Sonos ZP120 or Sonos ZP90 + budget amp?

[bigboss]

I'm planning to extend my Sonos network shortly. I'm reluctant to pay £400 for a Sonos ZP120 when you can get an S5 for £340 or a ZP90 for £279.

Will it be better if I connect the ZP90 to a budget amp (up to £100)?

Is there any difference in quality?

Any recommendations?

 

[scene]

I've got three S5s and they all sound great. Can't really wall mount them, which you can with nor al speakers and they don't give a very wide soundstage, but that's inevitable given their design. As for a zp120 vs zp90. If you haven't already got your speakers, an option is to plumb a zp90 into a pair of active speakers. I know a couple of people who have taken that approach and it works well. If you go down the amp + speakers route, you can end up with a lot of kit in one place and if the only input being used on the amp is for the Sonos, you're paying a premium for unused circuitry.

 

[Anonymous]

Remember, you can get two S5's and run them as a stereo pair.

 

[bigboss]

Thanks guys, but I'm thinking of connecting the Zone Player to ceiling speakers ideally, or wall mount bookshelf speakers. I could use active speakers & wall mount them, but that can become complicated if they need electricity.

Two S5s is not really an option......I can't find enough space for one, leave alone 2!

 

[scene]

bigboss:
Thanks guys, but I'm thinking of connecting the Zone Player to ceiling speakers ideally, or wall mount bookshelf speakers. I could use active speakers & wall mount them, but that can become complicated if they need electricity.

Two S5s is not really an option......I can't find enough space for one, leave alone 2!

If space is an issue, the go for the ZP120, directly connected to the ceiling speakers, it keeps things simple. In my experience of the ZP90, the analogue outputs are OK, but I found feeding the optical out into my AVR250 was much more musical. (I.e. the DAC on the Arcam beats the DAC on the Sonos, which is probably unsurprising.) If you've got a chance, pop down to your local dealer and listen to the ZP120 attached directly to speakers (one near me has a ZP90 and 120 wired up)...

 

[bigboss]

Thanks for that scene!

Looks like I'll have to wait for a crazy discount on the ZP120 like you got 20% off at Best Buy for your Sonos!

 

[Dan Turner]

I think the ZP120 is pretty decent having just got one this week. I've got it hooked in to a pair of MA BR2s (wall mounted) in the bedroom and it sounds better than the TEAC 300 series receiver I was previously using. It definitely sounds like the best option with ceiling mounted speakers IMO.

If you look on Ebay then you regularly see brand new ones with £40-£50 off.

 

[PEAYEL]

I agree, if you have the kit lying around then zp90 s on one input is good. Otherwise there are some really good powered speakers out there.

 

[Chewy]

I have a ZP120 connected to a couple of Kef Ci160 in ceiling speakers, in a bathroom. I wasn't expecting great things, but I wanted music in that room. As it turned out, I have been blown away by the quality of the sound I get from the combo, in a room that is about as far from ideal as it gets. I can thoroughly recommend it!

 

[Anonymous]

i was planning on buying a new system for my room consisting of the zp120, cm1's or 685's plus the asw608 through my mac, but not sure if the zp120 was the correct option when spending over £1000, demo"d the 685's with sub and zp120 and the sound was nice but not sure if zp120 is powerfull enough to drive the spekers plus additional speakers through time, would it be powerfull enough when adding floor standers for example? not ecactly an expert but do appreciate quility sound as a music enthusiast any advice would be much appreciated. thanks

 

[visionary]

i was planning on buying a new system for my room consisting of the zp120, cm1's or 685's plus the asw608 through my mac, but not sure if the zp120 was the correct option when spending over £1000, demo"d the 685's with sub and zp120 and the sound was nice but not sure if zp120 is powerfull enough to drive the spekers plus additional speakers through time, would it be powerfull enough when adding floor standers for example? not ecactly an expert but do appreciate quility sound as a music enthusiast any advice would be much appreciated. thanks

not quite sure what you mean by that. ZP120 only has one pair of speaker terminals. Having said that, mine is running two pairs through a switch quite happily (Mission 760i and MA Radius 90HD)

 

[The_Lhc]

i was planning on buying a new system for my room consisting of the zp120, cm1's or 685's plus the asw608 through my mac, but not sure if the zp120 was the correct option when spending over £1000, demo"d the 685's with sub and zp120 and the sound was nice but not sure if zp120 is powerfull enough to drive the spekers plus additional speakers through time, would it be powerfull enough when adding floor standers for example? not ecactly an expert but do appreciate quility sound as a music enthusiast any advice would be much appreciated. thanks

not quite sure what you mean by that. ZP120 only has one pair of speaker terminals. Having said that, mine is running two pairs through a switch quite happily (Mission 760i and MA Radius 90HD)

You can run two pairs of speakers in parallel off a ZP120 as long as they're all 8ohm, no more than that though.

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

My "father-in-law" runs a ZP120 into speaker switching for four sets of in-ceiling speakers. Rated the set-up for ease of use (i.e. iPad / computer / etc) and the "sound everywhere" effect that it provided. Not sure how it would work with more competent speakers, just supporting the in-ceiling approach.

 

[moon]

Sonos zp120 plus 4 speakers. so simple.

 

[Nuwidol]

I have a zp100 in my bedroom (rated at 50wpc so slightly less tha the zp120) & I think it's fantastic for the size & money. I've had numerous budget speakers connected to it including Dali Lektor 2s, Monitor Audio BR2s, B&W DM303s & even a pair of B&W DM309 floor standers. all the bookshelf speakers were wall mounted quite high & out of the way.

All the speakers were fine but I sort them on this order: DM303, DM309, Lektor 2, BR2. That's probably just my taste though. I listened to the ZP120 in my local hifi store with a pair of B&W 685s & was fairly impressed with the combo.

In my experience I've always found bookshelves to be of better quality to similarly priced in ceiling/wall equivalents.

The only other thing I will say is that if you get a zp90 & amp then it is a highly upgradable path. The amp can be replaced & you ca also add a separate DAC into the mix too.