Seems I can use VLC to put out an audio stream on the Lan. What do I need to look for in a cheap speaker that will receive the audio signal over wifi and transform and output acoustically. Or is it not that simple? Googling leads me to pricey devices or very difficult build your speaker type hacks, and I'd think this would be pretty straightforward and don't want (can't lol) spend a lot of money. Any guidance will be appreciated and I will write up my successes when I come out the other side.

Update:

So it seems that it isn't so simple -- sending audio data over the lan to a wifi speaker-- because that's only the half of it..the speaker has to be configured to accept and process the data stream, which means that some protocol needs to determine the format for the data packets for the server to serve and for the speaker node to process and output the acoustic signal. Therein lies the rub and the reason why everywhere you turn the talk is all about proprietary formats and hardware. So I guess my question is what server can I use to send audio data in what format to what type of speaker if I am looking to do this on the cheap.