I thought I’d take a few minutes to provide a review of Logitech’s Squeezebox Duet product as I’ve had mine for over a year now and I still get frequent questions from people wanting to know whether I would recommend the product.
Click here to purchase your Logitech Squeezebox Duet
My Logitech Squeezebox Duet Setup.
I have a Squeezebox Duet and an additional receiver. For those of you not aware when you purchase the duet you get a receiver and a remote that allows you to control the receiver over wifi from anywhere in your home. The remote isn’t necessary as you can use your computer or even your phone to do so… but it does make controlling the system much easier. Personally I recommend that you purchase the remote as you plan to set up your system. As mentioned, I purchased a second receiver. One is attached to my stereo in the living room and the other is attached to speakers in the bedroom. They are controlled independently by the remote (or PC etc) and operate over wifi. Finally, I have a Thecus n4100pro NAS used to backup the computers in my home and to serve media. As such I’ve installed the Squeezecenter module for Thecus so that my mp3s can be played through each of the Squeezebox receivers.
Why Did They Choose Wifi?
As mentioned above the Squeezebox Duet operates using your home’s wifi network. This is nice as it allows the setup to easily communicate with other wifi-enabled hardware in your home. In my case that’s my NAS and the various computers that we use to control the Duet from time to time. Where wifi becomes an issue is the lag required to ‘reconnect’ to the network when you wake the Squeezebox remote from sleep. Compare this to your TV remote which operates immediately when you pick it up and the 5-10 second lag can be quite irritating. This is offset by the benefit of not requiring line-of-site to operate the receivers. Example: when you use your TV remote you can’t stray very far from the TV when changing channels etc. With the Squeezebox remote you would be in another room, on another floor and as long as the wifi signal is strong enough you can control the receiver.
Comments On The Interface
The user interface on the remote leaves a bit to be desired. With the most recent firmware update it has improved significantly, however it could get better. The ‘apps’ are somewhat limited and poorly integrated into the default UI requiring you to step through numerous levels in order to find that podcast you were looking for. Additionally the screen on the remote is pretty small compared to what we’re getting used to on smartphones.
One warning I have is with regard to firmware updates. I’ve experienced a few that were less than smooth and the online Customer Support leaves a bit to be desired. Fortunately there is a VERY active community of users that are willing to help out with questions and issues. Of late I’ve found this to be far more important for products like this than the actual company support.
My Logitech Squeezebox Duet Experience & Recommendation
To date I’m very happy with my purchase and would recommend it to others. The price is very reasonable for the amount of enjoyment we get from the product and when compared to competing products like the Sonos. I use my Squeezebox Duet every morning (it’s my alarm clock, waking me up to local news) and every night (I use the sleep function to help me on my way) and often in between. Before purchasing I expected to use it primarily to listen to mp3s and such, but in reality I hardly ever use it for that purpose. 99% of the time I use the Squeezebox to listen to internet radio stations or podcasts, both local and from around the world. It seems there’s nothing that’s not available through the massive repository of internet radio channels around the world.
Warning: Declaration of Social_Walker_Comment::start_lvl(&$output, $depth, $args) should be compatible with Walker_Comment::start_lvl(&$output, $depth = 0, $args = Array) in /homepages/27/d161705595/htdocs/chilligansisland/wp-content/plugins/social/lib/social/walker/comment.php on line 60
Warning: Declaration of Social_Walker_Comment::end_lvl(&$output, $depth, $args) should be compatible with Walker_Comment::end_lvl(&$output, $depth = 0, $args = Array) in /homepages/27/d161705595/htdocs/chilligansisland/wp-content/plugins/social/lib/social/walker/comment.php on line 60
I went trough your article while I was DESPERATLY looking for information about how to use squeezebox and Thecus.
I was really happy to see that you were able to load a squeezecenter module on the Thecus. Seems that you are the only one.
Can you help me to understand how to do? All the module I have are not compatible with this model of thecus N4100PRO.
I do really appreciate any support.
Thanks
Marco
Hi there,
I used the module designed for the n5200pro from the onbeat.dk site and uploaded / installed it through the Thecus web UI. From what I recall I didn’t have any issue doing this. I do remember that I had an issue at one point that required me to uninstall and then reinstall the module, but generally I didn’t have problems.
I will say that I seldom listen to my mp3s using squeezebox and prefer to listen to internet radio and podcasts.
Let me know if you have other questions and I can dig into the specific build that I have installed right now as well as the Thecus firmware that its loaded on.
@Chilligan
Ciao,
first thanks so much for replaying so fast. I do love my squeezebox and really appreciate his flexibility and the effort that the Logitech team is doing to keep the unit always updated. At the very end I too preferr listen to different kind of music trough the radio but, when I wand to listen to my CD… I feel so depress because I have to use another system.
I went last week on the website you mentioned. I met another really nice person, Ivica Letunic, that gave me so much support. He tought I was talking about the N5200 and sent me the newest version 7_4_1 (btw if you need I can send it) and as no idea how to install. In his opinion is not working.
What I did right now, again, is log in as admin, module management, module file, install.
I saw the module into the lsit but when I choose Enable Module after a while I get “Fail”.
If you have any suggestion or hints for me (maybe I do something wrong ) were really appreciate.
Thanks in advance
Marco
Hi there,
On my n4100pro I’m running firmware version 3.00.05 and on it I’m running SqueezeCenter media server version 7.3.3
At one point I did have issues with mine and had to uninstall and reinstall SqueezeCenter but as I recall the core issue was bad RAM which I then replaced rather than a problem with SqueezeCenter itself. You might want to try with 7.3.3 first and see if that will work for you and then attempt the upgrade to 7.4.1
Also of note, while my SqueezeCenter works I continue to struggle with the most recent firmware upgrade. I occasionally have issues when I switch sources from internet music to my local music and then try to go back. There seems to be an issue with their ability to resolve their server. As a workaround you can manually point it to an alternate ip which I’ll try to find and post here.
Note, my module is a 5200 module as well.
[…] a pretty good review of the Squeezebox Duet here. baby music, baby sounds, bubbling brook, cricket sounds, crickets, insect souds, natural […]