Sonos wireless system

[admin_exported]

Hi All, I'm new to the forum so just wanted to say hi and thanks in advance to any help / suggestions anyone can give me.

My query relates to the Sonos wireless system. I've been trying to get my head around what I would need for what I want it to do but failing miserably! I have the majority of my music on my iPod and am in the process of getting the rest of my CDs transferred over to it.

The setup I have is as follows:-

Lounge - Sony av receiver with kef surround speakers. My wireless router is also based here.
Dining room - Teac cd receiver (cr-h257i) with 2 mordaunt short 902i speakers
Kitchen - none
Bedroom - none

What I am looking to find out is what Sonos equipment I would need in order to be able to have music played through my av receiver in the lounge, my Teac cd receiver and in the kitchen / garden etc. Now the kitchen / garden / bedroom etc I would be looking to get an S5 speaker which can be moved around as needed, so that bit I'm ok with, it's just linking in the other 2 rooms and whether I'd be able to have both the same music playing in all zones as well as different music in each? So I'd have an S5 for kitchen etc then I'm assuming I'd need the Sonos BR100 connected to the router in the lounge, but would I then need 2x ZP90's connected to the Sony receiver and Teac system; or does the BR100 allow it to be connected to the Sony receiver in the lounge to link that in, with just 1x ZP90 required to be connected to the Teac system? I have an iPhone so would just be looking to use that as the controller rather than buying the Sonos CR200.

In terms of budget, I am just trying to ascertain what I would need in order to have the setup I want and then I'll be able to work out more accurate costings.

Any help available will be very much appreciated!

Many thanks,
Ross

 

[CustomCable]

Tbh ross you're pretty much there, ZP90 to the receiver and teac system, and 1 single S5 to move around at your convenience. It depends on how close on of your ZP90 is to your router as you may not need to connect a BR100 to the system and instead go straight into a ZP90. Dependant on the music source you will be able to listen to different music in different rooms. There are a few restrictions on some streaming services that will only work to one zone at a time.However you are able to listen to the same music in all zones and you can choose which zones to play the same song too.if any of that makes sense.

I'd advise trying to smuggle an iPad into the system though as the iPad app rules for the Sonos.

Regards

 

[robert123]

Hi

As a Sonos user, my thoughts on your set up are:

1. Lounge. You state that your router is also based in this room. If this is within a short distance of your AV receiver, then instead of a BR100 (which is only a bridge and cannot be used to link to an amp), you can use a ZP90 and link this into your Sony.

2. Dining Room. You can use a ZP90 and link this to the Teac using one of the Aux inputs.

3. Kitchen/bedroom etc. I also have an S5 and this is great for moving between rooms when needed.

The Sonos system enables you to play different music in each room, or the same music in multiple zones, so covering all your needs.

For controlling, an iPhone or iPod touch is a satisfactory alternative to the Sonos CR200, although not quite so slick but saves lots of cash. Even better is as a controller is an iPad - gives drag and drop capability for adding music to the queue.

I would suggest that you store your music on a NAS connected to your router - will be much more convenient than needing to have either your iPod in a dock (connected to one of the Sonos boxes) or your computer on. A 1TB Buffalo Linkstation only costs £90 from Amazon.

Just take the jump - Sonos is great and you can expand as you want - I'm just adding another ZP90 into my system to give 4 zones - it becomes addictive.

Hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the responses, that's a great help and have definitely cleared things up for me. The router in the lounge is positioned behind the tv just above receiver so in that case it'll just be hooking up a ZP90 to that then. That's very tempting about the iPad as well (any excuse!) so I might look into that as well. I think I'll also be looking into a NAS as well then as that could make things easier.

Thanks again to you both, that's been a massive help.

Ross

 

[The_Lhc]

On a general point, if you've ripped all your music to the iPod then presumably you have copies of the music on a PC somewhere? Whilst you CAN use an iPod as a source (using the Sonos WD100 wireless dock) it does have its limitations (you CAN'T play more than one track to different rooms if using the iPod as a source for example), so you'd be better off pulling the music from the PC you have it stored on, or as others have suggested, a NAS.

Also, if everything is on your iPod then presumably you haven't ripped the music in a lossless format? That might be worth thinking about for quality purposes.

 

[Anonymous]

As I only have a laptop, I've transferred all my tracks to an external hard drive to free up memory space so wouldn't be able to pull the music from there, so it's useful that you've said about the iPod not being able to play more than one track in different rooms. Looks like a NAS would be the way to go.
You'd be right in saying that I've not ripped them in lossless format (to be honest that's something I've only heard of recently and am not 100% on how to even do it on ipod!), does the quality differ significantly?

