Two Questions about Sonos

[phatmanace]

Hi Folks,

After Years of hearing nothing but good feedback about sonos, I am seriously considering taking the plunge.

Had 2 questions which I don't seem to be able to find elsewhere

1. I quite like the look of the S5 - particularly as I have found a company that makes brackets for them so that I can put them on the wall. Are these naturally wireless enabled? - i.e if I bought one of these, do I only need to plug into the power, or would I also need one of their zone bridges to make it work wirelessly.

2. do all sonos players have inputs? - I'm getting a TV put into the kitchen, and plan to have a S5 near it. if I did this can I wire the TV into the Sonos so that:

a) the sound comes out that particular sonos device.
b) the S5 can also inject that signal round the other sonos machines in the house

Many thanks in advance.

-Ace

[VEX]

Unfortunately it is no one and yes to the other.

For the S5 to be wireless it needs to use a bridge to get either out to the Internet or on to the network to see your stored music.

The good news is that bridges are now only about £40

I can't double check but I am certain it has a line input on the rear.

Just googled it and it had a line in using a 3.5mm stereo jack.

Happy to help with a pistonheads deal if you want some.

V.

[phatmanace]

VEX said:

Unfortunately it is no one and yes to the other.

For the S5 to be wireless it needs to use a bridge to get either out to the Internet or on to the network to see your stored music.

The good news is that bridges are now only about £40

I can't double check but I am certain it has a line input on the rear.

Just googled it and it had a line in using a 3.5mm stereo jack.

Happy to help with a pistonheads deal if you want some.

V.

Thanks - that is what I feared reading through the marketing bumpf

on the line in question, do you happen to know if the line in will only work with *that* sonos that its wired to, or can any sonos device act as an entry point into the sonos network? - i.e I could plug a source into the S5, and then squirt that sound to other sonos devices in the house..

[E31Shrew]

Only works with the one that the device is connected to. You just press Line in on the remote.
Have a look at the Play 3 also .Been out a couple of weeks, so if cost is an issue, may be worth considering

[phatmanace]

cost isn't really an issue (up to a point). My wife not wanting Amps and Speakers everywhere is...! This is what started me looking at the sonos all in one speakers (that, and the recommomendations I had got) - I liked the idea of the one box mounted up on the wall with one powerlead!


-Ace

[E31Shrew]

It really is great kit. Sadly last fm are now charging a sub but if you do decide to go for it then recommend Napster wholeheartedly.
I know you mentioned wall mounting the Play5 [s5] but it is a rather large enclosure so might look a bit ungainly on the wall. Why not try it on the work surface first and then see how you get on? Also have you got power up on the wall, where you intend to mount it? Also if you're planning on running TV sound from it you'll need a pair of phono cables from the telly...or STB!

[fadeaway]

Just a heads-up that Richer Sounds have a sale on all Sonos devices which finishes tomorrow. So be quick if you want a good deal - for example they've doing the S5 for £280 instead of £350

(PS and of course Lewis's price match...)

[kingston12]

E31Shrew said:

Only works with the one that the device is connected to. You just press Line in on the remote.
Have a look at the Play 3 also .Been out a couple of weeks, so if cost is an issue, may be worth considering

On my system, the Line in on the S5 works as an entry point to my whole Sonos network. If I select another zone on the remote, the Line-in is always available.

The Play 3 is a great little unit for the size and cost, but worth noting that this is the only Sonos Player that does NOT have a Line-in.

Edited by kingston12 on Tuesday 30th August 14:39

[VEX]

Doh, didn't check the Play:3

Got two at home as well, but not back there until tonight.

Agree that the Play:5 line in should be an insert for he rest of the system to use, might double check that tonight as well.

V.

[headcase]

You only need a zone bridge if you cant connect any of the zone players to the router, only one piece of kit needs to be hard wired and it dosent matter wich one.

[justin220]

To save creating another thread, is this possible..

I want to have a wireless system in my kitchen/lounge/bedroom (and something small in my bathroom)

Now, I'd like to be able to have them all sync'd together (say for a house party), all controlled by my iPad using the Remote app (is that possible? Or does it have to be the in built iPod/Napster etc). My computer would be on, and the iPad would control it..?

