Multiroom Support for Chromecast and Audio Extraction for Subwoofer

Chromecast Audio, now defunct, enabled users to pair any audio amplifier or receiver in the house, with casted audio from sources like Spotify and YouTube Music. Enabling multiroom on these devices helped with the option to bring music anywhere in the house, without spending hundreds on receivers that offered Zone 2 and Zone 3 outputs.

I had to go beyond 3 zones, and this time, by adding a powered subwoofer in the backyard area. Devices like these cannot sustain humidity on the long term, and cannot be kept outside. I bring it out when I need it. But with the lack of Chromecast Audio, I had only two options. The first one was to leverage the Audio Out from the TV on the patio, and connect it directly into the input of the subwoofer, or opt to extract audio from the Chromecast device using a RCA cable with stereo miniplug.

I decided to extract audio as I do not need to keep the TV on, and could also use it to display another source. I bought a Neoteck 4K HDMI Audio Extractor from Amazon, and installed inside the house (that has a passthrough hole to the outside where the patio TV resides).

The connections

  1. Chromecast to Neoteck 4K HDMI Audio Extractor (direct connection)
  2. Neoteck 4K HDMI Audio Extractor to HDMI on Patio TV (with HDMI cable)
  3. Neoteck 4K HDMI Audio Extractor to Audio Out (with stereo miniplug to RCA cable)
  4. RCA out to Subwoofer (RCA cable from step 3)

I added the Chromecast to the multiroom configuration, and now am able to have additional bass on the area. Paired up with passive patio speakers, provide a much better listening experience.

So why didn’t I install a passive subwoofer instead. It was an option, but did not find one that could hang on the ceiling (at a reasonable price), and installing one right on the backyard area would have required several 100ths of yards of cable plus a lot of work to hide them.