Wireless genius required

One can download a freeware wifi scanner and use that on your laptop or phone to find a 'free' wifi channel if you suspect interference from neighbors, cordless phones, etc.  But not all of the channels are created equally I understand . . . so designating a specific channel should be done only after reading up on all of the issues.

At a minimum, a switch is needed to connect multiple devices to the single Ethernet port on the Airport Express, regardless of any desire for better reliability.  As others wrote, the Airport Express only has one Ethernet port to use to connect devices.

Depending on where you want to locate the nas, you could experiment with putting just the Qute2 onto the Airport Express, and site the nas back where your home router is located.  Or you could put the nas with the Qute2, and plug both into a switch which in turn is plugged into the Airport Express.  Either should work fine, but you may prefer the nas in one location vs. the other.

Thanks Bart

Any difference in SQ between the two options do you think?

You're welcome!  If the nas is a little noisy, sound will be better with it out of the listening room  That's what I do.  I keep the whirring disks and blinking lights out of the listening room.

I'd expect no sound quality difference.  But if the nas and Qute are both wired to the same switch . . . that might perform better by eliminating the wifi link.  I'd start with the nas on the main router, and if I got any drop-outs which I thought might be due to the wifi, I'd move it to the Qute and see if that cured it.

Bart, yes only some channels dont overlap hence why I suggested those specific channels for 2.4Ghz. However a proper wifi scanner would show that.

Simon

Free WiFi scanner is built into windows 7 / 8, load a command prompt and type the following

netsh wlan show all

press enter scroll to the bottom of the list and this displays all the wifi around your premises

Thanks everyone. That's the weekend job sorted in between watching the Ashes

Actually two (final, I hope) questions

I shall use the AE as a repeater not bridge as I have only one network.  I have heard that repeaters halve the internet speed.  is that right?

If it is, should I run my laptop as well as my Qute2 and NAS through a switch to the (wireless) AE

Thanks

JLS - it depends on the type of repeater, but I am afraid the AE will at best half the bandwidth on the WiFi SSID segment if in repeater mode.

S

While 'halve your speed' must be correct, at 802.11 ac speeds, such is not even noticeable. (Right??)

I pay for 80/80 Mbps speeds from my broadband provider, and from both my main wifi access point and my 'extend-the-network-Airport Extreme,' I get 80.

Maybe I'm missing some understanding?? Not sure.

Bart, if you are 'just' using your wifi to access the Internet indeed the bottleneck lies most probably elsewhere. However if you are using the wifi for local LAN application them it will most likely become the bottleneck

S

Good point -- the most intense use I make of the extended part of the network is to connect the Amazon Fire to the network.  It seems to stream from Amazon just fine at ~80.

Hi again JSH -

If it is only the Naim which flakes out, then you can use a new Airport Express as a wireless bridge, connecting it as a receiving device to your existing wifi network and then connecting your Qute to the Airport Express with a short Ethernet cable. In this mode, nothing changes except your Qute network connection goes from wireless (as you have it now) to wired (by plugging into the AE which in turn connects to your wifi). You won't have any speed loss on your wifi, nor any "boosting" of your wifi, and you won't have to live with a slower Ethernet connection either ...but you will get a more robust network connection for your Qute.

Really, this is much easier to do than to discuss - pop down to a shop and pick one up and write in again if it isn't obvious when you are in the configuration page. 

Regards, alan 

Hi Alan

Thanks for your patience.  With Aussies in their box for the moment, down to PC World tomorrow to give it a go

JSH

And any speed loss, merely applied to the Naim App's ability to control the Naim player, is meaningless.  It will be plenty fast for that I predict!!!

Set up bridge tonight , and all working now.  I think the SQ is a little better; it's certainly very firm in connection through the Qute2, so thanks to Alan and everyone for their help and patience

Not without issues though.  I thought I'd plug my laptop in to see what speed I got.  All I got was a message "the page can't re-direct" in Firefox.  Went back to wireless and worked again.  odd, so a setting somewhere.

One other question; if I connected my Nas to the bridge where would it show up in Minim?  Would it show at all?

Thanks

JSH

I should not matter whether you connect the nas to the switch or to your router with respect to how it shows up on your network.

Final note to close thread.

Thanks to everyone for all the help.  Airport Express working superbly for a week, rock solid, better SQ and 24/192 files now stream perfectly.

So, many thanks again to all

JSH

Sweet, JSH, great news. Keep us posted. And try out AirPlay and let me know if that works. For me, I have now had a couple of times when it took two tries to launch but then was faultless. Glad you're sortrd nicely. 

Regards alan

Hi,

As SIS has said, using a repeater *AT BEST* halves your WiFi speed.

The reality is that it will take a much bigger swipe at it as packet transmit collisions increase massively.

Phil