Sonos - Still a good buy?

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The_Lhc

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professorhat said:
That's definitely one thing I could never justify - the dedicated controller. It might be good, but given a brand new iPod Touch costs £169 and the Sonos app is free, that one really doesn't make any sense to me.

It only makes sense if your home wi-fi doesn't reach the same range as your zoneplayers are located (I think that sentence makes sense but I'm not entirely sure...).
 

eggontoast

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The_Lhc said:
professorhat said:
That's definitely one thing I could never justify - the dedicated controller. It might be good, but given a brand new iPod Touch costs £169 and the Sonos app is free, that one really doesn't make any sense to me.

It only makes sense if your home wi-fi doesn't reach the same range as your zoneplayers are located (I think that sentence makes sense but I'm not entirely sure...).
I agree it doesn't make financial sense but.....I wanted one :p
 

bigblue235

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I've never really noticed any drop-outs with AE or Apple TV. The flat I live in is pretty well soundproofed, so I think there may be thick dividing walls. I can only pick up 4 other networks despite there being about 100 other flats around me.

An ATV will allow me to use Spotify via my iPod and it also lets people hook up their ipods/iphones via Airplay. If I had an ATV in our guest room I imagine people would use it, whereas I'm not sure they'd be comfortable using a PS3 or Sonos unless they had one themselves.

Our living room/kitchen is open plan, and there are doors onto the balcony, so I only need one source to cover that area. I can't put anything in the bathrooms (such as in-ceiling speakers) as the boss would kill me! So it just leaves the 2 bedrooms needing something.

I appreciate Sonos is a fantastic, well-implemented system, and I'm sure if I bought one I'd feel the same as you guys, but it's the buying part that's putting me off. £80 for an ATV2 vs £230 for Connect (VAT free prices).

I think I may just wait and hope for ATV3. Lots of rumours about that it's going to be launched at the same time as iPad 3.
 
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Anonymous

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Ok I'm convinced. Sonos is the way forward. Even after playing around with airport exress seems Sonos offers the best flexibility and ease.

However I'm struggling to workout how I manage the connections - not between the Sonos elements , that sounds pretty straight forward. My question is how the source or media piece joins the party.

I have 4 rooms I want to connect. Three of the rooms are easy with a Play:3 and and I'm done.

The question is in my living room where I already have a reasonably sufficient Logiteck 5.1 Z-5500 speaker system. I plan to have a MAC Mini (for Itune and other media) plus seperate Blu Ray DVD (probably Panasonic DMP.BDT Z10EB) and an HD 3D monitor (not sure whether to go for the Samsung S27A950D27" or a cheaper LG 23" HD 3D system). I already have a Linksys Wireless-N ADSL2 + Modem router and then I'll need the Sonos Connect.

So thats 5 pieces of hardware.

How on earth do I best connect this little gang for optimal sound and in some cases video performance?

Any advice eagerly sought.
 

The_Lhc

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Oregon said:
However I'm struggling to workout how I manage the connections - not between the Sonos elements , that sounds pretty straight forward. My question is how the source or media piece joins the party.

I have 4 rooms I want to connect. Three of the rooms are easy with a Play:3 and and I'm done.

The question is in my living room where I already have a reasonably sufficient Logiteck 5.1 Z-5500 speaker system. I plan to have a MAC Mini (for Itune and other media) plus seperate Blu Ray DVD (probably Panasonic DMP.BDT Z10EB) and an HD 3D monitor (not sure whether to go for the Samsung S27A950D27" or a cheaper LG 23" HD 3D system). I already have a Linksys Wireless-N ADSL2 + Modem router and then I'll need the Sonos Connect.

How on earth do I best connect this little gang for optimal sound and in some cases video performance?

The Sonos Connect will need an ethernet cable into your router (one Sonos device MUST be wired, it doesn't have to be the Connect but given it's in the same room it seems the obvious choice), you then need to take the audio output from that and plug it into the Logitech speakers. For the audio source you need to create a share on the Mac Mini with your music files in and point Sonos at that (note: in order to be supported by Sonos the Mini would also need to be wired to your router, having it wireless may work but it's not a supported ocnfiguration by Sonos, so they won't help you out if you have issues).

That's it for the Sonos.
 

bigblue235

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Forgot about this thread!

Anyway, I think Sonos idea is totally scrapped. For the same money as three Sonos Connects I can put my existing ATV2 in the spare room, buy an ATV3 and a PS3 for the bedroom, and a Mac Mini for the living room. Just seems like a lot more kit and flexibility for the money.

