Phone bluetooth to soundbar and mini speaker?

January 29, 2022 10:09 AM

I have a Samsung soundbar (hw mm 45C) with Bluetooth subwoofer. Works great! I often listen to audiobooks (via phone Bluetooth) thru the soundbar...

but unless I crank up the volume, I can't hear the soundbar well in the kitchen. It's a tiny house, and I'd like to be able to supplement the soundbar with a mini speaker so I can walk from room to room cleaning or cooking without losing the plot or pausing the book.

Is there a way to slave a 2nd speaker to the existing soundbar, or to pair (phone) Bluetooth with the soundbar and one of those mini wireless speakers?

Searching tells me this can be done with a smart TV or a rear speaker kit but I haven't found a phone option (android, if that matters).

posted by esoteric things to Technology (4 answers total)

Best answer: You can't do this with just any devices. Multi-room sound is a relatively tricky technical problem, and (as far as I know) all the solutions to it involve either proprietary systems, or at least hardware built specifically for it that works over WiFi (not bluetooth).

I have a whole-house Sonos setup that lets me listen to things throughout the house, on any number of speakers (or a soundbar if I had one) at the same time. However, it's not cheap, and I had to replace some perfectly fine speakers in the process because Sonos' adapters are very expensive.

You may be able to find adapters for some other system - "multiroom audio" is your keyword here. But I don't think you'll have much luck without spending some money, probably a lot (relatively speaking).
posted by Tomorrowful at 12:44 PM on January 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

We have iPhones, and use devices that have AirPlay 2. It’s like Sonos, but in Apple stuff. They license this to other manufacturers, like Sonos and Roku. Two our our speakers are actually Sonos One SLs, which do both Sonos and AirPlay. Not cheap, but elegant.
posted by advicepig at 3:52 PM on January 29, 2022

Best answer: Unfortunately, it's not that easy. Multi-room sound syncing together was patented by Sonos, who successfully sued Google for coming up with a functionally identical scheme, and Google was forced to downgrade their system as they don't want to pay Sonos.

In fact, the cheapest way to get into Sonos world... with ONE speaker, is Ikea Symfonisk, which is still $120.

If AirPlay doesn't work for you like @advicepig suggested, one alternative may be to wear neckband speakers, such as the Sony one here. Though of course you can find Chinese clones on Amazon for about 1/3 the price.
posted by kschang at 4:38 PM on January 29, 2022

Best answer: Why not just buy a small bluetooth speaker you can carry around the house? The phone will pair with which ever device is turn-on. My does this in our home.
posted by tman99 at 7:21 AM on January 31, 2022