 

[The_Lhc]

As I only have a laptop, I've transferred all my tracks to an external hard drive to free up memory space so wouldn't be able to pull the music from there

You would if the laptop is on and the external hard drive shared so Sonos can see it.

so it's useful that you've said about the iPod not being able to play more than one track in different rooms. Looks like a NAS would be the way to go. You'd be right in saying that I've not ripped them in lossless format (to be honest that's something I've only heard of recently and am not 100% on how to even do it on ipod!)

You need to change the ripping setting in iTunes but I'm not an iTunes user I'm afraid so I can't advise.

does the quality differ significantly?

It depends on how low a codec you've chosen to rip at (I think iTunes defaults to quite a low quality) and also what you're listening to the music on, you may not notice on the S5 for example but you might well do when listening through the receiver. It does also depend how critical a listener you are, some people really don't care, for others it's the most important thing in the world.

 

[robert123]

Originally I ripped all CDs to 320kbs using iTunes. Import settings are within the General tab under Preferences (using PC version) of iTunes. However, iTunes does not embed the album artwork within the individual tracks which means this is another manual task. The support FAQs on Sonos website explain some approaches - https://sonos.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/sonos.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=547&p_created=1160151710&p_sid=lH99HIrk&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD0yNTAsMjUwJnBfcHJvZHM9JnBfY2F0cz0mcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1. 320kbs works fine on Sonos, but if using a good amp, then lossless is the way to go.

I've just re-ripped all CDs to lossless - FLAC - using dBpoweramp CD ripper which is available for a free trial - just type into Google. This is a relatively simple, if time-consuming exercise (approx 5 mins per CD). Software also retrieves track names and artwork and very easy to use.

And if you want more music, then I recommend Spotify through Sonos - very good option for streaming as Premium service streams at 320kbs.

 

[Anonymous]

Of course, I was forgetting that because it could be linked to laptop you could view it on Sonos. Thanks.

I ripped all my CDs on the default settings so it will be of a lesser quality, something I might well take your advice on and re-rip in lossless format. In terms of spotify, that certainly seems worthwhile as it allows access to so much more music direct to the music system so it seems a waste not to use it.

Thanks again to you all, it's been very helpful and educational

 

[moosey]

I took the plunge, and re-ripped everything last year when I misdirected enough household money into the 'sonos' purchasing. My learns were

- rip in lossless; I could tell a difference compared to my initial 320rips. Most noticeable at higher volumes where the bass seemed deeper/fuller and the high notes seemed crisp but not harsh.

-i used a buffalo NAS conneced to router, and changed the itunes settings to use the NAS as the storage location

-art work was a bit of a kerfuffle; i read that you need to paste the artwork to the 'get info' for each album to ensure the artwork appeared on the sonos controllers. I don't think this is an issue if you used the ipod/ipad as a controller.

-in the lounge, connected a zp90 to marantz av amp, using tos. Sound veryy good

-in dining room, zp90 connected to marantz hif amp. At first, I was a little disappointed that my cd player was noticably clearer than the zp90 on back to back listening. This was soon rectified by binning the supplied rca leads and using some spare QED cables. After that change, i could tell no difference from switching between CD playback and streaming.

-my system has been very stable, almost foolproof. It crashed a few times initially, but always on the same track!? I deleted the track from the NAS and reripped it; since no problems. It is sooooo simple, it does help you listed to more music.

-i bought a firestone dac when they were on offer at xmas, and expected it to boost performance when connected to my hifi amp. However, I cannot tell any difference in sound when connecting zp90/tos/dac/amo compared to zp90/rca/amp. Perhaps the dac will start to develop with more use.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers moosey. It's looking like it'll be worth re-ripping in lossless then and the NAS option seems like it could be a wise move.
I just wanted to ask what "tos" is? You mention the ZP90 is connected to your marantz Amp in lounge.

 

[The_Lhc]

Cheers moosey. It's looking like it'll be worth re-ripping in lossless then and the NAS option seems like it could be a wise move. I just wanted to ask what "tos" is? You mention the ZP90 is connected to your marantz Amp in lounge.

A TOSlink connection, either optical or coaxial digital connection from the ZP90 to an integrated amplifier or DAC, rather than using the ZP90's analogue outputs (and therefore its own internal DAC).

 

[moosey]

sorry, i meant to say optical.

ps don't forget to back it all up after you invest the time in ripping

 

[Mr Steve]

Can someone confirm for me; Does the sonos iTouch / iPhone / iPad controller work through the wireless network created by your router (802.g ?) or does it connect through the wireless network created by the Sonos itself?

 

[Andrew Everard]

It accesses your wireless network router using normal wi-fi, and from there connects with the Sonos devices via their own mesh network.

 

[The_Lhc]

It accesses your wireless network router using normal wi-fi, and from there connects with the Sonos devices via their own mesh network.

Krect, so you'd need to make sure that your own wireless network is available in every location you put a zone player, otherwise the controller won't work. This is the main advantage of the Sonos controllers, they work wherever there's a zoneplayer. The disadvantage of course is that you need to sell a child to afford them...