Would this work? - Laptop/hard disk/Sonos/Speaker

[Peter Bleakley]

Hi, I'm looking at some ideas for a possible system like this:

PC Laptop - To rip CDs, which is then connected to (wirelessly)

Apple Time Capsule 1TB, which is connected to (wirelessly)

Sonos Bundle 150, which is the connected to

Speakers or amp etc

Any other suggestions welcome.

 

[Anonymous]

Depends on what you really need.

The 150 bundle contains:

ZP120 - Wireless Amplifier - Just connect your own speakers
ZP90 - Wireless reciever - Connect to your own DAC / Amplifier - speakers

CR100 - Handheld controller and bundled software desktop controller for your PC.

If your aim is to get music in 2 zones/rooms and you already have an amplifier/speaker set up then yes the 150 bundle is ideal.

 

[Peter Bleakley]

Thanks Ian,

I think initially I'll connect it to my existing system in one room and some speakers in another. I'm not too sure about the wireless hard disk bit. I think in theory it should work but I've no experience of this sort of system. Have you?

 

[Anonymous]

yes, I have the exact system you require.

I have:

ZP120 in the bedroom connected to some Monitor Audio S8i's
ZP90 connected to my DAC/XP my main system.

I have all my music stored on a NAS drive connected to my wireless router. This set up works brilliantly, so good infact I sold my £1450 Cyrus CD8X + PSX-R because I couldn't hear any difference between it and the SONOS.

Depending on the location of your wireless router you may also need to buy a SONOS Zonebridge. If your router is next to your HIFI then you can connect the ZP90 to the router via ethernet and also to your HIFI via optical or standard phono connection and do away with the Zonebridge.

Hope this helps.

 

[Peter Bleakley]

Thanks again Ian,

I'm new to all this so I hope my next questions don't sound odd.

Would the sound be better either:

Played from the Apple hard drive to Sonos connected directly to my Kef iQ7 SE's or

from the Apple hard drive to the Sonons through my Arcam A28 amp to the Kefs or

possibly from Apple hard drive to the Sonos to AVI ADM 9.1s (if the speakers are upgraded)?

 

[The_Lhc]

Peter Bleakley:Thanks again Ian,

I'm new to all this so I hope my next questions don't sound odd.

Would the sound be better either:

Played from the Apple hard drive to Sonos connected directly to my Kef iQ7 SE's or

from the Apple hard drive to the Sonons through my Arcam A28 amp to the Kefs or

possibly from Apple hard drive to the Sonos to AVI ADM 9.1s (if the speakers are upgraded)?

A ZP90 running through the Arcam amp will almost certainly sound better than a ZP120 running the speakers itself, especially if you use an external DAC (I've no idea if the Arcam has a DAC or not).

As to your original question, yes you can set it up like that but be aware that one of your Zoneplayers must be WIRED to your router (it doesn't necessarily have to be the one connected to your amp though) and Sonos also recommend that your NAS is wired to the router as well (I'm not sure there are wireless NAS's to be honest, there might be but I've never noticed), otherwise running more than a couple of zones, or uncompressed audio may cause your wireless (note YOUR wireless, NOT Sonos's) to saturate and cause audio drop outs.

 

[Peter Bleakley]

Cheers for the reply.

Apparently the Apple Time Capsule can be used as a wireless hard drive (Apple - Time Capsule also works great as a wireless hard drive, whether you have a Mac or a PC. It sets up in a snap, giving you a networked hard drive you can use for storing and sharing all kinds of files.)

But I'm not sure if this would be any good or not. I must admit I have no idea about which is the best set up as I'm new to all this.

All I really want is a hard drive which I can store my CD's on, which I don't have to keep moving to attach to my laptop in order to copy the files too (hence my thinking of a wireless hard drive). I'd then like to connect this hard drive to a Sonos and either play this though my Arcam amp to the Kefs, or through the Sonos to the AVI ADM 9.1s (depending which sounds best).

Hope this makes sense. Hope I'm not going over old ground.

Advice appreciated.

 

[The_Lhc]

No worries, it's only old ground if you already know the answer!

One question though, do you have a wireless router? Or even a non-wireless router (unlikely, but just about possible)? The reason I'm asking is because of what you've said about moving the hard drive to copy files to it. The network hard drive doesn't need to be wireless if your router is wireless and the laptop is wireless, you plug the hard drive into the router and access it using your wireless connection from laptop to router.

If you don't, then you're going to struggle, let me/us know and we'll get back to you. It's also worth checking the Sonos forum (www.sonos.com click on forum), plenty of people are asking the same sort of questions so you could find what your looking for without even asking yourself. Sonos employees frequent the forum as well (not to the same extent as our gracious hosts though!), to be honest you won't actually need their help, it's relatively straight forward.

 

[Peter Bleakley]

Yes I have a wireless router. So it should all work as you say. Sounds great.

One more question though. Is there a reason why I would be better using a NAS rather than a standard hard drive, as there is a lot of difference in price.

i presume it's to do with quality of transfer from hard drive and sonos.

Cheers for all the help so far

 

[The_Lhc]

Peter Bleakley:Yes I have a wireless router. So it should all work as you say. Sounds great.

Good, so wire the network hard drive to the router (not wireless) and wire one of the sonos ZPs to the router (definitely not wireless, it isn't supported by Sonos) and you should be fine.

One more question though. Is there a reason why I would be better using a NAS rather than a standard hard drive, as there is a lot of difference in price.

