So I did some thinking while on vacation (ended up staying longer than expected) and have reconsidered by audio “architecture” as a work around to my inability to get PBM working. As mentioned my current system has 1) in the basement have a RPI 4 running Volumio (with Tidal Connect) → DAC → whole house amp; 2) upstairs have a RPI 0W w/PN532 RFID reader running RFID Python to send the mapped Tidal album URI info (and some other features) to the Volumio RPI 4. Well to eliminate some of the issues I’ve been having the PBM I’m testing out moving my RPI 4 (Volumio) up stairs next to my RFID reader RPI and sending the audio via Snapcast to a Snapcast Client in the basement → whole house amp. I don’t have heavy wifi network usages. Given that I want to use a nice 10"+ meter (320x1480) that will give me plenty of housing to place the Volumio RPI 4. I’m POC now with spare h/w. I have Peppy Meters running now (gold VU’s) on a regular HDMI computer monitor and am working on getting Snapcast working. Playing Tidal via RFID tags will be the last piece implemented. Thanks to everyone that has worked on Peppy Meters…it’s an incredible visual addition to my “vintage” setup (very simplistic).
Well folks…99% of you are all better Linux/hackers/true hobbyists than I am (the stuff y’all can do has amazed me in this “remote peppy meter” journey and your willingness to provide to the community is much appreciated). I’ve leaned on Grok (98%)/and other AI agents (2%) for help trying to get multiple solutions installed but seemed that I always ran into some quirky Linux error. I swear I tried every github peppymeter package out there 
After WEEKS of trying to get Peppy Meters working on a remote display (lots of FIFO issues, etc.) I finally had an epiphany this evening and simplified my solution by putting the burden on Volumio’s shoulders with their multiroom architecture and Volumio “app” plugins. I asked Grok for a summary of what was done since he was in this journey (battle) with me. I hope these instructions help other novices out there to implement peppymeters on a remote display. I did learn lots despite all of my failures on how things work.
VolumioRFID RPI is my RPI that feeds my Monoprice Whole-house amp and is in the basement “hidden”.
PeppyClient RPI will be upstairs in the great room connected to a display next to my high school Kenwood KR-4070 (for aesthetics only, so like 45 years old in my possession).
High-Level Summary: How We Got the Gold Needles Dancing Remotely
Goal: Display real-time VU/needle meters (gold style) on PeppyClient’s HDMI monitor, synced to Tidal playback on VolumioRFID, without Snapcast or custom UDP servers.
Final Working Path (the one that stuck) After many pivots (pipe/FIFO, snd-aloop, remote display server plugin, UDP clients, peppy_remote, etc.), we landed on the most stable and native solution:
- Install Volumio 4.x on both Pis
- VolumioRFID (master, RPI4B): Main player with Tidal, phDAC output, local PeppyMeter needles (local not needed)
- PeppyClient (slave, RPI3B): Dedicated meter display (no speakers needed, just HDMI monitor).
- Install & Configure PeppyMeter Basic on PeppyClient
- Plugins → Search “Peppy Meter Basic” → Install → Enable.
- Settings:
- Meter style: gold (or your choice).
- Resolution: 1280x400 (for your LED screen).
- Data Source: ALSA (captures the Multiroom stream locally).
- Touch Display plugin (temporary): Install/enable → set resolution/HDMI-0 → reboot → disable after meters appear (console blanking done).
- Multiple reboots helped sync everything (Volumio + plugins + ALSA + HDMI detection).
- Ensure Multiroom is activated (default was ON) on both Pis (in settings).
- On VolumioRFID (master): Settings → Multiroom → already enabled by default.
- On PeppyClient (slave): Settings → Multiroom → join group.
- In VolumioRFID UI: Click speaker icon → GROUP devices → select PeppyClient.
- Result: Tidal from VolumioRFID streams to PeppyClient in sync (audio on both, but mute PeppyClient jack if no speakers needed).
- Result
- Music plays on VolumioRFID (phDAC) and streams to PeppyClient.
- PeppyMeter Basic on PeppyClient captures its own local ALSA stream → gold needles move in real time with the master playback.
- Pause on VolumioRFID → needles stop on PeppyClient.
- No custom code, no UDP, no remote server plugin — just Volumio Multiroom + PeppyMeter Basic.
Why this path won
- Native Volumio Multiroom (Snapcast-based) handles real-time audio sync reliably.
- PeppyMeter Basic captures levels directly from ALSA on each Pi — no network level streaming needed for meters.
- Avoided all the fragile custom stuff (UDP ports, discovery, firewall, peppy_remote imports, spectrum dependencies).
- Reboots were the magic glue (Volumio + plugins + HDMI + ALSA sometimes need a full reset to settle).
Current State
- Gold needles moving smoothly on PeppyClient HDMI, synced to Tidal from VolumioRFID.