Signals from multiple base stations

This may be a very naive question, but here goes. I have a new Mac that supports WiFi 802.11ac. I'd like to replace my current Airport Extreme with the latest model, so I can take advantage of what I assume will be a faster speed. But I have an Airport Express base station (1st generation) that won't support ac. How can I be sure that my Mac receives the signal from the Airport Extreme and not from Airport Express?
Thank you. 

Your original question was how to make sure that your Mac would connect to the faster "ac" wireless signal that a new AirPort Extreme would provide.
Since the "ac" signal is carried only on the 5 GHz signal, assigning a separate name to that signal would allow you to always have your Mac connect to the faster wireless signal.
If you did not assign a separate name to the 5 GHz network on the new Extreme, then your Mac would connect to the strongest signal.....either the AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme depending on where the Mac was in relation to the AirPort router.
So, if the Mac was picking up the stronger signal from the AirPort Express, you would lose connection speed, since the AirPort Express does not have "ac" wireless capability.
Are you saying that, without buying a new Airport Extreme, setting up the separate network will just make file copying faster?
Whether you buy a new AirPort Extreme or not, having your Mac connect to the 5 GHz signal will insure that it is operating at the fastest available speed.
The point that I was making was whether you continue to use your older AirPort Extreme or buy a new product........the Internet connection speed on your network will be controlled by your Internet Service Provider and the connection speed plan that you have with them.
It's nice to know that a new AirPort Extreme might be able to produce a wireless signal at a speed of 900 Mbps.  But.....if your Internet connection speed is 30 Mbps, that is the fastest speed that your network will operate when you are connected to the Internet.
Buying a new router will not improve your Internet connection speed.  Even your current AirPort is capable of producing a faster signal than your Internet Service Provider can ever hope to deliver.
Think of your "local" network speed as if it were water moving through a fire hose.  Think of your "Internet" speed as if it were water delivered by a garden hose.
You can connect a garden hose to a fire hose with the right adapter.......but you will not get any more water out of the fire hose than the garden hose can deliver.

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