input.
2) Apple Airport Express ( “n” network recommended)
3) ITunes 7.x (windows or mac)
4) 1/8″ ( 3.5MM ) mini stereo male to dual RCA male CABLE
5) IPhone/IPod touch
6) IRemote app for IPhone/IPod Touch

I have a THX certified 7.1 channel A/V Receiver, Onkyo TX-SR706. I think its the best sub 1000$ receiver out there today. Follow these steps to setup up audio server of sort with your existing ITunes Library using the airtunes feature of your Airport express.

1) Connect the cable mentioned above from the stereo output of AirPort Express to the AUX input.

2) Open your ITunes Library and look for at the bottom right corner. You’ll have two options. One being “computer” and the other “<your wifi network name>”. Select the option for wifi network. This means, the sound is now going to stream onto your router.

3) Check your A/V remote control to change the “mode” to AUX. It should now be able to receive sound signals from the RCA cable.

Voila, crystal clear sound on your A/V receiver! Depending on the quality of your receiver you can change into different listening presets. On my receiver, I mostly listen to Neural THX 7.1 as it distributes some tracks with an insane accuracy through all channels. I listened to Nora Jones, Within Temptation, Karunesh and even the latest Slumdog Millionaire — beats me. Most audiophiles would still stick to true Stereo sound. I would agree to some extent. Some of other other sound environments I like is the “Orchestra” (terrific soundstage) “Unplugged” (crystal clear voice), “Dolby PL II Music” (5.1 simulation from your stereo channel)

Now, it doesn’t end here. What if you have your PC/Mac hooked in another room, typically your bedroom and don’t want to run around to change the playlists or songs? If you have an IPhone/IPod touch, you can get a free remote application that allows you to remotely control your entire ITunes Library on your device! Not only that, you can control it from two different sources, say your gf using your laptop doesn’t like the song, she could use ITunes to skip the list and you on the other end at the same time are skipping back with your IPhone app.

Want to listen to Radio? I love Pandora and I think it’s the next best thing to mp3 in the music industry. But I hate to open the browser everytime. I use PandoraJam, a desktop app (mac/pc) that, hold your breath — streams your sound to airtunes. And it records radio on the fly too. Can’t ask for more.

So now, you can listen to radio and mp3/aac collection from a single source (ITunes Library) or Pandora — all wirelessly, for free from your existing devices at home rather than spending hundreds of dollors on custom Audio Servers (including Apple TV)