Mountain Lion Airport Express Issues

i've just installed mountain lion, had a bit of fun playing around with the new iOS style features... but one thing that's not really working for me is the way it communicates with my Airport Express

here's my set up;

MacBook Pro ~~~ wi-fi ~~~ HOME ROUTER

Airport Express ~~~ ethernet ~~~ HOME ROUTER



in the past, on my MacBook Pro when i've used Leopard and Lion, even though wi-fi was connected to my HOME ROUTER... my AIRPORT EXPRESS was still visible and accessible through iTunes. so i was connected to my HOME ROUTER, surfing the internet and then wirelessly sending music from iTunes over to my AIRPORT EXPRESS and then to my speakers

now it seems i have to actually connnect to my AIRPORT EXPRESS through wifi before i can use any of it's features... which i wouldn't mind doing as my AIRPORT EXPRESS is constantly turned on the same as my HOME ROUTER

the only problem is when running a speed test, i'm getting an average of 11mbps download speed through my HOME ROUTER

and only an average of 0.8mbps download speed through the AIRPORT EXPRESS

so my HOME ROUTER is significantly faster than the AIRPORT EXPRESS for some reason... and i can no longer enjoy the best of both worlds.

anyone any experience or wisdom on this topic at these relatively early stages?

Cheers,
Dean

PS. hope it all made sense



PPS. just noticed the dropbox "copy public link" feature isn't in any right click menus anymore... the perils of updating too soon