SB performance and signal strength

Paul_Bui · « **on:** 30 Nov 2005, 05:58 pm »

Has anyone noticed this: When signal strength is weak, distortion is getting higher, sound quality decreases? YMMV, but I've been putting up with signal strength between 83% - 87% at best and wondering where the good sound has gone, not to mention intermitten dropouts, which I will discuss later.

Finally, I decided to do something about it. Since I'm using a Linksys WRT54G wireless router, I picked up a Linksys WAP54G Access Point and a pair of Hawking 6dbi antennas. Replacing my SB2 #1's stock antenna with Hawking one helped a bit, and replacing one of the two antennas on the router improved further. The signal strength is now getting a consistent over 95%, and I enjoyed the music again from my SB2/headphone amp setup. With better signal, music flows more easily from the SB2. I hear more ambience, more details, less noise, les fatigue.

Impoving the second SB2 which is sourcing the Clari-Ts/BB FTA2000s wasn't that simple. First, the location is different, not necessarily farther from the router, which is in a different [computer] room accross the hallway, but sort of closer to the floor and in between the two tower loudspeakers (the same applies to the much smaller/lighter/shorter Horns). That's where the Access Point fits in. After configuring it and trying several locations, I settled it on an unused speakers in a corner of the same room. With a Hawking antenna on the SB2, the signal strength first jumps to 99% then 100% steadily. And the SB2/ClariTs/FTA2000s sounded better than ever. Warmth, fullness, speed, details, they are all there.

However, occassional dropouts still happened. What's the hell, I thought. Turned out, I was so excited with newfound sound quality that I resumed the EAC/CD ripping that I stopped for a while. My guess was, the Slim Server might get confused when new music material gets in the HD without a "formal" introduction. After having the Slim Server "rescan" the entire disc, things are getting perfect: no dropouts whatsoever (heads-up: until the next ripping), and signal strength of 100% a relief to my mind and to the SB2.

Tweaker · « **Reply #1 on:** 30 Nov 2005, 08:03 pm »

I could not tell any difference between the sound of my SB2 at 50% signal strength and the 98% I'm getting now. Both sound fine. This from someone who has a penny on each of my power amps because they improve the sound.

...

I have problems with dropouts as well but I finally traced it to the microwave! Can't listen to music when boiling water for tea! Some discussion about that over on the Slimdevices forum. Some have had luck with changing to a different channel on their access point. I have not tried that yet as it's not really a big deal to me now that I know what the cause is, and since the microwave is not used that much.
The squeezebox is an amazing little device. Shows how much digital sound quality has been buggered up by the cd medium. Pits and lasers and filters and plastic coatings,etc., etc. I'm in awe at how much better my music sounds.

Paul_Bui · « **Reply #2 on:** 30 Nov 2005, 08:14 pm »

Did you have your SB2 modded? I wonder.

lcrim · « **Reply #3 on:** 30 Nov 2005, 09:39 pm »

Paul:
I'm sorry but I don't believe that signal strength affects playback in any way. You either are connected or you're not. While its true that 80211g is much faster than 802.11b, once connectivity is established the rate at which data flows is a constant.
Lots of things can cause dropouts but they are usually easily remedied.
Perhaps there is something about the configuration of your wireless LAN this is not quite right. I'd be happy to assist you if you PM me with more details of your wireless setup.

jakepunk · « **Reply #4 on:** 1 Dec 2005, 03:30 am »

Signal quality affects dropouts only. The bits are transferred with protocol checksums regardless of their rate. If the audio is not skipping, you are getting all the data. An analogy would be, "that .jpeg picture looks the same whether it renders quickly or slowly."

I had two problems with my wireless connectivity. First, my connection would drop whenever my microwave was used. Most access points ship with channel 6 (or "auto") out of the box. As a general rule, lower numbered channels have a less likely chance to interfere with microwave ovens. I set mine to channel 1, and it worked... for awhile. The second problem was that my neighbor's access point also used channel 1 as revealed by MacStumbler. I would get lowered throughput periodically. So I set my channel to 2, and now all is well. I will probably replace my 2.4GHz phone with a 900Mhz or 5.8GHz model. Isn't unlicensed spectrum fun?

Tweaker · « **Reply #5 on:** 1 Dec 2005, 03:42 am »

For an experiment I set my channel to 11 and ran the microwave. Not dropouts.
It is a good idea to do a site survey of the other wireless devices around you and if there are more than a couple on the same one you are using then change it. As jakepunk mentioned, most will leave theirs on the default channel 6. You might be surprised to learn doing the survey how many people have unprotected networks. Two of the half dozen or so in my area are (unprotected). I will never have to worry about internet access!