A Few Questions!

Project help balenaSound
1

Hello everyone!

I am trying to get a few speakers synced up for a party, and I am flying around the internet for the best way to do it. Balena Sound seems like a good option, but I have a few questions before I buy myself another Raspberry Pi (I only have one at the moment).

Can you let me know if everything below is correct?

  1. A Raspberry Pi 4 is the best choice for the “master”. The “master” can also connect to a speaker.
  2. A Raspberry Pi 3 is a good choice for additional speakers, and can output using the onboard aux jack.
  3. A Raspberry Pi 4 and a Raspberry Pi 3 is all that is needed to connect two speakers (Not including power cases, sd cards, etc.)
  4. Balena Sound can only export from the Pi to the speaker via wire not over Bluetooth

Additionally, if speaker one were to be wired, and speaker two were to be connected via Bluetooth (See diagram), is there a way to correct the lag that is sure to occur (by delaying the wired one)?

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Let me know if something is unclear.
Thanks!

2

Hi @Greenreader9 – great summary and you got it 100% correct. Use a Pi4 for the master zone, the added processing power is needed to be able to capture the stream, send audio out, and relay the signal to added devices. On the secondary zones, a Pi3 will be sufficient, yes.

And, your analysis of audio output options is correct, you can not hookup Bluetooth speakers – you’ll need to use the HDMI audio or Aux jack to output sound (unless you use sort of dongle adapter as you’ve indicated in your diagram).

As for synchronizing the audio, the delay can be manipulated, yes. That is done through the use of some Device Variables that can be set, as documented here: Customization - Home (balenalabs.io). Note that the audio outputs, and many other settings can also be manipulated using that list.

Hope that helps!