I have a Denon AVR-X1800H running a 5.1 setup in my living room, and I'm trying to figure out the cleanest way to add audio to a small bathroom (shower).

I can run speaker cable through the wall and above the suspended ceiling, so I'd like to install one or two moisture-resistant / bathroom-rated passive ceiling speakers.

My main requirement is convenience: I want the bathroom to show up as a separate device in Spotify Connect and AirPlay 2, so I can simply select “Bathroom” from my iPhone without opening the HEOS app first.

At the same time, I'd also like to be able to feed the bathroom from the Denon's Zone 2, so that when needed it can play whatever the AVR is sending to Zone 2 / potentially be used together with the main system.

The solution I'm considering is:

AVR-X1800H Zone 2 pre-out → AUX/line-in of a network streamer → small stereo amp → passive bathroom ceiling speaker(s)

For example:

Denon AVR-X1800H → Zone 2 RCA → WiiM Mini AUX input → small Class D amp → IP44/IP65 ceiling speaker(s)

The WiiM would then act as the standalone “Bathroom” endpoint for Spotify Connect / AirPlay 2, while the analog input would allow the Denon to feed audio into the same bathroom system when I want to use Zone 2.

My thinking is that this would give me:

• Bathroom as a separate Spotify Connect device
• Bathroom as a separate AirPlay 2 device
• Direct playback without having to open HEOS
• The ability to send the AVR's Zone 2 output to the same speakers
• All electronics kept in the dry area, with only passive speaker cable going into the bathroom
• A much lower cost than buying a Denon Home Amp just for a tiny bathroom

Does this setup make sense?

In particular, I'm wondering:

1. Is feeding the AVR's Zone 2 pre-out into the line input of something like a WiiM Mini a sensible way of doing this?
2. Is there a better way to achieve the same thing while keeping the bathroom independently selectable in Spotify Connect and AirPlay?
3. Has anyone here done something similar with an X1800H or another HEOS-enabled Denon AVR?

The bathroom is tiny, so sound quality doesn't need to be audiophile-level — reliability, moisture resistance and ease of use are much more important.

Thanks!

I bought a used 2017 HEOS AVR back in 2023. I had just moved into a house that had 5 speakers in the walls (left, center, right, left rear and right rear) to provide sound for a medium to large sized open living room (maybe 25'x30'). The advantages of this AVR is that is is low-profile and compact compared to every other AVR (why do they have to be so big?) and that it connects to wireless surrounds and the subwoofer. I was able to connect the HEOS AVR to my 5 speakers and it fit in a drawer in a nearby cabinet. I put the wireless HEOS subwoofer under my couch and I bought two DENON 150's as wireless surrounds. This gave me a 7.1 surround system without any visible wires or components (the 150's were in a nearby shelf or bookcase).

Last month, my HEOS AVR started flashing red and losing sound. I did a hard reboot and reconnected all the wires and wireless speakers. I got it to stop flashing red, but the sound never recovered. It seems most likely that keeping it in a drawer just caused it to overheat a lot and eventually something inside gave out.

Since it is discontinued, repairs would be expensive. I bought a refurbished AVR S760H from Denton. It had HEOS so I thought I could use my wireless HEOS components. I kind of figured the wireless sub might not connect but I was unaware that HEOS is not capable in using wireless surrounds (only the HEOS AVR does this). I didn't notice any difference between the sound quality or capability of the S760H over the HEOS AVR. Now the S760H Is can use 7 channels but they had to be wired.

So instead of giving up my Subwoofer and my 150's, I just found a "new" open-box HEOS AVR on Ebay. I bought it for $600 and now my system is back up and running. I got the wireless surrounds giving me great 7.1 experience with Dolby Atmos and the sub in the couch is a huge difference if you want to feel the sound.

It is crazy to me that Denon doesn't use HEOS to create wireless surround sound in a home theater setup (only through a soundbar I hear). Am I incorrect in this?

I wanted to make one more post about this issue with my DENON H150 and AirPlay.

When I select the speaker on my Apple TV to stream audio to it, if I pause the audio it will time out after an unknown amount of time. This is really hard to gauge. But still at times out. My AVR receiver along with other devices do not timeout, and will permanently stay selected as AirPlay speakers. I have tried using the H150 over Wi-Fi and ethernet and get the same result every single time.

For any of y’all that have this speaker, does it happen for you?

My second question, I am almost tempted to get the WiiM Airplay streamer, in hopes that that will not time out. However it does seem a little ridiculous just because the H150 already has AirPlay built-in.

I have 2 Denon Home 150 and 1 AVR-X2600H that I play spotify through.

As it is now, the volume of the AVR is equal to about 10 points lower than the home speakers making setting volume a frustration every single time I want to change it.

Using my phone to raise the volume on spotify raises the volume on the speakers an arbitrary amount between like 4 and 8 points, where the volume then gets out of sync between the home speakers and the receiver.

Is there a way to either tie the home speakers to the AVR where the home speakers are literally always exactly 10 points lower than the AVR?

Alternatively, making the home speakers treat a volume of 30 as the actual value of 20, or the AVR treat a value of 30 as the actual value of 40?

Changing the volume of a device shouldn't cause this much frustration and since I have some HDMI issues with the AVR, I am tempted to just sell off the denon devices and switch to a brand where the basic functions doesn't cause a bunch of frustrations.

Does anyone notice that their DENON H150 speaker times out when selected as an AirPlay speaker, when audio is paused for an extended amount of time?

Is there a way to disable this? I have selected it as the audio output within the Apple TV audio output settings, and it is the only speaker on my network that will continuously time out

Building a new house, framing is up, electrician starts in a couple days, so approaching go time. Have beef with Sonos so I'm currently leaning hard towards heos.

Current plan is 3 x HEOS Drives in the basement powering 11 pairs of speakers through out the house + deck / patio for ambient listening.

Then, 4 tv watching areas, all with denon amps driving them.

Mostly KEF speakers inside, Definitive outside.

Everything will be cat6 hard wired. Speakers wired as well.

I've already purchased the first Drive and played with it just a tiny bit (just enabled a single zone), would say it plus the app so far roughly meets expectations.

So, the questions:

1. Assume 90% of the time we just have spotify playing through the ambient zones. How easy is it to pick and choose where the music is playing and at what volume on each zone? Some days we will have people over and want all zones going, some days we'll be by ourselves and only want music in the areas where we're hanging out. Is it easy enough to pick and choose? Can you set up multiple "presets" and cycle through those?

2. Once in a while we'll have people over for Patriots games on Sunday. We'll be driving the video with Roku HDMI-ed into the amps then into the TV. Can that tv audio signal be back-fed into the rest of the system to have it playing throughout the rest of the house?

3. We're an android house - what do most people use to interface with the system? Should I just get a cheapo samsung tablet, load up heos + spotify, and leave it on the living room coffee table? I know our phones work as well, but like to have something more "open" as well.

many thanks in advance! -- the cow

Just installed a new Denon Home 400 to use with Spotify. The sound SUCKS. It sounds muffled like it’s covered with a blanket.

Spotify shows ‘Denon Home 400 - Lossless’. Anything I can try, either in Spotify or the Heos app?

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I bought denon 716 soundbar. I put chromecast audio on hdmi in hmdi 1. I wanted to make a speakergroup of the Denon on chromecast with raumfeld one s. But the Denon is not recognised in Google Home. I have the same network connected with smartphone and Denon and have connected with Bluetooth of the Denon. What can be the reason this doesn't work?

Chromecast is working normal with other speakers i have.