ambience-sound

Stuff for my home ambience sound system. Basic sound manager is a RaspberryPi with Docker containers installed.

Installation

Software

• Install the latest version of Hypriot on a RaspberryPi
  • Download the latest version from https://blog.hypriot.com/downloads/
  • Copy the image to the SD card using Etcher
  • Raspberry 2 is enough for Spotify Connect
  • User pirate with password hypriot
• Install ALSA packages
  • apt-get update && apt-get install alsa-utils
• Configure ALSA to use your USB card as default device (ignore the trashy onboard sound card, hehe)
  • echo "blacklist snd_bcm2835" > /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-blacklist.conf
  • echo "options snd-usb-audio index=0" > /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

Hardware

• Connect a good USB sound card
  • I use a Behringer UCA 202 USB card and do like its sound
  • I've already tested various 2-3 dollars eBay USB Sound cards and most of them are "OK" but suffers with some digital noises. Set Raspberry to the highest volume and adjust your amplifier to the minimum possible gain - the sound must be well heard in your house - so that those noises are minimized.
• Install amplifier and ceiling speakers
  • JBL round ceiling speakers and car sound amplifiers deliver great results
    • Single Corzus HF 404 (4 channel x 50wrms@4ohm) with 8 x JBL Selenium Speaker 6FR2R
    • Each channel drives two speakers (8 ohm each) in parallel, resulting 4ohm per channel@50wrms (speaker and amplifier are just enough)

Spotify

• Create docker-compose.yml

version: "3.3"
services:
  rpi-spotify:
    image: flaviostutz/rpi-spotify:1.5.0
    network_mode: host
    restart: always
    devices:
      - /dev/snd:/dev/snd
    environment:
      - SPOTIFY_NAME=Kitchen
      - EQUALIZATION=rock

• Run docker-compose up -d
• Open your Spotify with Premium account and click on "Connect to device".
• "Kitchen" or whatever you set should appear on Spotify. Choose it and the music will start playing on your speakers (hopefully!).
• For more info, check http://github.com/flaviostutz/rpi-spotify