Next question, I'm worried that one Sonos would not be loud enough for the kitchen diner, can this be wired to a more powerful system? And then have the bedroom/lounge sonos all sync'd with the more powerful surround sound in the kitchen?

[fadeaway]

justin220 said:

To save creating another thread, is this possible..

I want to have a wireless system in my kitchen/lounge/bedroom (and something small in my bathroom)

Now, I'd like to be able to have them all sync'd together (say for a house party), all controlled by my iPad using the Remote app (is that possible? Or does it have to be the in built iPod/Napster etc). My computer would be on, and the iPad would control it..?

Next question, I'm worried that one Sonos would not be loud enough for the kitchen diner, can this be wired to a more powerful system? And then have the bedroom/lounge sonos all sync'd with the more powerful surround sound in the kitchen?

The beauty of the Sonos system is really how it always you to sync all of your devices together. So from any controller you can control every device independently, and have them playing different music if you want, or you can link some or all of them together and have them play the same music. When you do that you can control the volume of each device separately as well as the overall volume across all of them.

If you've got a big space then you can buy the ZP90 or ZP120. These units don't include speakers - instead you connect them to external speaks or to an external amp. So you can go as loud as you want.

[kingston12]

justin220 said:

To save creating another thread, is this possible..

I want to have a wireless system in my kitchen/lounge/bedroom (and something small in my bathroom)

Now, I'd like to be able to have them all sync'd together (say for a house party), all controlled by my iPad using the Remote app (is that possible? Or does it have to be the in built iPod/Napster etc). My computer would be on, and the iPad would control it..?

Next question, I'm worried that one Sonos would not be loud enough for the kitchen diner, can this be wired to a more powerful system? And then have the bedroom/lounge sonos all sync'd with the more powerful surround sound in the kitchen?

As above you could use a ZP90 with your own amp and speakers or a ZP120 with your own speakers (it has it's own built in amp.)

A neat alternative is to use two Play 3's or S5s configured as a stereo pair. I have two Play 3s in my smallish kitchen and they go louder than you could actually listen to them. Two S5s would be more than enough for most large rooms and you'd have the advantage of being able to split them. Perhaps not worth the outlay if you have a perfectly good amp and speakers in there already!

[kingston12]

I forgot to mention that Best Buy and Richer Sounds are doing 20% off all Sonos gear in an offer that ends tomorrow.

Those who have been into Sonos for a while will know that discounts of any kind are rare on this kit, so this seems a great deal.

Best Buy are also offering 6% back through Quidco, so the Play 3 is effectively £196 and the ZP90 £211.

[justin220]

Thanks for the help.

Do these Sonos deals come around very often?

[kingston12]

justin220 said:

Thanks for the help.

Do these Sonos deals come around very often?

That is the best offer I have seen. I went to buy another this morning, but Best Buy are back up to full price.

Very few retailers discount Sonos specifically, so you are best off looking for the general voucher offers that come along from time to time. Laskys did one earlier in the year that got 15% off all audio equipment, and even Comet had a similar voucher.

Typically, 10-15% would be a good target, and this 20% has been exceptional, but this is expensive kit and in this economy there is nothing to say we won't see the discounts more often.

[VEX]

Those discounts would only be available for the big dealers.

Us little guys don't get sonos trade prices that allow us to offer those sort of discounts.

V.

[justin220]

I went back online yesterday to have another look but the prices were back up.

I'm still not 00% sure what I'm after, and think I'd prefer to spend my money in a local shop anyways..

[phatmanace]

I splashed the cash and bought an S3, and S5 and a zone bridge

Awesome - I'm hooked. Slightly dissapointed that the guys in Richer sounds really had no idea about how it worked, I had a couple of simple questions and they (even the manager) had no clue. In the end - I went and bought from john lewis.

Cheers
-ace

[VEX]

VEX said:

Those discounts would only be available for the big dealers.

Us little guys don't get sonos trade prices that allow us to offer those sort of discounts.

V.

Oi, what happened to supporting on of the many PH Sonos little guys! Lol.

Glad your enjoying it.

Happy to help with any other questions.

V.