Inexpensive 2 zone amplifier with wifi

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Inexpensive

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Subjective, of course, but what you’re asking for is a generally expensive thing to do. You can do a lot of things to work around and gain this function, but a plug and play solution with two zones doesn’t exist in the “cheap” space unless I’m out of touch.


An interestingly cheap option would be:
2 Apple Airport Express routers/airplay 2 (supported, but you’ll need to update firmware if it is not up to date) receivers. You can find them on eBay for around $50
A Dayton Audio DTA30HP is around $70 and a pair of them should nicely power most built ins, but knowing the speakers would be helpful. If you have an old stereo receiver lying around that has RCA in, you can just grab a 3.5mm to RCA breakout cable and use that as the amp.
A Lepai 2020a+ can be had used on eBay around $20 (careful- make sure it has a power adapter or that you have an appropriate adapter for it!) and would probably be adequate for home use, or at least a test use.


If your phone does not support Airplay 2 (there are android apps that support it), Chromecast Audio receivers would be an option if they were available, but a quick search shows not much available.


Most every other “budget” option is Bluetooth instead of wifi. There are a number of “DLNA” devices out there with RCA outs, but they’re essentially all outdated and “casting” to them may be unreliable.

Then a step up would be any 2-zone receiver that has wifi (I would bet you’re looking $400ish for these, but who knows what’s on Craigslist, but new ones are generally $500+, and 2-zone receiver apps are probably going to be “clunkier” than airplay or DLNA “casting” from android, honestly. I have not used a particularly good one- I definitely have never used one that is as easy as opening your streaming app of choice, picking a song, and casting to the zone 1/2 of choice. You can do this inside of their apps, but Marantz’s offering was clunky as hell. Pioneer’s I didn’t like. Yamaha I didn’t like- they just require too many clicks for something that should be simpler/as simple as Sonos makes it. It’s easy for me to use. Wife/father in law/etc couldn’t figure it out. Not sure who is using this in your place)


And then you get to the Echo Link Amp which is $300 and single zone (so $600 for two zones) and I don’t have any experience with control of it. If you use Alexa a lot and like it, it will probably be fine.


Above that, Sonos amps are $700/zone (you can hook both sets of speakers to one quite easily and push them comfortably, but you get one source that way).


Above that there are a number of dealer systems, but these are probably the most common methods to achieve what you want.

I have a brand new still in the box sonos connect amp. Make an offer if you want it.

Have you looked at this one? I have one on my back patio, it works great, and I think it will do what you are looking for.

Yamaha S202

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chromecast audio(still available on eBay).

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sounds robust and futureproof

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dumber than someone's advice to use a a bunch of obsolete/unsupported dongles only available on digital 'garage sale' sites as the heart of his new home audio system?

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Absolutely. You keep saying obsolete as if you know what it means. You've been wrong every time. You keep saying unsupported as if that's a thing. It's not.

Look, the OP came here looking for advice, not your ignorant ramblings that are wrong, not helpful and beyond childish. Hell, you can't even operated a programmable thermostat and post more about your tech failures than anything else. Just accept the fact that you don't understand tech, you give terrible advice, and you use this forum as some sort of therapy for your mental illness and low self-esteem.

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calm down ladies

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Good luck. I tried.

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As in:
- GOOGLE DISCONTINUED THE CHROMECAST AUDIO DEVICE

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YET STILL WORKS AND IT STILL AVAILABLE>

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- IT IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED BY GOOGLE

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OR ME. SO WHAT?

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- IT WILL NOT GET ANY UPDATES FROM GOOGLE

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IT DOESN"T NEED UPDATES

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you're funny arguing this ancient dongle is somehow some magic device that will never stop functioning.

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You're intellectually dishonest using the word ancient. Never stop functioning? I don't believe this about anything. You seriously have to have some sort of brain damage.

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so you mad i told the OP your device wasn't a good long-term solution? you BIG MAD

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Nice try. This doesn't help you. You're still wrong. You're still dumb. You're still a terrible human being.

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eta i'm going to program my thermostat to beat up your thermostat

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This would be funny if you weren't such a shite-stain on this board.

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YET STILL WORKS AND IT STILL AVAILABLE>

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so are typewriters

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IT DOESN"T NEED UPDATES

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do you log into the chromecast from your phone/google account?

i'm sure you have nothing to worry about

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You're intellectually dishonest using the word ancient. Never stop functioning? I don't believe this about anything. You seriously have to have some sort of brain damage.

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have you even paid attention to the # of products google has bricked? seriously dude.
A eulogy for every product Google has ruthlessly killed (145 and counting)

i'm sure your little audio thingie is perfectly safe and will work forever. its not like google is in the midst of a patent war with sonos over wifi audio or anything.

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Nice try. This doesn't help you. You're still wrong. You're still dumb. You're still a terrible human being.

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no you've really hurt my feelings

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This would be funny if you weren't such a shite-stain on this board.

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your mom is a shite-stain

uh oh..from yesterday

Google is Violating the Sonos ITC Import Ban

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The problem? Google continued importing smart speakers and other products that violated the Sonos patents. So Sony contacted the US Customs Service in March 2022 and asked them to investigate. What they found is interesting: Google did, in fact, work to update an incredible list of its infringing products—which includes, wait for it, the Google Home Mini, Nest Mini, Home, Nest Audio, Home Max , Home Hub, Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max, Nest Wifi Point, Chromecast, Chromecast Audio, Chromecast Ultra, Chromecast with Google TV, multiple generations of Pixel smartphones, the Pixel Slate tablet, the Pixelbook, and the Pixelbook Go—making them less useful in some cases. But some or all of them still infringe on at least two Sonos patents.

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“To avoid further importation exclusions, Google must either further degrade its customer experience, or pursue a fair licensing agreement with Sonos,” a Sonos representative told me.

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you seem happy to roll that dice for the OP

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It is absolutely insane that Google doesn‘t want to properly license Sonos‘ tech but instead chose to cripple their products! I, for example, can‘t control the volume of my Google Cast enabled speakers using Assistant anymore, when they are in a group. And changing the volume separately in six speakers is just bad.

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well that doesn't seem optimal

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The Device Utility app is the only way that older devices can be setup (or resetup) now that Google had to comply with the findings. If they need to get rid of that too, then all of the original Google Home, Home Mini, etc. will be bricks if you need to set them up again (for example if your WiFi setup changes). It appeared originally that moving setup functionality to that Device Setup Utility was part of the agreement to become compliant

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clearly you should go with alxtiger's suggestion he's the brains of this outfit and he's got the ebay sellers with warehouses of this crap stacked in a corner to prove it!