SqueezBox substitute

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N

n_maher

Member
Joined 2005
Big thanks go to Brian who first showed me the SMC and also told me about this thread. Another modded SMCWAA-G!

medium.jpg
 
rossl

rossl

Member
Joined 2004
home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/diyaudio.htm
Another modded SMCWAA-G! Thanks guys!

I bought one on ebay and modded it. I use a CAT5 cable to the router and set up TVersity on a PC to make sure it worked OK before I open the box and do the mod.

Since I only have a wired network, I removed the antenna and used the hole for a coax connector for the SPDIF. The antenna hole was the right size and I didn't have to drill or file the box.

I soldered a 240 ohm 0805 resistor standing up on the pad for R106. Right next to R106 is the ground side of a cap C132. I soldered a 110 ohm 0805 resistor standing up on the ground side of that cap and angled it to make a connection with the up end of the 240 ohm resistor. This is a voltage divider to get a proper level for coax SPDIF digital audio.

I have an extra PE-65612 transformer in the parts box so I decided to isolate my SPDIF also. Pin 2 goes to the resistor junction and pin 1 goes to a convenient ground on C982.

The secondary of the transformer has a twisted pair going to my new coax RCA jack.

It's really hard to solder an 0805 onto those small pads but I finally get it soldered up OK.

I power her up and there's a problem. It keeps trying to find a wireless network and won't try to use the RJ45 hard wired network. So I plugged the antenna back in. She searched for a wireless network again and didn't find one this time, so now she tried and connected to the wired router. Apparently this SMC box will not work without an antenna. So I tucked the antenna into the space inside the box in front of the PCB and screwed the box back together.

Now it's working fine and I have good SPDIF digital audio.

:D

Pictures:

http://home.columbus.rr.com/rossl/images/mod/SMC_mod1.jpg

http://home.columbus.rr.com/rossl/images/mod/SMC_Xform.jpg

http://home.columbus.rr.com/rossl/images/mod/SMC_mod2.jpg
 
N

n_maher

Member
Joined 2005
theAnonymous1 said:
Since this thread got brought back to the top I wanted to ask a question. Does anyones unit freeze up on them? Mine constantly freezes up while navigating the menu and I have to unplug it and plug it back in. Very annoying!
Click to expand...

Mine only does if I have a really weak wireless signal, in which case I don't think it's the fault of the unit, just that it's the basement and the router is upstairs.
 
Russ White

Russ White

Member
Joined 2005
twistedpearaudio.com
nice transcoding UPnP server

I have been using Fuppes on Linux(Linux 2.6.22-gentoo-r5 but it also works on win32) to play my flac library on the SBC connected to an Opus.

Code: 
       FUPPES - SVN-r537
    the Free UPnP Entertainment Service
      [url]http://fuppes.ulrich-voelkel.de[/url]

You have to checkout the latest build from subversion.

It is very very easy use it to stream flac to wav:

Here is the appropriate config snippet:

Code: 
        <file ext="flac">
          <type>AUDIO_ITEM</type>
          <mime_type>audio/x-flac</mime_type>
          <transcode enabled="true">
            <ext>wav</ext>
            <mime_type>audio/x-wav</mime_type>
            <http_encoding>stream</http_encoding>
            <decoder>flac</decoder>
            <encoder>wav</encoder>
          </transcode>
        </file>

This is the simplest method of transcoding I have ever used, and it sounds great.

Cheers!
Russ
 
U

udaman

Member
Joined 2007
newbie question TOTX179 add on

I got the SMC a few months back during the sale. Read this thread to add the optical output, but I'm still not quite sure.

For optical output I only need a TOTX179PFT-ND TRANSMITTER MODULE FIBER OPTIC. Right?

There are a few pics of the completed TOTX179 add on but does someone have a pic of what exactly the pin layout (if any) to solder the TOTX179 to the board? Basically, how to solder the TOTX179 to the board.

Sorry for the newbie question. Never done this type of stuff before.

thanks..
 
rossl

rossl

Member
Joined 2004
home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/diyaudio.htm
Re: newbie question TOTX179 add on

udaman said:
I got the SMC a few months back during the sale. Read this thread to add the optical output, but I'm still not quite sure.

For optical output I only need a TOTX179PFT-ND TRANSMITTER MODULE FIBER OPTIC. Right?

There are a few pics of the completed TOTX179 add on but does someone have a pic of what exactly the pin layout (if any) to solder the TOTX179 to the board? Basically, how to solder the TOTX179 to the board.

Sorry for the newbie question. Never done this type of stuff before.

thanks..
Click to expand...


You also need:

a 100 ohm resistor for R106
a 0.1uF cap for C750

see post 60 in this thread.

The TOTX179 only has 3 pins, I don't think you can go wrong unless you put it in backwards!
 
U

udaman

Member
Joined 2007
Placed the order for the parts. Now I need some solder.

Radio Shack have a few different type.

