I’ve recently installed a muse proto in my bathroom connected to a speaker. I really want to be able to play music using spotify connect for ease of use and home assistant automations and bluetooth in case I want to play something ‘custom’, and the muse proto with squeezelite gives me this flexibility.
However, the speaker is on full volume and still not loud enough and unstable. The volume will change and the esp Muse will often crash. I’ve tested several power bricks and it seems to be very sensitive to those (including distortion an noise), which leads me to the conclusion that the current amplification isn’t enough for this (it works fine when I used it as a bluetooth speaker before). Maybe it is trying to draw too much power?
So, my question is, how can I get almost the same, but with a stronger amplifier (and, I assume, at least 12v input)? AFAIK I need an amplifier that supports I2S and ‘just’ connect an esp32 to that, or am I missing something in that case?
Looking around on the internet there isn’t much I can find. Best fit that I’ve found so far seems to be the following: WONDOM | STORE but I would prefer more power (and mono) just to be on the safe side.
I am currently working on a 2x65W amplifier shield for Raspberry Pi, which should be available this month. Additionally, I am also working on a well-designed box with a built-in amplifier 2x65w in the spirit of the MN cast so based on ESP32, which should be available in three months as it is more complex from a mechanical standpoint.
Regarding your question, if your Proto reboots, it is likely due to an insufficient power supply that cannot absorb peaks. One solution is to try a 3A USB charger or higher, or even better, connect a battery to it, even if it is plugged into the USB, as it will act as an energy buffer. Additionally, the impedance of your speaker is important, and the best results are achieved with 4-ohm speakers.
I assume you are using Squeezelite. Be sure to have the GPIO gain set up to pull down in the config to achieve the highest volume.
Thanks, I realised this morning that the impedance was likely an issue. Sadly, looks were important for this build and I can’t use the much better but uglier (for the room) 4 ohm speakers I was using for testing before, so that is likely indeed part of the issue.
I already tried a 3A charger, but this would cause the volume to start fluctuating for some reason (and then rebooting), so i went back to 1A.
I can’t seem to find a setting with GPIO gain? I’m using squeezelite-esp32 fw: Muse.16.2.1254.master-v4.3 , mode: Muse
The stuff you’re working on does sound like exactly what I need though, so I might just wait for those products and live with lower volume for now
