How To Make Your Wired Speakers Wireless

So you have a pair of wired speakers that are connected to a stereo receiver you love, or maybe you have a self-powered pair, or a 2.1 system thats perfect for watching movies.

- Tim Gideon, Will Greenwald

But all of your friends are buying smart speakers they can talk to or at least stream music to, and you want to get in on the wireless revolution. We’re here to help. There are plenty of ways to introduce wireless connectivity to your current setup, most of which are relatively inexpensive and easy to accomplish.

GOOGLE CHROMECAST AUDIO

This is the easiest solution when you have just one speaker you want to turn wireless (a short daisy-chain of cables will let you run a stereo pair). Google Chromecast Audio is, like the name says, an audio version of Google’s Chromecast media streamer. It streams stereo sound over Wi-Fi using the Google Cast platform, letting you play music from your smartphone, tablet, or computer. And it outputs through a combination 3.5mm aux/optical port, letting you hook it up directly to a speaker or a receiver.

At $35, the Chromecast Audio doesn’t come with a lot of accessories: The package includes the Chromecast Audio, a USB cable, a USB power adapter, and a 3.5mm audio cable. To hook it up through an optical connection, you need a 3.5mm-to-TOSLINK adapter; and to hook it up to a stereo pair of speakers, you need a 3.5mm stereo splitter that turns the single 3.5mm output into a pair of RCA stereo plugs. If your speakers have RCA ports, that’s all you need to do. If they have only 3.5mm aux ports and you still want stereo, you need RCA-to-3.5mm-mono adapters to connect the Chromecast Audio to both speakers.

As a Wi-Fi adapter, Chromecast Audio supports multi-room systems, as do many of the other Wi-Fi devices below. This means you can use several in different rooms and control multiple speakers around the house individually or all at once.

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