Wireless Media Hub used with Sonos

[Mickgw]

I've been impressed with then new Sonos system and was thinking of upgrading to one, at the moment i've got an Apple TV connected to my system and i use it through Airtunes or the Hard Drive on the Apple TV.

The problem with the above is i need to have my computer on most of the time, does anyone have any recommendations on a good set up possibly using a Wireless Media Hub with a Sonos, i've read the review for the Buffalo and that sounds good but it's not wireless.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mike Worrall

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Mike,

I'm assuming that with all this kit in your house, you probably already have a network setup. If so, and it's wireless, you can pick up any NAS device (including the Buffalo), and connect it directly to your router using an ethernet cable. The router will then broadcast your tunes wirelessly. This is why so few NAS devices (in fact, i don't think I've seen one yet) have built-in wireless - it would just be unnecessary in most cases, and expensive.

Assuming you do already have a wireless network, I would suggest picking up the Buffalo Terastation or Maxtor Shared Storage II for your network storage, the new Sonos BU150 bundle, and the Sonos ZoneBridge - this last piece of kit connects to your router using a cable, so that the ZonePlayers don't have to. Oh, and if you can stretch to it, pick up the cradle for the Sonos Controller as well - I find it much more convenient than having to constantly remember to plug the thing into the wall.

 

[Andrew Everard]

The Sonos components work on their own Wireless Mesh network, not standard wi-fi. So you'll need one unit ZonePlayer physically plugged into a fixed router, which can them distribute to other Sonos ZonePlayers.

 

[Anonymous]

Yup, in fact, if your router is of the wired kind, you could still go ahead with the setup I mentioned, but any kit that you already have or are going to buy (except for Sonos stuff) will need a wired connection in order to access media or data stored on the NAS.

 

[Anonymous]

Heh heh, every time I post something I think of something else that I didn't mention. This time it's that each Sonos player actually has a couple of ethernet switches on the back, meaning anything you plug into it can share the wireless connection. What this means for me is that my Xbox 360 is wired into the Sonos ZoneBridge that it sits next to on my kit rack, and the Sonos mesh network then carries my 360 to the router and on to Xbox Live - handy.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Tom,

I am also looking at the BU 150 bundle, with a NAS. I have contacted a couple of suppliers who have advised that both the NAS and Sonos (Say ZP90), are required to be connected to the router, I have Sky broadband with a wirelss router. I was however, in Richer Sounds yesterday who had a Link Station attached only to the ZP, which in turn was connected to their router via the Zone Bridge. Is this the correct connection, as I don't want to rely on my router for playback, I am on my third Sky router already.

 

[Anonymous]

Should work fine. You only need to connect to the internet for internet radio, downloading stuff, setting the sonos clock, and updates. Once it's all set up, you can play stuff from the NAS without needing an active internet connection.

What you may need the router (or an internet connection sharing PC) for is for setting up the IP addresses; not sure if you could get away with just plugging a loaded NAS into the zoneplayer. (You normally need a wired connection to set the first zoneplayer up.)

One drawback with plugging the NAS into the zoneplayer is that if you're accessing the NAS via wireless you probably won't get the file transfer speeds you could get with a wired (especially gigabit) link - not that that matters when playing music, but might be annoying if you're using the NAS for big files as well.

 

[Mickgw]

Thanks for the help everyone only just picked this up.

If you had your Sonos plugged into a Terastation, can you see all the music via the controller quite easily, and how do you set up playlists on a Terastation?

Could you use an Apple Time Capsule instead of a Terastation?