I went to see the Sonos at a local dealer, but I didn't get tech-lust! The CM1s it was hooked up to, on the other hand...
 
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Anonymous

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Hi,

Im new here and researching the Sonos 5 and Sonos 3 airplay wifi speaker systems.

We have a flat screen Lg 55" led wall mounted TV with a closed wall hung unit below. I would like to use the Sonos5 in the main room for audio play and Sonos 3 for other rooms.

Ideally I would like to play the TV sound through the Sonos 5 but not sure I can? Is this at all possible? I dont want lots of speakers that do different things for different systems ! Oh and I would like to be wire fee!

I need a simplistic system that plays music via wifi and the same system play a decent TV sound! Am I asking too much?
 

bigblue235

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If you're still at the researching stage, make sure you hear them before you splash the cash.

I'm still trying to convince myself to buy a Sonos system so I had a listen to a Play:3 the other day and I was quite disappointed. The Play:5 was better, obviously. If I was buying a Sonos system I'd spend the extra and go for 5s all round.
 

The_Lhc

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There are other options with Sonos as well beyond the Play 3 and Play 5 but it's probably not ideal for watching TV with, there's a 70ms (I think) delay due to Sonos digitising the input which means you'll have a lag between the audio and the pictures which you won't be able to do anything about.
 

pkerai

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I was wondering if you could use wireless speakers with the sonos, instead of the standard speakers sonos offer.
I would need a bridge device, NAS drive and of course the speakers.

Can any/some? speakers be configured to work with sonos wireless streaming.
It may lack features such as volume etc.... changes via sonos system.

Any experiences?????????
 

The_Lhc

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pkerai said:
I was wondering if you could use wireless speakers with the sonos, instead of the standard speakers sonos offer. I would need a bridge device, NAS drive and of course the speakers. Can any/some? speakers be configured to work with sonos wireless streaming. It may lack features such as volume etc.... changes via sonos system. Any experiences?????????

The "standard" speakers that you speak of are full Sonos Zoneplayers in their own right, they aren't speakers that depend on another Zoneplayer in order to function. The only zoneplayer that could be used with "other" wireless active speakers is the Connect or ZP90. You'd need the wireless transmitter from the speaker in question attached to Connect's outputs and then it should work without any trouble.

There's no way to connect a wireless speaker directly to Sonos' wireless mesh network though.
 
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Anonymous

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Sonos was recently installed in my new work office, and I must say that the setup is a thing of beauty. Slick, minimalist, easy to mount and set up. Is it worth the price...? Well, my employer felt it was worth the plunge and I'm not complaining...
 

pkerai

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Any experiences as to any particular wireless speakers people have tried with the sonos connect.
I suppose it would be more cheaper then purchasing the play speakers.
The sonos connect currently feeds the dac via digital output.
The analogue output could be used to feed a wireless set of speakers in another zone, at a fraction of the price of sonos's play speakers.

Could save lots of money, because your not going to get audiophile sound from the sonos's play speakers anyway. hmm......

Any suggestions?
 

mykspence

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I'd agree with the 3 not being what I'd class as audiophile and I'd be surprised if the 5 was hugely better. If one was to have a ZP120, which speakers would you have to connnect to it to offer a similar quality to 2 x Play5's?
 

bigblue235

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Yeah, I'm not really that much of a fan of the 5 either. It was better than the 3, and is the sensible choice if you're putting together a Sonos system, but I feel you could do better with a pair of PC or powered speakers (with an AE or something).

I don't really like the single speaker idea, and the thought of paying £600 or so for a pair strikes me as a bit bonkers. I'm curious to hear how speakers like Audioengine and Epoz do in comparison.
 

pkerai

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First of all, a list of compatible active speakers needs to be made.
It wont be by the manufacturer (sonos) of course.

Maybe people can add their choices.
Whether or not the sound appeals to you is another matter altogether.
 

The_Lhc

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pkerai said:
First of all, a list of compatible active speakers needs to be made. It wont be by the manufacturer (sonos) of course.

It won't be because it's a nonsense question, as I said earlier there are NO wireless speakers that can connect directly to the Sonos mesh network, none, so forget that idea.

After that point, ANY active or powered speaker will work with a Connect and any passive speaker will work with a Connect:AMP, some of the active or powered speaker might offer a wireless option with the use of a wireless transmitter of some sort but that's really nothing to do with whether you're using Sonos as the source or anything else.
 

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