Logitech Squeezebox™ Touch – Multi Room Sound System

Logitech Squeezebox™ Touch

A multi-room sound system is something we planned for when we built the new house. I installed two things to help facilitate a multi-room sound system including structured wiring and a built-in speaker system. We already have a very nice stereo system along with a computer network. So the last piece of the puzzle for our multi-room sound system was an audio component that would link our stereo system to our computer network. The system we chose was the Logitech Squeezebox™ Touch.

Our Multi-Room Music System

There are numerous ways to build a multi-room music system which is outside the scope of this article. Today I want to briefly share with you how we created our system. Our system includes the following:

• Built-In JBL Ceiling Speakers – We installed 8″ JBL speakers in several locations including our dining room, kitchen and living room. The speakers are all wired back to a main connection terminal that’s built into the wall behind the entertainment center.
• Structured Wiring – The entire house has structured wiring including network cables. Network connections are located at our computer desk, stereo location and each bedroom. This allows us to make a network connection from the Logitech Squeezebox™ Touch back to the computer system.
• Stereo System – Our stereo receiver is located in the entertainment center which is located adjacent to the speaker terminals from all the ceiling speakers and the network terminal.
• Logitech Squeezebox™ Touch – Located at the entertainment center so that it can connect to both the stereo and the network connection.

Connecting Logitech Squeezebox™ Touch To A Network

The Logitech Squeezebox™ Touch can be connected to your network in one of two ways. You can either connect the system to your network via a wireless router or directly with an Ethernet cable. We have a pretty decent wireless router at home but there’s no sense in relying on wireless when we have a great network permanently wired. So for our system we chose to connect to the network with an Ethernet cable.

As you can see in the photo above there are quite a few connections on the back of the Touch. There’s a port for headphones, RCA jacks to connect to your stereo receiver, two different digital connections for the stereo receiver, an Ethernet port, an USB port and the power connection. For our system we connected the Touch to our stereo using the RCA jacks and the network with a standard Ethernet cable.

Setup and Ease of Use

The Logitech Squeezebox™ Touch is so easy to setup and use. Once you’ve connected the unit to power, the network and stereo you simply turn it on. Our Touch asked us to update the software once it found our network. After updating the software it asked us to set up a Squeezebox™ account online. The account is free and helps you synchronize all of your music sources including internet radio and satellite accounts like Sirius.

After about an hour I was able to sync our Sirius Accounts along with music from our computer. It was so much easier than I expected and far simpler than some of the feedback I had read online during my research. Priced around $300 it’s a great value and really easy to use. I will say that many of the reviews I read had mixed reviews when using with a wireless system but it seems like most were networking setup issues. You can buy one at the following link: Logitech Squeezebox Touch