Advice Needed on Home Theater Setup

Ok, I am appealing to audiophiles out there...I have a home theater that consists of a Marantz receiver with Bowers and Wilkins 7.1 surround. I also have powered Bose outdoor speakers.

I want to be able to control my outdoor speakers and music from my ipad or iphone. So what do I need to be able to do that? Ideally, I'd like to be able to play TV and movies inside and be able to sit by the pool and change songs, volume, etc.

Any help is extremely appreciated!

I imagine I need a piece of hardware to integrate into the receiver?

Simple bro! You need apple airport express. $100 on Amazon or Best Buy

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0015YJOK2/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1336353767&sr=8-1

Plus it's also a wireless repeater so it boosts your wireless connection.

Oh, and download the app Airfoil Speakers Touch. With that you can open up your iTunes or Pandora on your computer, run it through your iPhone/iPad to your stereo. F-in sweet app. ALSO, anyone else who shows up with their iphone w/ the app can play THEIR shit though you're stereo!

Looks like you already have your answer, but I got a chuckle from reading that you have both B & W speakers which are so revered and then Bose which are often reviled in the same paragraph even though I've read they do make some good stuff.

I already have an airport express, I just need the app?

@Cerebus- I figured for outdoor it didn't matter much, so I got the weatherproof Bose. I guess I could have gotten something better, but it's just for drinking by the pool, not watching movies.

The B&Ws are very sweet, though! Glass breaking bass from the sub too.

Wait, I have an Airport Extreme, not express...will that work?

FBD wrote:

Wait, I have an Airport Extreme, not express...will that work?

I don't think so FBD. The Extreme does not have the Air Tunes feature for streaming music, only the Express does. If I'm not mistaken, I don't think the Extreme has the line output on it? The Extreme is more like an access point for connecting multiple computer/printers, anything that uses wifi.

Gotcha...I'll pick up the Airport Express today...thanks again!

I got the Airport Express last night and that thing is slicker than whale shit! Of course, being an Apple product, it was very easy to install. I plugged it in and the Airport utility knew exactly what I was trying to do so it integrated seamlessly with the Airport Extreme router I use. I had one little snafu with iTunes trying to locate my receiver, but a simple restart of all three components (Mac, Airport Extreme and Express fixed all of that.

I installed the app "Remote" from Apple (free) on my iPad and iPhone and it automatically detects my 8000 song iTunes library, making it impossibly easy to pick songs or playlists. Can't wait to sit by the pool and play DJ this summer!

I did notice that some of the songs sound a bit off, but I guess that's dependent on their original format. I have it hooked up via analog output, but I can also go digital.

My question is, will using a digital cable improve the sound quality? Any help appreciated as always!

I HIGHLY recommend the Airport Express setup...just wow.

I forgot about the Remote app! Glad everything worked out well for you! An optic cable is definitely higher quality sound however being outside and the quality of your song downloads, will you notice any difference? Probably not.

Another good app if you don't have it is TuneIn Radio so you can stream any radio station in the world that live streams. You can even pause/rewind/record just like a DVR.

Slam, or anyone:

I ordered the optic cable for the Airport. Will this improve the sound of certain downloads? I'm noticing that with the analog setup some of the songs I play have reduced vocals and increased mid-range. I'm curious if going to a digital signal will interpret the original format better.

I guess it can't hurt, right?

Sorry, but I know nothing about this stuff...

I think it will mostly depend on the quality the original MP3 file was created that will make the difference. Nothing wrong with using optic but I doubt you will have any noticeable difference. I hope I'm wrong though! Let us know if it does.