AUGUST 2019 MACWORLD 99speakers and call it a
day. Think about it:
You can have only the
Vinyl 500, two
MusicCast speakers,
and play your vinyl
and music from your
favorite music-
streaming service or
local music server
anywhere in your
house. This setup with
a pair of MusicCast
20 speakers worked
flawlessly for me.
If you already have
a standalone Hi-Fi
sound system, just use the Yamaha’s line
output and its built-in phono preamp to plug
into that existing setup. I connected the
Yamaha to my Anthem AVM 60 preamp/
processor to set up the MusicCast 20
speakers as a stereo pair in another room.
If you have a high-end setup, you can
use the Yamaha’s phono out to connect to
an outboard phono preamp. You should
be aware, however, that if you use the
Vinyl 500’s phono outputs, you will lose
MusicCast functionality. MusicCast only
works when the turntable’s line outs are
active.
I really appreciated the Vinyl 500’s
high-tech muscle when I had records
playing from my main analog setup and
streaming to three different rooms: the
living room, kitchen, and family room. It
was so cool to know that I could set up a
multi-room audio system without needing
a single wire run. I should note, however,
that you can only stream vinyl by linking
rooms—you cannot select the Vinyl 500 as
a source from another room.
I gave the setup some simple
challenges, too: I played one MusicCast
20 speaker connected to Wi-Fi and the
second with an ethernet cable in two
different rooms. There wasn’t any hint of
latency. I then upped the ante by moving
both speakers to different rooms. I set
them up as a stereo pair with one
connected wirelessly and the secondI could link rooms to stream vinyl around the house, or use the
Vinyl 500 as a MusicCast streamer to stream from music services,
such as Tidal.