Arcam rDock

[aberdeenpaul]

Hi all,
Just been looking into maybe buying the Arcam rdock and maybe buying a Arcam solo music/movie system. I want to have a few docks in 3 rooms with ceiling speakers to create multi room audio.
Has anybody used the rdock and is it any good?
Any help would be much appreciated

[Crustyloafer]

Can you explain exactly how you plan to use these three R-Docks with the in-ceiling speakers and the single Arcam Solo systems?

[mcdj]

I love my Rdock and Solo CD. I have a couple of issues with the dock...

1. While in the dock, the iPod (Classic) screen blinks on and off every few minutes in non-charging mode. In charge mode it's fine.

2. When I turn off the Solo for the night and turn it back on the next day, the iPod is not always recognized. I have to get up, walk over to the dock and toggle the charging button.

As for sound quality, it is very good. I can't honestly say that it's an obvious improvement over the line out on the regular Apple dock, but it does sound excellent with medium to high bitrate files from quality recordings. If all you have is 128kbps mp3s, you may find the sound unflattering and unforgiving.

One of the best things about it is no more using the iPod's volume control to try and regulate the output level. It's all done by the dock.

You say you want multiple docks in 3 rooms...you do realize the docks are not wireless right? And the Solo only has 1 dock input, as far as the RS232 port goes, meaning you will only be able to interact with one iPod on the front screen of one Solo. You will also need an power outlet for each dock.

Hope that helps.

[noel63]

Only drawback: it does not play out video from iPod Nano 3th gen!!!
Seems Arcam did not include the authentication chip from Apple

[Spen]

To be fair to Arcam though, this authentication chip business was introduced by Apple only recently (when the Touch, Classic and 3G Nano were launched), so it's more a case of didn't know about it, rather than didn't include it.

With regard to the original point, I think it's good at what it does, but I'm not sure it does what you're trying to do... If that makes sense!?

[Phil Adams]

I love my rDock, playing uncompressed music files it sounds simply fantastic and way better than any other dock I've heard.

Not sure how or why you'd want to wire up 3 of them though

[aberdeenpaul]

thanks for all your replies.
basically i was wanting a system where i can just come into one of the 3 rooms in the house pop the ipod in the dock and listen away.
i want to have the multi room function where i can listen to any music in any of these 3 rooms.
other systems for the ipod i have lloked at was the iport but it is ridiculously expensive (£1000) and not sure that it is really much more than a docking station

[Crustyloafer]

If you have an iPod then you already have all your music on yor computer. For multi-room audio at a cheap price I would look into the Sonos range of products.

http://www.sonos.com/index.htm

[Gondry]

the apple airport express work really well with airtunes... though admittedly you need a computer in the first place but I assume you have one to put music on your ipod. The rdock is very good but I've just got an airport express to try out and it is very impressive... cheaper than an rdock too, although not very well made, the rdock however is nice and solid and should last years.