'one box' stereo

[paralla]

I know its expensive but I think the investment is well worthwhile in a kitchen or bathroom to fit ceiling speakers.

I have pairs of Monitor Audio speakers in the kitchen and the bathroom and they are practically invisible, they don't take up a plug socket, they don't clutter up the bench and they don't get greasy.

Mine are powered by Sonos Connect Amps but I'm sure you could find cheaper amps if you prefer to use Chromecast. Something that has a signal sensing turn on would be best.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PyleHome-PAMP1000-Home-Ste...

Edited by paralla on Friday 5th February 14:40

[Watchman]

gizlaroc said:

Why don't you just go Chromecast->Amp? What is the dock doing other than adding another link in the chain that is not needed?

The dock *is* the amp. It just doesn't have an AUX input so the only way to pump any music into it is through the 30-pin dock port. Except that only works if it's an iPod.

Plan B is to use a separate amp. I'm building that though because I want a sub with those speakers, so I've decided to incorporate a 3-channel amp, power supply and adjustable sub-crossover all into the sub enclosure. I'm building the case this weekend if I can get at my router table which is at the very back of the shed, with tons of crap piled on top and in front of it.

[WelshChris]

I mentioned the Pioneer earlier in the thread (which is excellent) but I also have one of these at home:

https://www.hifix.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/19...

Not quite sure what more you could want if I'm honest - does literally everything.

[phil_cardiff]

I've almost got too many options now! I hadn't thought of ceiling speakers before but it does make a lot of sense in our place.

[mikeiow]

I'd still vote for Sonos as a great solution.
We think the Play:1 sounds great, superb for the size...we also have one Play:5 which plenty for a big room. Less impressed by the play:3. Head to Richer Sounds to hear for yourself!

Multi room audio is brilliant for a party. Grab a Logitech Bluetooth adapter (or similar) to lob an easy line-in (only on the Play:5) in case you want to stream from laptop (versus the Sonos app).

Downside? Yup, it ain't cheap. But it works nicely, and we have listened to far more music in the year we moved to Sonos than the 10 years before!!

[Watchman]

mikeiow said:

...we have listened to far more music in the year we moved to Sonos than the 10 years before!!

Absolutely this..!!

I had forgotten about a lot of the music we owned, but more than that, I realised I only listened to *any* music for about 15 mins a day. We have the radio blaring on the way into work - about 3 miles - whilst talking to my children half the way (school run). So let's say I'm listening (not talking) for about 15 mins a day - and it's music that I'm not that bothered about usually..

So now, Sonos is on as soon as we get home and we listen to a mixture of our own music and the internet radio stations. Sonos is on for 4-5 hours a night now, and virtually 16-hours/day during the weekend days. The house seems happier. Odd but so true.

[jbudgie]

Are these Sonos speakers anyway near as good as a proper Hi-Fi sound ?

Only heard them in a PC world store and wasn't too blown away?

I want something for the kitchen to give a great sound.

[Stoatman]

To me, never. But there damn good for what their designed for. Bit pricey though

[paralla]

A stereo pair of Sonos Play 1's would sound great on a kitchen.

You'd need to spend a lot more than what the Play1's cost to get a better sound from a Sonos Connect Amp and a pair of feeling speakers.

+1 for redescovering my music library after getting Sonos. The ease of use is totally unbeatable. I have it in the whole house, it's connected to the big AV amp in the front room but that hardly ever gets used simply because it can't happen (Sonos can't turn the AV amp on) from within the Sonos app. I have to use another app, the remote or turn it on manually (like an animal) which I'm too lazy to do.

I used to turn the TV on as soon as I got home, inow I turn the music on. I often have a little solo kitchen disco when I should be chopping veg.

[jbudgie]

paralla said:

A stereo pair of Sonos Play 1's would sound great on a kitchen.

You'd need to spend a lot more than what the Play1's cost to get a better sound from a Sonos Connect Amp and a pair of feeling speakers.

+1 for redescovering my music library after getting Sonos. The ease of use is totally unbeatable. I have it in the whole house, it's connected to the big AV amp in the front room but that hardly ever gets used simply because it can't happen (Sonos can't turn the AV amp on) from within the Sonos app. I have to use another app, the remote or turn it on manually (like an animal) which I'm too lazy to do.

I used to turn the TV on as soon as I got home, inow I turn the music on. I often have a little solo kitchen disco when I should be chopping veg.

I know what they sound like, but to me they are nowhere near a great Hi-fi sound.

Any other options ?

[paralla]

jbudgie said:

I know what they sound like, but to me they are nowhere near a great Hi-fi sound.

Any other options ?

Tons of other options, go to Sevenoaks and listen for yourself. If you want better sound than a pair of Play 1's in a kitchen you are pretty fussy about your sound. The Connect Amps and Monitor Audio CPC 's in my kitchen and bathroom are awesome but the 2 rooms cost me £1000.

