Tweak WiFi Antenna on D200

[Matthew]

Hello:

Infrequent poster here but daily reader of the awesome info on the site.  I have been toying with adding a companion to the D200 and to that end I will have to change my equipment rack which currently lives between and behind the speakers.  To accommodate a possible change I placed all the components on 2" maple blocks on the floor and removed the component rack.

Two things happened:

1) The sound stage opened up immensely (like WOW) and,
2) WiFi connection dropped right off to a very poor signal.

The only reason I have WiFi is for the iOS app to control the source and volume and the app was and is, in and out of connection constantly.  This all as a result of moving the D200 from a height of about 24" to a height of 3".  Hmmmm so....

I am wondering if there is a way to enhance the WiFi antenna?  I know there are a few users in this group who have pulled apart their Devialet and perhaps have seen a WiFi card inside.  In a way it makes sense that the WiFi could be susceptible to poor reception after all it is inside a metal enclosure and many WiFi router at least have antennae and are certainly not made with a metal enclosure.

Thanks

[wikeeboy]

I know this is not exactly the answer you are hoping for but what i do may help your circumstance.

My Devialet acceses my home network via ethernet rather than wifi. I prefer this as the wifi card is effectively disabled which i think is preferable. I have an old Apple Airport Express which connects to my home network and i run a short (1-2mtr) ethernet cable from the AP Express to the Devialet ethernet port. This allows me to control the Devialet via the iOS app over ethernet. You can place the AP Express wherever the wireless signal is the strongest, but i'm sure that won't be a problem anyhow.

[Matthew]

I know this is not exactly the answer you are hoping for but what i do may help your circumstance.

My Devialet acceses my home network via ethernet rather than wifi. I prefer this as the wifi card is effectively disabled which i think is preferable. I have an old Apple Airport Express which connects to my home network and i run a short (1-2mtr) ethernet cable from the AP Express to the Devialet ethernet port. This allows me to control the Devialet via the iOS app over ethernet. You can place the AP Express wherever the wireless signal is the strongest, but i'm sure that won't be a problem anyhow.

Thanks wikeeboy.  Not really possible to run ethernet cable from my switch to the Devialet in my situation.  I have a dedicated wireless AP for the audio and my music is locally stored in a PC connected to the Devialet.  It's configured well.

I'm just wondering with all the issues reported with Air WiFi could be alleviated with a better WiFi antenna.... I may take the plunge and open the case and see if the WiFI card is accessible....cheers.

[Antoine]

No easy tweaks possible I'm afraid. You can see the WiFi antenna of the D200 when you look through the little window in the bottom. It's a thick PCB trace and looks like the letter E.

[completeluxury]

i wonder if it might be easier to extend the antenna outside the cover rather than power it up?

[Manoet]

Intuitively, it seems to me if it were an antenna-related issue that the early muffin-top models with top-mounted antennae or horizontally outwardly exposed antennas if wall-mounted would enjoy some measure of improved Air Wi-Fi performance over subsequent models where antenna is hidden underneath regardless of desk/wall-mount which doesn't seem to be the case. Personally I'm not buying into the antenna location even for the remote is in "X-spot" till I or someone confirms it rather than relying on what someone at Devialet once said. Devialet has said lots of things that have turned out to be less than accurate and/or worse, profoundly wrong. I don't use Air so I have little interest but would be fun to try once my machine's back together. There's actually several reasons it might or could conceivably work when reassembled that prevented its audiophile quality previously. No promises of course but admittedly I'd be a bit tickled if suddenly, outta-the-blue I got flawless Air performance. Would go a long way explaining why Devialet is struggling so hard with it. I've believed for many months they know EXACTLY why Air isn't working but can't come to terms with what that means they must to do. They're not stupid or inept... just obstinate.

[thumb5]

II've believed for many months they know EXACTLY why Air isn't working but can't come to terms with what that means they must to do.

OK, I'll bite... What makes you believe that?

[Manoet]

I suspect you know where I'm going with this. You can have spotty Air free but audiophile quality is likely never gonna fly as things exist today in the Expert series. And unless someone finds a way to cloak wi-fi from a L-O-T of extraneous EMI/RFI that's homemade in-house every time the power button is on in every expert model on the planet today there's going to be weird noises associated with it. That's what makes me believe what I mentioned above. But I can be wrong... time will tell. Very much an Occam's Razor scenario for me; "If all other things are equal, the simplest explanation tends to be the correct one." The simplest explanation for me is we have an enclosure that's purpose-designed, built from the ground up to be the most magnetic and conductively noisiest I've personally ever seen. Doesn't get any simpler. Should work about as well as throwing Air in the microwave on high and listening!

Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger and its ok if you don't believe me. But there's too many Air-like systems being used without issue or flaw. Do the math! Suspecting I "may" be only partially right isn't a very tall order by any stretch!

[thumb5]

On the contrary, I tend to agree with you - housing a wi-fi receiver inside a thick metal box crammed with high-speed DSP and high-current digital electronics just seems like a bad idea all round.  Devialet seem to have started out with a physical design that instantly gives them a huge signal-to-noise disadvantage to overcome.  Even Sonos, with its purpose-designed mesh network (and plastic enclosures), isn't immune to interference in all home environments without some care and attention.

Having said that, I think there are other problems with AIR that are more likely to be software/firmware-related - for example, the much-discussed white noise.

[Manoet]

From things I've read previously even the PEM's can create and/or aggravate white noise and hiss. Given that I think it entirely possible all current Experts may well have the entirely wrong PEM for wi-fi reception since they were likely purchased/installed before Air was considered and they're likely still installing old inventory on current assemblies. Sadly there are PEMs available that are specifically designed to remedy and/or diminish white noise while still carrying out the features Devialet wants to filter or provide protection against. Things like this can be a huge problem in over-exercising freebie upgrades when implemented gear didn't include going a different direction. I'm still interested, just for grins to see how Air might sound on my 200 post-reassembly tho I'll be terribly disappointed if that's the only place I notice an SQ-enhancement. The more I ponder this tweak the more hopeful I become but have to limit myself in soothsaying pre-natal chicken birth rates.