Introduction
This project allows us to add “Smart” functions to an amplifier or amplified speakers that do not have these options. Normally the streamers are expensive or do not include as many options as we would like. Or are we simply seeking for a simple and economical option to listen to Spotify without having to have a computer or cables in between. This is a very versatile system, it is controlled from an app on the mobile and has different plugins to give it more features such as the ability to play audio from youtube videos or use different audio services.
What you need:
- Raspberry Pi (any generation will do, but we would be interested in one with wifi and bluetooth to avoid having to rely on adapters).
- MicroSD card. Preferably high speed. The size will depend on whether we only want to have the operating system installed or if we also want to store music.
- Volumio image for Raspberry
https://updates.volumio.org/pi/volumio/3.512/Volumio-3.512-2023-06-25-pi.zip
- Smartphone, which will be used to control the system from the Volumio app.
- Cables to connect the Raspberry to the amplifier.
Procedure:
- Download the Raspberry Pi imager program and run it. Then we insert the empty SD card into the card reader of the PC. It is important that the SD does not contain any data because when formatting the card these will be lost.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/software
- When we open the program we will see this window.First click on the “CHOOSE OS” button.
A window will open with several options. We go down until we find where it says “Use custom”. Select the option and the file explorer will open. There we look for the Volumio image previously downloaded and unzipped and select it.
Then we will go to the other button, “CHOOSE STORAGE” and select the SD card where we are going to install the system.
Finally we click on “WRITE” to write the OS to the card.
– We insert the SD card into the raspberry once it has finished recording and give it power.
After a few minutes the raspberry will create a wifi network to which we must connect.
Once connected we will get a notification to log in to the network. Click on it and this screen will open:
We follow the configuration and when finished the Raspi will be connected to our wifi.
Now we open the Volumio app on the mobile phone while connected to the same network that we have previously configured on the Raspi.
– From the app we can also install the different plugins depending on what we want to use, as well as configure the device to our liking.
When clicking on the device the first thing that will open is the following screen, with what is currently being played.
Clicking on the folder at the bottom right will open a menu with the different playback options available.
Now we must create an account to be able to install the plugins. There is a paid version but the free one will work for us.
To be able to play music from cloud services such as spotify we will need to install the corresponding plugin. To do this, on the main screen slide the left side and a menu will open.
Here we can find multiple configuration options of the device but the one we are interested in is the plugins option.
There is a wide variety of plugins depending on the services we use. To install them just click on the install button and wait for the process to complete.
Now if we want to stream music for example from spotify just install the plugin, open our spotify app on the mobile and go to the devices button.
And select Volumio
The audio will start playing through the speakers to which the Raspberry Pi is connected.
There is also an option that allows us to send audio from YouTube to listen to music from YouTube videos or from YouTube music. To do this we must install the corresponding plugins.
In the plugins tab “music services” we look for the following plugins:
Once installed we can send content from the youtube app.
Finally, we must modify a volumio configuration to re-create the configuration wifi point in case we change network.
Entering the side menu we look for the “network” option and entering there we look for the following parameter:
By default it will be disabled, so we change it to “On”. We can also change the name of the configuration wifi network or set a password.
Project website: https://volumio.com/en/get-started/
Quick start guide: https://volumio.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Quick-Start-Guide-Volumio-1.pdf