- silver bearing (1oz) $4.49
- clear flux (2oz) $3.99
- high tech rosin core (1.5oz) $3.29
- high tech rosin core silver bearing (1.5oz) $4.49
- rosin core (8oz) $7.99

Do I need a specific type solder or anyone will do?
 
U

udaman

Member
Joined 2007
n_maher said:

If you haven't done a lot of smd (surface mount) soldering before you're going to want to practice some before you attempt the resistor and cap mod to the SMC. These parts are seriously tiny.

In that same vein what do you have for an iron? What kind of tip?
Click to expand...

You are not kidding!! Seriously tiny is an understatement.

This must be a mean prank. When I open the box and saw (and barely see it) the parts, I knew right away I'm in trouble. :bawling:

The R106 and C750 are just a strip pieces of paper with 10 really tiny silver squares. What the heck! I need 100X glasses just to see these things. When I open the SMC and see why you mention I may need some practice for a newbie. Holy cow! Those things are microscopic small. I think I need a big magnifying glass to do this.

Ok, enough b??tching.

From the pics on post#60, do I just need to solder two of the 'square' parts I purchased to R106 and 750 location? For the optical link, I just match the three pins to the board location U750?

To solder the R106 and 750, I just placed each 'square' part and melt it with the iron so the 'square' parts melt into the board? Same thing for the optical link?

I don't have a soldering iron. My friend has one but don't know what kind. I'll post the model number once I get from my friend.

Sorry, I don't do this often.
 
rossl

rossl

Member
Joined 2004
home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/diyaudio.htm
FUPPES server for the SMCWAA-G

I converted all my lossless APE files to FLAC. It took a lot of hassle, but I think FLAC will be supported better in the future.

Installed FUPPES. This is much better than TVersity. TVersity was choking on the large number of files and it would crash when I tried to refresh or re-do the library.

FUPPES is working great with my modified SMCWAA-G. Thanks for the tip, Russ. I'm using an XP machine as a media server and a wired network to the SMC.

So now I wondered if I could get little SMC to play some different internet radio stations.

Someone on the thread at av123forum.com said he got Cidero to work so I tried it.

http://www.cidero.com/radioServer.html

The Cidero is interesting software. I have gotten the radio server to work with MP3 streams, but the SMCWAA-G chokes when the XML file associated with a station calls out a playlist.

Same thing goes for the Cidero Media Controller. It looks like it is working but it tries to feed the SMCWAA-G a playlist and the little guy locks up. Cidero Media Controller looks like an interesting app, but I think we would need some new firmware in the SMCWAA-G to make it work.

So the Cidero Media Controller is useless with the SWCGAA-G unless there is something I am missing. Cidero wants to push a song to the SMC, and the SMC doesn't like that. SMC wants me to select from a menu, and that asks a server for the song or station. Anyone get this playlist stuff to work?

The Cidero RadioServer works once I completely trashed all the included playlist-links and used shoutcast to find a lot of MP3 stream radio stations. I wrote XML files to ask for the specific MP3 stream.

I have both FUPPES and Cidero RadioServer running at the same time and SMCWAA-G lists them both on the home menu.

Here is a sample of XML that works for Cidero RadioServer.

<item>
<upnp:class>object.item.audioItem.audioBroadcast</upnp:class>
<dc:creator>Ross</dc:creator>
<dc:title>The X Texas Blues</dc:title>
<upnp:genre>Blues</upnp:genre>
<dc:description>The X Texas Blues</dc:description>
<upnp:region>US</upnp:region>
<dc:language>English</dc:language>
<dc:relation></dc:relation>
<upnp:radioCallSign></upnp:radioCallSign>
<upnp:radioStationID></upnp:radioStationID>
<upnp:radioBand>Internet</upnp:radioBand>
<res protocolInfo="http-get:*:audio/mpegurl:*" bitrate="24576">http://38.100.214.245:8000</res>
</item>
 
U

udaman

Member
Joined 2007
I am going to have some free time and will try to finish this up. Back to my questions.

From the pics on post#60, do I just need to solder two of the 'square' parts I purchased to R106 and 750 location?
Do I have to 'melt out' the existing resistor/cap before I replace with new ones?

To solder the R106 and 750, I just placed each 'square' part and melt it with the iron so the 'square' parts melt into the board? Same thing for the optical link?

For the optical link, I just match the three pins to the board location U750?

thanks.
 
D

dj_oatmeal

Member
Joined 2006
SMC EZ Stream

Thanks to the groups enthusiasm for the SMC device I bought one on ebay for $38 with shipping. Converted my WMA files to WAV and installed TVersity. I am very happy with the end result both in sound quality and form factor especially for the small investment.

For those of you using an external DAC how would you describe the improvement if any over using the onboard DAC?

I have several Playstation1 units and was wondering if any of you have considered trying to feed the output from the SMC to the DAC on the Playstation?

Just trying to decide if this device warrants further tinkering or if I should just be happy with it as is. Thanks.
 
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