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Internet Radio Requirements?

70.105.161.155

The just-announced NY Times sale of their classical music station WQXR means that in about 3 months, many NY-area suburbanites such as myself will lose their last FM classical station. (Part of the WQXR deal involves giving the current 6000 watt transmitter and frequency to a Spanish language station, and putting WQXR on a 600 watt transmitter at a higher FM frequency; this reduces the broadcast range from 45 miles, which includes Northern NJ, to 30 miles, which leaves me high and dry.) I'm aware that to get any classical "radio" I will need to replace my trusty Accuphase T-100 tuner with a DAC and some way to get an internet radio signal from the computer in my upstairs office (which has a wireless router) to the DAC, ARC SP-8 and 150.2 in my downstairs listening room. Can someone explain what I need to do? Many thanks!
- Pete

Follow Ups:

RE: Internet Radio Requirements? - Neff 15:30:38 07/21/09 (0)
Two issues. The FM band is congested with high power stations around the puny 600 watt signal. Second issue is the puny 600 watts. Perhaps a rhombic antenna will make up some signal loss and your tuner being selective may be worth a try.
get a logitech squeezebox classic - bullethead 09:42:43 07/18/09 (4)
Go over to the PC Audio section, there are many people there who can go in depth relating to internet radio devices.

One is the logitech Squeezebox Classic, I have 4 of them around the house and get 10's of 1000's of stations.
- Logitech Squeezebox (Open in New Window)
- RE: get a logitech squeezebox classic - oldmkvi 08:16:54 07/19/09 (3)
  Can you give me an idea of the sound quality compared to FM? Can't go for the $2000 one, but
  the others are doable. Sounds really interesting, thanks.
  - RE: get a logitech squeezebox classic - AbeCollins 11:30:09 07/22/09 (1)
    As bullethead said, the sound quality will really depend on the bit rate that the internet station chooses to use for it's transmissions. Bandwidth costs money so some stations use lower bit rates while others that are more concerned with sound quality will opt for higher bit rates.
    
    But overall, I would not expect the internet feed to sound as good as the FM transmission. At higher bit rates, it can sound pretty darn good and enjoyable but not quite up there with a clean FM signal. But don't be discouraged, it's still worth a try.
    
    I also own the Squeezebox Classic but there are a number of "Internet Radios" that work like (and look more like) typical table radio appliances (instead of high tech computer geek gear).
    
    Which ever route you choose, for best results you will need a decent ALWAYS ON internet connection, not a dial-up connection using your telephone line.
    
    Just for grins, visit Amazon.com and search on "Internet Radio".
    - Amazon do Com (Open in New Window)
    - RE: Good advice. - Travis 17:53:25 07/22/09 (0)
      I'm still on the sidelines.
      
      "If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
  - RE: get a logitech squeezebox classic - bullethead 11:26:38 07/19/09 (0)
    In terms of Internet Radio you have an option of 10's of thousands of radio streams from 320kbps mp3 all the way down. Sound quality is how a ripped cd or vinyl would sound at that bitrate. For better sound quality you can connect it up to a DAC. The $2000 one has a better DAC inside (really mostly only difference), for $250+- (use amazon.com or froogle.com) or so you can get the classic unit and use an external DAC. Sound quality of the analogue outputs on the classic is equivalent to a mid-fi sub $500 cd player, hence my external DAC recommendation.
    
    It also allows you to play your ripped music (Vinyl archive, cd rips etc...) which you can rip to lossless WAV or FLAC etc.. with no loss in quality.
    
    It's really an amazing product, I am a huge fan of them.
Disagree you can't get the shifted station! How much room you might have for a rhombic wire - Timbo in Oz 22:53:45 07/17/09 (0)
If you make an indoor type out of TV twin ribbon you have two in parallel, twice the gain, which on a rhombic is pretty damned good.

OR If you are currently using one yagi, add another one!

If you have a single loft the size of your house, it ought to be possible to build a rhombic with each side as much as twice the wavelength long per side, or more! The longer the sides the higher the gain with a rhombic, at a given frequency. In plan view they look like this <> -> being the direction.

"putting WQXR on a 600 watt transmitter at a higher FM frequency". As the frequency goes up a rhombic of a given size will perform better.

I can send you the article if you email me.

Think about it at least. .......

Just below I suggested - to SamA - such a loft rhombic for reception of a low-power station at 60 miles, also down low in the band where the wavelengths are longer. At a given bearing there will be a fixed maximum size for a rhombic in a given room or loft space, but I am confident this will be his BEST possible solution.

Lofts tend to be bigger that most rooms.

I doubt that internet radio will ever match the sound quality of FM, given a strong enough signal at your tuner's front end. ? The bit rates are way too low. I'm not an expert on digital, but IMO NO lossy codec will ever match analogue.

Warmest

Timbo in Oz
The Skyptical Mensurer and Audio Scrounger

And gladly would he learn and gladly teach - Chaucer. ;-)!

'Still not saluting.'

http://www.theanalogdept.com/tim_bailey.htm
RE: Internet Radio Requirements? - Door Nail 15:25:32 07/17/09 (0)
You may want to keep the Accuphase and use something like this.
- http://www.ccrane.com/radios/fm-transmitters/fm-transmitter. (Open in New Window)
RE: Internet Radio Requirements? - Travis 15:21:39 07/17/09 (0)
With iTunes on my computer (mac mini), I get quite a few internet stations. It's part of the package. I don't use an outboard DAC at my computer. If I ever get an internet stand alone radio, maybe I'll try an outboard DAC but I'm not convinced it would help that much with the sound. There are internet radios that are WiFi compatible and that's how you would get it from your computer to your stereo.

"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok

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