[Watchman]

jbudgie said:

I know what they sound like, but to me they are nowhere near a great Hi-fi sound.

Any other options ?

They're not intended to offer HiFi sound quality really. Not the sort that I once had with 4x Audiolab monoblocs and a pair of Tannoy D700s anyway. Their raison d'etre is to fill your home with decent quality music that is convenient to control and setup (no wires).

The fact that you usually use them in a single-box arrangement tells you all you need to know in that regard.

I would never go back to conventional HiFi.

But if you have a conventional HiFi and want to introduce the convenience of accessing your music on a NAS or internet radio then both Sonos and Google have products to interest you.

[dmsims]

jbudgie said:

Are these Sonos speakers anyway near as good as a proper Hi-Fi sound ?

Only heard them in a PC world store and wasn't too blown away?

I want something for the kitchen to give a great sound.

If you like your sound veiled with pathetic one note bass then yes yes it's expensive hipster Hifi and great VFM

Just touch a Play1 - it tells you all you need to know

[gizlaroc]

dmsims said:

...... yes it's expensive hipster Hifi .........

Jesus wept!

[jbudgie]

dmsims said:

jbudgie said:

Are these Sonos speakers anyway near as good as a proper Hi-Fi sound ?

Only heard them in a PC world store and wasn't too blown away?

I want something for the kitchen to give a great sound.

If you like your sound veiled with pathetic one note bass then yes yes it's expensive hipster Hifi and great VFM

Just touch a Play1 - it tells you all you need to know

Just touch one eh ?

"pathetic one note bass"---is that a new genre?


Very helpful.

[gregd]

It's a lot more "old school" but I bought one of these recently for the dining room / kitchen (hooked up to an old pair of speakers).. Terrific sound for the money, small dimensions and with a 20 quid Logitech bluetooth dongle it's future proof too.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hi-fi/den...

[Watchman]

gregd said:

It's a lot more "old school" but I bought one of these recently for the dining room / kitchen (hooked up to an old pair of speakers).. Terrific sound for the money, small dimensions and with a 20 quid Logitech bluetooth dongle it's future proof too.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hi-fi/den...

I have an earlier version of that in my garage hooked up to a pair of abused Missions and one of my Chromecast Audio pucks.

[kingston12]

jbudgie said:

I know what they sound like, but to me they are nowhere near a great Hi-fi sound.

Any other options ?

If you are happy with Chromecast Audio rather than Sonos you can use any hardware you like. I have got a pair of Q Acoustics BT3 active speakers which (to me) sound better than the pair of Play 3s that they replaced. Total cost was £245 compared to over £500 for the Play 3s.

I have actually just added a sub which I bought for £130 taking the cost up to £375. Sonos would have been over £1,000 and still not sounded as good.
I still think Sonos is great if you are happy with music coming out one speaker. Once you have to buy two to make a stereo pair it starts to get very expensive because you have to buy the tech twice (or more) for each zone. The Connect product is expensive as well in my opinion.

I used to have 3 Sonos Connects, 2 Play 5s & 2 Play 3s in 5 zones. That was over £2k. I have replaced with 5 Chromecast Audios (£125) and spent about £750 building systems to replace the two 'Play' zones, so I have saved quite a lot of money overall.

[jbudgie]

kingston12 said:

jbudgie said:

I know what they sound like, but to me they are nowhere near a great Hi-fi sound.

Any other options ?

If you are happy with Chromecast Audio rather than Sonos you can use any hardware you like. I have got a pair of Q Acoustics BT3 active speakers which (to me) sound better than the pair of Play 3s that they replaced. Total cost was £245 compared to over £500 for the Play 3s.

I have actually just added a sub which I bought for £130 taking the cost up to £375. Sonos would have been over £1,000 and still not sounded as good.
I still think Sonos is great if you are happy with music coming out one speaker. Once you have to buy two to make a stereo pair it starts to get very expensive because you have to buy the tech twice (or more) for each zone. The Connect product is expensive as well in my opinion.

I used to have 3 Sonos Connects, 2 Play 5s & 2 Play 3s in 5 zones. That was over £2k. I have replaced with 5 Chromecast Audios (£125) and spent about £750 building systems to replace the two 'Play' zones, so I have saved quite a lot of money overall.

Thanks, Chromecast audio is the way I am thinking at the moment.

[kingston12]

jbudgie said:

Thanks, Chromecast audio is the way I am thinking at the moment.

I think they are superb value for £30 each and Google are often offering them cheaper still.

The real advantages for me are the multi-room ability and the 5ghz compatibility. If you don't need multi-room a lot of the active speakers or one box stereos mentioned on here have some form of streaming or Bluetooth aptX which is actually fairly impressive for what it is.

Nothing comes close to the Sonos app yet, but I use Plex to stream my own music and the Spotify app for the rest and it works well. Sonos other party trick is to be able to stream different Spotify tracks to different zones in your system, with Chromecast Audio you can only stream one track at a time. That was not something I would ever need, but will be useful for some people.