[Logitech] Squeezebox Duet, Radio, Boom, Touch network streaming players

[taloyd]

Hello,

Finally going to begin moving away from the Squeezebox ecosystem. Don't worry - I'm not getting a Sonos! But I have for sale (in order of desirability):

Touch - $143
Duet - $77
Boom - $67
Radio - $53

These are networked audio players (like Sonos) with a focus on sound quality (unlike Sonos, whose focus is on convenience, looks, and easy installation). Touch and Duet are meant to be the centerpiece of a hi-fi system (which mine have been), Boom and Radio are standalone complete with surprisingly good speakers. Those are actively bi-amplified, like studio monitors, meaning one amplifier for the tweeter(s), and one for the woofer(s), with an active crossover. Very good sound quality. Touch is the highest-end, with both good DACs for digital, and a clean digital output for transport.

I used these with a very fancy stereo, with the music source being a dedicated NAS (network attached storage) redundant hard drive unit with my collection of several hundred CDs painstakingly losslessly ripped to FLAC for the Squeezeboxes. If you have any questions about streaming digital audio, for quality, I can probably answer them. I recently found a very beat up Squeezebox Touch for cheap, so I'm keeping that and selling off the rest. I recommend using ethernet for the best connection, though the wireless works fine as long as you have 2.4GHz wireless G (it won't connect to a wireless N network, only G). I have remotes for all of them. Lots of remotes! They're all interchangeable, and I used none of them - I prefer using my Android phone to control them (the Squeezer app is excellent for that, if you're a Mac person, the iPeng app has nothing but praise).

I'm located in Los Angeles, but these aren't huge and so can be shipped at buyer's expense. The Boom is the biggest of them, and is still not large, though dense so it has a bit of weight. (The white paper for it is really nice - stereo biamplified speakers, with a DSP dynamic EQ, so maintains an equalization curve and eases it back as the volume is ramped up - really nice engineering, and it shows.)

Review for Touch:
https://darko.audio/2019/12/darko-audios-product-s-of-the-decade-2010-2019/
https://www.stereophile.com/mediaservers/logitech_squeezebox_touch_network_music_player/index.html


Review for Duet:
https://www.whathifi.com/us/logitech/slim-devices-squeezebox-duet/review
https://www.cnet.com/reviews/logitech-squeezebox-duet-review/
https://www.digitaltrends.com/media-streamer-reviews/logitech-squeezebox-duet-review/

Review for Boom (yes, it has really good speakers):
https://www.engadget.com/2008-09-21-squeezebox-boom-review.html
https://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/01/30/logitech-squeezebox-boom-review/
https://www.itwriting.com/blog/reviews/logitech-squeezebox-boom-review

Review for Radio:
https://www.whathifi.com/us/logitech/squeezebox-radio/review
https://www.digitaltrends.com/media-streamer-reviews/logitech-squeezebox-radio-review/
https://www.engadget.com/2009-10-06-logitech-squeezebox-radio-review.html
https://technogog.com/review/logitech-squeezebox-radio/


Cheers,
Tal

 

[nuxv]

am interested in the boom, tho only if the woofer surrounds are intact. can you do a visual inspection?
this would require removal of the grill:

 

[taloyd]

Sorry I missed this! Just today sold the Touch, Duet, and Radio, and decided to keep the Boom.

Regarding the woofer surround issue - people on the Squeezebox community forum have had good luck replacing the factory woofers with the little AND EXCELLENT Faital units - have reported it sounds even better.

Here's the relevant thread:
https://forums.slimdevices.com/archive/index.php/t-82497.html

User ciarmer wrote this about the replacement on 2014/11/21:

ciarmer
2014-11-21, 19:59
I successfully replaced my Boom's drivers today with FaitalPRO 3FE25 3" Professional Full-Range Woofers. I got these from Parts-Express.com for $19 apiece. Bufalo's post stated that these were "drop in" replacements for the original drivers. When I removed the current drivers, I found one of the surrounds was 75% separated and the other was in good shape. For curiosity, I'll probably end up replacing the surrounds on these two in anticipation of any future problems with my other two Booms.

I used the step-by-step method provided by pbroughton in his great pictorial post. It was an extremely valuable reference tool as I went through the process. The new drivers sound wonderful. I have not done a side by side with either of the other Booms but this one now sounds so good that doing a comparison is not too important to me right now. I am using the Boom without using the sub woofer plug that Bufalo suggested. I may do that just out of curiosity in the future.

There were a few things I encountered as I dismantled the unit and I thought I'd post them here as they might be helpful.

First, pbroughton's step-by-step pictorial is excellent. I strongly recommend it.

In step 5, 2 of the 5 screws holding the circuit board on are also holding clips. Be careful you don't lose these clips and be sure to replace them when putting things back together. These clips can be seen along the top of the board in under the two top screws in the picture for steps 4 - 5.

I ran into significant difficulty trying to disconnect the wiring harness in step 6. I actually chipped a small piece of the plastic connector off. I didn't go any further with it for fear that I would destroy it. So, I went back to step 4 and removed the white flat ribbon cable which allowed me to totally remove the front panel. Removal of the front panel made it much easier to maneuver the circuit board. After removing the five screws from the circuit board and looking under it, I realized that I could maneuver the board and gain access to those two pesky lower case screws that are the only things left holding the frame to the case. Once I removed those screws, I replaced a couple of the circuit board screws so the board would be supported when I removed the frame from the case.

So, the difficult step of disconnecting that white clip was not necessary. There is enough slack in those wires to maneuver the board and gain access to the two lower screws in step 7 of pbroughton's pictorial. It should be understood that as pbroughton stated, that white flat ribbon cable seems a bit frail (which is why pbroughton didn't remove it) but I was left with no choice. The fact is, it disconnected easily and it also reconnected fairly easily. But it made me very nervous (as did the entire process).

I then set out to remove the old drivers. The screws were coated with glue and I carefully "pic'd" the glue off with a dental pic tool. I tried to remove as much glue from these screws as possible as I wanted to make sure the Torx screwdriver seated well in each screw and minimized the possibility of stripping. Once the drivers were screwed in, I didn't recoat the screws.

The Faital Pro's are a very good fit. Without being screwed down, they didn't sit flush and seemed to wobble a bit but once the screws were tightened down, they were fine and they seem to be well compressed against the front frame. When you replace the screws in each driver, do not fully tighten all of the screws until each of them is at least partially threaded in. This will make full alignment easier. No modifications to the drivers was necessary.

I had some difficulty attaching the terminals to the drivers. The terminals needed a significant amount of pressure in order to slip into the connectors on the speakers (probably by design). One clearly needs to apply some opposing pressure from the underside of the speaker connector as you are pressing the terminal onto the speaker. If you don't apply opposing pressure, you risk breaking the terminal support on the speaker.

I plugged the Boom back in and was happy that it booted. I was even happier when it connected to WIFI and I was simply ecstatic when I heard my music coming out of it. Sounds great. I'm happy!

I probably should have put some glue on the driver screws but right now, I have no desire to dive back into that case. If it begins to vibrate down the road, I'll know what happened.

Thanks to everyone here for your wonderful informative posts. If I have posted something you think is incorrect or misleading, please let me know.