Apple Airplay Frustrations

[Platypus]

Oh well, I asked my brother if he had any thoughts on this, but looks like you solved it anyway.
Here's his response anyway

Terrific post, many thanks!

I have my APs set up as clients in bridge mode, and it mostly works ok, but I do get dropouts, not infrequently. Luckily I do have some software which shows me all the local 2.4GHz networks and it looks like someone has a wireless hp printer sat right on top of mine (low signal strength) but apart from that I'm quite clear. I can't see what effect my DECT phone is having but I don't get many calls

But I like the idea of moving up to the 5GHz band. In the meantime I'll bump my wireless down by a channel.

One thing I suspect is that periodic data bursts between my iPad and iPhone might be the culprits as they occasionally look to sync with the cloud or whatever it is they do.

But tell your brother many thanks, his advice has helped me tremendously.

[rhubarb]

Oh well, I asked my brother if he had any thoughts on this, but looks like you solved it anyway.
Here's his response anyway

Step 1:
Setting up the AirPort Express to 'Join Existing Network' is the correct way to do this. The AE should also be set to 'Bridge' mode as you don't want it to also be trying to deliver IP and to NAT etc. This could cause all sorts of double NAT and performance issues.
Step 2:
I am going to assume for the moment the internet router is working on 2.4GHz mode. There are 13 channels (1-13) available in the UK for your router to work on. What can happen is that if you had a number of neighbours also with routers on 2.4GHz you could also be using a clashing channel. The problem here is that if for example you router is on channel 3 it will bleed down to one and up to 5. The channels are a loop so if you are in channel 1 you will bleed down to 12 and up to 3. There are a bunch of WiFi sniffer type tools that will show all the channels is use your the AP's in your area. Try and find a channel least used in your area.
Step 3:
Were are the AP positioned? There are a lot of household devices that which may not be obviously causing interference. A couple of examples are things like the motor on a fridge freezer - they are not always running but when they do start they cycle through 2.4GHz and could cause momentary dropout of the signal.Microwave ovens also operate in the 2.4GHz range (and every other range of course....). Household phone are the other culprit. Wireless phones on your home phone line are most probably on 2.4GHz - you receive call and dropouts occur. Positioning the Internet router and AirPort Express away from interference will help.
Step 4:
The 2.4GHz is so busy that the best bet is to move to newer bands that have less chance of interference and high bandwidth. 5GHz is the current best bet and the never versions of 5GHz offer wireless speeds of up to 400Mbps. The AirPort Express is 5GHz ready.
What I have done to make life easier in my wireless world is turn off the Wi-FI delivery of the D-Link internet router i have and plugged into it an AirPort Extreme base station over Ethernet. The AirPort Extreme just sits in bridge mode so all the DHCP comes of the D-Link. and then I have added a couple of AirPort Expresses for purely music delivery (kitchen and bathroom) and Apple TV's which are just wireless clients for music and HD video. It works very well!
Hope this helps.

[Platypus]

Sort of solved.

Join an Existing Network is the "proper" way to do it but it's not perfect, seems Airport Express latest model is a bit renowned for the occasional drop-out.

[Platypus]

I have a wireless network at home, let's called it SSID = PLATYPUS

Now I've added an Apple Airport Express in the front room, connected to my hi fi and intending to use Airplay to stream music to it. The AE is not plugged into my wired LAN since I just want to be able to stream music and don't really want to add extra wires.

My first attempt, set the AE to "join existing network" PLATYPUS and Airplay works ok but suffers some drop-outs, I assume because the iPad on which my tunes are located is wirelessly sending data to PLATYPUS wireless router which is then sending it back to the AE, so the amount of network traffic is causing dropouts.

Second attempt this evening works fine: Set up the AE to be a new wireless network, lets call it LOUNGE. Now the iPad can connect to the new wireless network called LOUNGE and stream music, but of course it's no longer connected to PLATYPUS so I'll have to remember to change it back to PLATYPUS when I want internet connectivity.

Is there a way to have the AE just as a stand-alone Airplayer, so I can send music direct to it wirelessly, while also staying connected to PLATYPUS ?

Seems like a simple request to me! Believe me I've looked. e.g. this page Wi-Fi base stations: How to set up and configure AirPort Express for AirPlay and iTunes seems to show what I want but as far as I can tell (Scenario #3 on that page) setting the AE to client mode disables its ability to receive wirelessly streamed music.

Anyone got this set up? How do YOU do it?

TIA.