Dialog stereo operation question incl bluetooth, optical in, connection to router....

[patekswiss]

I've looked at online video tutorial and their manual.  Still have some questions -perhaps I missed something. 

1. It looks like, from the videos, that once Dialog is setup for a pair of Phantoms, that one can then drive the pair in stereo using bluetooth? (Yes, along with the loss of audio quality.)   Anyone have a sense of how much drop in the audio quality?  

2. Does the dialog have to connect to the wifi router using a physical ethernet cable only?  Doesn't have wireless connection? 

3. I see that the dialog has optical input.  Can't one simply take an optical out from one's computer and connect to the dialog and then use the pair of phantoms to stream whatever audio is coming out of the computer and not be limited by streaming only preapproved providers such as Tidal or Spotify?   Does this mean that the computer has to be in the same room as the dialog and wifi-router.  (Which it usually isn't.)

4. Presumably the Phantoms connect directly to the wifi-router and then the wifi-router to the Dialog?  So if wifi is strong throughout the house, dialog will connect properly with the Phantoms via the router? 

Thanks in advance for any help with these basic questions...

Thanks!
MtnGuy

ps: For good measure - I thought that the only parts that move externally is the subwoofer. However, there's also another ring around the tweeter - is that the mids and does that move also?

1. Yes you can stream via Bluetooth for stereo playback. After you set up the Phantoms with the Dialog, you connect your bluetooth source to one of the phantoms via Bluetooth. You may have to try both to find the one that gives you the proper stereo playback from both Phantoms. I found that one would, the other would play back in mono only from that Phantom. With modern Bluetooth, I don't find sound quality to be a big problem.

2. The Dialog is itself a wifi router that sets up a wifi network with the Phantoms. It needs to have hardwire access to the internet like any other wifi router, and therefore needs to be connected via an ethernet cable into the existing hub that is getting the internet coming into your home.

3. You could have an optical input into the Dialog if your computer has such an output or you can get the right adapter. Here is how I do it: I stream my music from my Mac laptop, via AirPlay, to an Apple Airport Express that is in the equipment cabinet with my Dialog. The Airport Express is connected by TosLink to mini-Toslink cable into the Dialog. When I select audio output on my Mac laptop, I select "AirPlay" to make sure the music is output to the Airport Express. You also need the Spark app on your laptop to control the volume of the Phantoms (you will have a volume slider there plus your system volume or the volume on whatever playback app you're using, in my case, Audirvana). This way I can sit in the room with the Phantoms, the laptop at my side to control the music, while everything is streamed to the Airport Express, by TosLink to the Dialogs, and from there in stereo to the Phantoms. I find this setup to be much more stable than using bluetooth, and the sound quality is probably somewhat better. PS -- on the Spark app on your laptop, you need to make sure you have the optical input to the Dialog enabled (do not worry about the optical inputs to the Phantoms themselves, they should be left off)

4. The Phantoms talk directly to the Dialog via wifi. They do not connect directly to your main internet router or to an Airport or anything like that.