Can I connect multiple Bluetooth speakers to a device playing music?

[SweetSorrow1996]

I'm looking to connect my phone/tablet/mp3 player to multiple speakers to play around the house. Is there an app or do I need to get a hub and connect to all of them?

 

[Noelburgers]

Can you give me information on the Bluetooth Speaker please, it would help a lot as there are some Bluetooth speakers that you can play music out of multiple speakers at the same time without an app.

 

[rrtracks99]

Can you give me information on the Bluetooth Speaker please, it would help a lot as there are some Bluetooth speakers that you can play music out of multiple speakers at the same time without an app.

I do not understand what you are describing. Maybe this will help. Bluetooth is a specification standard that provides communication compatibility between devices. In my case the multi-point Bluetooth transmitter used, has two channel (stereo) input/broadcast. Therefore that is what the receiving device is going to be limited to. However my theater system does take a stereo input signal and output it to simulated 5.1 surround sound (5 speakers plus a sub woofer). The other speaker I use is a Magic Box 2 which receives and outputs stereo. The Bluetooth specification provides 78 channels so it is unlikely that is going to limit the number of devices paired in a household or small commercial environment. Hope this helped.

 

[cyclechap]

I was looking to do the same thing... and am about to order this... it comes with two, but says that you can connect four:
https/www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Multi-Unit-Multi-Point-Connectivity-Simultaneous/dp/B01CV0KJ2A/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1485142298&sr=1-1&keywords=multi%2Bspeaker%2Bbluetooth&th=1

 

[rrtracks99]

CycleChap,

If you want to pair two to four speakers with a smart phone or other Bluetooth device such as an Echo Dot, according to the reviews on Amazon, these speakers should work well. While it is not stated, I would assume a Bluetooth connection is used to join the slave speaker(s) to the master. In my place the room to room range with my Bluetooth connection is about 30 to 40 feet. If you are going to be using these speakers within 20 feet of an active microwave oven you might have connection issues. At least my microwave oven caused problems with my Kindle Fire HDx’s Bluetooth connection. This problem might limited to something related to the shielding or power of my particular microwave, a Panasonic 1250 watt model.

Measuring 7.4x2.6x2.6 inches the sound quality of these speakers is going to be limited. However, according to the reviews they are very good for the price and size. These are a little bigger than the wireless speaker I use, and I am quite pleased with the quality of the sound it provides and the fact it is easy to move around.

If range is going to be a problem, you might want to keep in mind Bluetooth 5 with about four times the Bluetooth 4 range has recently been released. It might be a year before it is widely implemented. With the world moving ever and ever faster though, it might be quicker than that.

If you do buy these, please come back and post how they work.

 

[David_605]

Can you give me information on the Bluetooth Speaker please, it would help a lot as there are some Bluetooth speakers that you can play music out of multiple speakers at the same time without an app.

https/www.amazon.com/Cassia-Networks-C100-10-Bluetooth-Router/dp/B01M1H55DO/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1486854894&sr=1-1&keywords=cassia+hub+bluetooth+router

this device lets you connect 22 separate bluetooth devices at once

 

[rrtracks99]

Can you give me information on the Bluetooth Speaker please, it would help a lot as there are some Bluetooth speakers that you can play music out of multiple speakers at the same time without an app.

https/www.amazon.com/Cassia-Networks-C100-10-Bluetooth-Router/dp/B01M1H55DO/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1486854894&sr=1-1&keywords=cassia+hub+bluetooth+router

this device lets you connect 22 separate bluetooth devices at once

Actually this device will only connect to three audio devices such as speakers, headphones, or amps. It will also connect to 22 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices such as plugs, and switches. The compatibility list for BLE of this device does not include Z-Wave or ZigBee devices. If you are interested in using it for remote controlled devices, I would recommend looking at the devices you want to use before purchasing this. Samsung’s Smart Thing, and Wink’s Hubs are much cheaper and IMHO have a better group of compatible devices. Both of the later also work well with Amazon’s Alexa. I have Version One of the Wink, with 18 plugs/switches and have been fairly happy with it.

This device’s listing also indicates a clear distance range of 1000 feet. However, as near as I can tell this is for the BLE devices. Until Bluetooth 5 devices come out on the market, it is unlikely you are going to get more than 40 or 50 feet of room to room range, unless you are really lucky.

Recently I purchased a second multi-point Bluetooth transmitter (See post above for the first) from EBay for less than $15, including the cost of shipping.

http/www.ebay.com/itm/Wireless-Bluetooth-4-0-A2DP-Audio-Stereo-Dongle-Adapter-Transmitter-for-TV-DVD-/252404055144?hash=item3ac4743c68

Hooking two of these up to an Amazon Echo Dot, with a 3.5 mm hub has provided four audio connections. All provide good sound quality and do not have any noticeable latency (lag). I might have gotten lucky as all four of my output devices’ receivers are different brands. Having the same source and brand transmitters is more critical. For instance do not try hooking up two or more of these transmitters to different Direct TV boxes, as the latency between them can be measured in seconds. Having most of the household filled with the same surround sound, especially when you move around, is awesome. Everyone that has heard it has said WOW!

Even though I have Bluetooth Version 4 on both the transmitting and receiving end; microwave interference is still a problem. This problem might be a little worse for me as my microwave is mounted high and on an interior wall. If you plan on putting a speaker near or in the kitchen this will likely be a problem for you as well. My microwave’s range of interference is about 15 to 20 feet. This problem might be less or more depending on the shielding, power and location of the microwave. If you have a party you can count on the microwave being run, even if you do not expect it will be run. As Murphy will confirm, this is how the world operates.

 

[jaredean]

I'm looking to connect my phone/tablet/mp3 player to multiple speakers to play around the house. Is there an app or do I need to get a hub and connect to all them?

I can think of two very real solutions, one of which i've used and the other a very popular solution. First you stated you wanted to connect using your phone/tablet/mp3 player - so going with that premise the suggestions below based on a Mac, while cool and useful - don't meet your requirements like the following:

BLUETOOTH: There are speakers from Ultimate Ears that are pretty popular called UE BOOM. They have 3 "flavors" that can do what is called Party Up Mode. They are the UE BOOM, UE BOOM 2 and UE MEGABOOM speakers. The really cool thing about Party Up Mode is you can add up to 150 speakers together and control them from one phone. I have 2 of the UE BOOM 2 speakers and pair them together and it is actually very cool. I do need to put a caveat in place - they aren't always without glitches, but when they work i freaking love it. The range is decent. I know that the speakers are the one that create the "network" to talk to each other so i'd assume they can stretch out pretty far away from the source as long as the main speaker that is Bluetooth is close. Hope this makes sense. Oh, and they are waterproof, etc.

Cool video showing many connected together: https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn4onPA7-Ko
Site for UE BOOM: http/www.ultimateears.com/en-us

WIRELESS: The other option is Sonos, which is a very popular solution and it uses WiFi to connect to your phone, but if you connect one of the speakers hardwired to your router it turns the Sonos system into a Mesh Network, which means instead of getting the connect all from WiFi they are linked together, which is a more elegant solution in my opinion. You can add all kinds of different sized speakers for awesome sound, even linking them in stereo (which the UE BOOM does as well when 2 are connected).

Because it isn't Bluetooth it isn't dependent on the phone so phone calls wont interrupt it, you don't need to turn the phone ringer to vibrate to keep the music from cutting out, etc. Plus you have a ton of services from Sonos that are pretty cool. I haven't played a lot with them, but I've researched them a lot because i really want some!

Sonos info: http/www.sonos.com/en-us/system

jared