What "standard hard drives" are you referring to? If you mean a simple external hard drive then you might find it tricky to connect it to your network, as it won't have any network connections. NAS means Network Attached Storage, they're designed specifically to do what you're trying to do, ie have a hard drive attached to the network rather than directly to a PC/laptop.

i presume it's to do with quality of transfer from hard drive and sonos.

No, it's simply that if you want to do what you're proposing you have no other choice really.

 

[Andy H]

Hi Pete, I use a buffalo linkstation nas with my Sonos. Easy to set up and if you do get one, once your music is ripped onto it is used independantly to your computer, so no turning on your computer to listen to music.

Sonos do do a bridging unit which connects to your router if you don't want to conect your z90 / z120 to it.

I would recommend a dac connected to your z90, it will improve things a lot.

 

[Peter Bleakley]

Cheers for all your help guys.

Andy H - out of interest, which Buffalo linkstaion do you use?

 

[Andy H]

The linkstation live LS-CH640L.

If you go to www.ripcaster.co.uk they have a set up guide for the NAS with the Sonos.

Hope this helps.

 

[Peter Bleakley]

Cheers Andy. Great Help!

 

[John Duncan]

Just so's you;re aware (if the discussions here haven't already put you off0 - a Time Capsule is both a wireless router and a hard drive, so you don;t need the router you;ve already got. It's helluva expensive though, and a network hard drive will serve the same purpose (Sonos doesn't need server software so it doesn't need to be a 'proper' NAS).

 

[Peter Bleakley]

I guess if you didn't have a wireless router or NAS and wanted a one box solution, could this be any good, if not an expensive option?

 

[Peter Bleakley]

Another question.

Would the system benefit from an DAC (DacMagic) from the Sonos to my Arcam A28 amp?

 

[Andy H]

Definately yes. I'm running the z90 into Arcam A90 via dac magic.

When I first got the sonos I was dissapointed with the sound but loved the versatility and features. Adding the dac improved the sound greatly.

Thats on the z90, the z120 is an amplifier itself and a dac cannot be added.

 

[The_Lhc]

Andy H:Definately yes. I'm running the z90 into Arcam A90 via dac magic.

When I first got the sonos I was dissapointed with the sound but loved the versatility and features. Adding the dac improved the sound greatly.

Thats on the z90, the z120 is an amplifier itself and a dac cannot be added.

Even just plugging my Z*P* 90 into the CD optical input on my old Sony AV amp improved the sound no end, compared to using the ZP's analogue outputs. Having said that I've heard a ZP120 running through some MA BR errr, 1s I think (the small bookshelf speaker) and that sounded pretty good. I really must get some better speakers for my other zone. Or any speakers at all, thinking about it...

 

[Peter Bleakley]

What do you think would be the best way to connect the bits of kit? (I don't think the amp has any optical or other fancy connections.)

NAS - SONOS - DAC - ARCAM A28

 

[Andy H]

Sonos Z90 to Dac: use digital coaxial or optical

Dac to Arcam A28: use standard interconnects to spare input.

If you dont use a dac then just use standard interconnects from Z90 to spare input on your Arcam.

 

[Peter Bleakley]

Thanks for the help so far Andy.

Any benefits/disadvantages between optical or Coaxial? Something like the Chord Company Optichord or QED Performance, both around the same cash.

Or if you can recommend another one?

 

[Andy H]

I'm using coaxial QED cable. Either of these cables would do you fine. There should be no differance between coaxial and optical as it's a digital signal, you know 1s and 0s. but some people prefer coaxial, I have read coaxial that is better (I do not know if this is correct) but now your entering cable debate territory which I would prefer to keep clear of. If you read cable threads you'll understand why.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Donït know if iïm talking about the same thing posted here but here it goes anyway:

I have a hifi system that i would like to use with Sonos and control my music through that wonderful remote. As i have an Amp, i dont need amplification from the Sonos. Also, i have a wireless network but not wanted to rely on that for streaming. What i wanted to do was to store all my ripped CDïs in some way (NAS, Hard Drive, but not the laptop) and be able to hear it, controlling it via Sonos remote. Is this possible? What do i need Sonos wise, storage, and conections?

Thanks

 

[The_Lhc]

nmfrp: I have a hifi system that i would like to use with Sonos and control my music through that wonderful remote. As i have an Amp, i dont need amplification from the Sonos. Also, i have a wireless network but not wanted to rely on that for streaming. What i wanted to do was to store all my ripped CDïs in some way (NAS, Hard Drive, but not the laptop) and be able to hear it, controlling it via Sonos remote. Is this possible?

You've pretty much described how the Sonos system works.

What do i need Sonos wise, storage, and conections?

On the Sonos side, a ZP90 and CR100 controller (or you could get an iPod Touch/iPhone and use that instead, software available from iTunes), storage, any NAS, pretty much, Sonos doesn't really care, connections, network cable from Sonos to router and NAS to router, the connection to the amp will depend on the amp, if it has integrated digital connections use those, if not, standard RCA leads.

If your amp is nowhere near your router then you could get a Zonebridge, wire that into the router, then just plug the ZP90 into your amp to allow it to access the network wirelessly.

You could do it cheaper with something like Squeezebox though, although you won't get the Sonos controller obviously and you'll need to be more choosey about the NAS, it'll need to be one which can run Slimserver, also you'll be using your own wireless network if you want it wireless.