Can I buy an amp which I could connect to my external hard drive, and telly and laptop?
hello, i blew my amp some time ago and want to replace it but would love to be able to play the 500 albums i have painstakingly recorded to an external hard drive thru my lap top over the last year. and ive also just bought a new telly with hdmi sockets. ideally Id like an amp which i could plug the telly into, my cd player and play my albums from the external hard drive (presumably through a lap top). Id be extremely grateful if anybody could come up with a budget solution. many thanks in advance, andy
Two Options that I can think of:
1. Use Itunes on your laptop, buy an Apple Airport Express (about £70) which connects to an input on your amp, laptop can then wirelessly send music to your amp via the airport express. This will only work if your music is in a format that Itunes recognises. If your music is in a different format, its easy enough to convert.
2. Buy a Squeezebox (£180ish) and connect this to your amp. Use laptop to wirelessley send music to the squeezebox. Squeezebox can play pretty much anything you throw at it.
Both the above would work with any amplifier.
MANY THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY BUT I CONFESS TO NOT UNDERSTANDING IT! 1st and foremost id like to be able to play my albums from the hard drive through my existing hi fi speakers so was looking for a new amp that could hook up to the hard drive either directly or through a lap top. But as I have just bought a new telly, i wondered if their was an amp that could also accomodate the telly too. best andy
many thanks for these, is there a way i can channel the telly thru the same hi fi system too??
You can't connect the hard drive directly to an amp. You would need to either connect directly from the laptop or via external DAC or a streaming solution (see the suggestions above) if you have a wired or wireless network. PC soundcards are pretty poor and you have the added problem of interference from all the components inside the computer.
Any amp, either hifi or AV will be able to cope with the laptop and TV. You'll get more bang for your buck if you go second hand. You didn't answer the question on whether you want a hifi (stereo) or AV (5.1/7.1) amp.
I use a Squeezebox 3 (Classic in new money) with the server software running on a PC connected to an external hard drive (files ripped in FLAC format). The Squeezebox can be purchased for as little as £130 if you shop around
http://www.cooltopia.com/product.php/6/1/f364479a6aa461f10be68353b9f384ae
In my bedroom/bathroom setup, I have a cheap Marantz amp that I got on offer from Sevenoaks. I didn't need a powerful amp to drive 2 sets of small speakers so it does the job. NAD, Marantz or Rotel are good enough if you're buying new.
You might get a better response if you list what speakers you have. Also what audio outputs does your TV have?
do you want it to be a hifi stereo amp or and surround sound receiver.