Sonos - Heads Up
Discussion
chasingracecars said:
mattyn1 said:
I really like the look of the Yamaha stuff.
Once my Sonos is sold I will get hold of some Yamaha kit and see how it goes, I will post back here. 
Or a Yamaha, with bluetooth and airplay plus all the features of Sonos for £179!!!!
I will have a proper play with these in a couple of weeks. Far more flexible solution than Sonos as VEX has pointed out.
I can get them sooner but I don't have the time to test it properly just now so you would have to take pot luck but on the face of it, its the same output power as a Play5.
I will have a proper play with these in a couple of weeks. Far more flexible solution than Sonos as VEX has pointed out.
I can get them sooner but I don't have the time to test it properly just now so you would have to take pot luck but on the face of it, its the same output power as a Play5.
R8Steve said:
Well, walked round to John Lewis after work last night and bought everything i needed -
Sonos play:1 x 6 (bedroom, spare room x3, hallway, garage)
Sonos play:3 x 2 (master bedroom & kitchen)
Sonos playbar x 1 (living room)
Sonos sub x 1 (living room)
Sonos connect:amp x 2 (bathrooms)
Sonos:boost x 1
I've plugged a couple of them in just to see what they are like and i'm really happy with the decision i made to be honest. It all does exactly what i want and sounds great, worst case situation if i don't get on with it it's all probably worth more second hand now than i paid for it!
You'll probably decide to return the two play 3's once you listen to paired 1's.Sonos play:1 x 6 (bedroom, spare room x3, hallway, garage)
Sonos play:3 x 2 (master bedroom & kitchen)
Sonos playbar x 1 (living room)
Sonos sub x 1 (living room)
Sonos connect:amp x 2 (bathrooms)
Sonos:boost x 1
I've plugged a couple of them in just to see what they are like and i'm really happy with the decision i made to be honest. It all does exactly what i want and sounds great, worst case situation if i don't get on with it it's all probably worth more second hand now than i paid for it!
Looks like there is a new product being released soon. Sonos Playbase - I have been reliably informed it is pretty good as well!
I managed to sneak another play 5 in the night before the price increase and was very close to going for the soundbar as well but very glad I made the choice not to.
I will report back when I get it I am trying to get one of the first!
I managed to sneak another play 5 in the night before the price increase and was very close to going for the soundbar as well but very glad I made the choice not to.
I will report back when I get it I am trying to get one of the first!
MountainMutant74 said:
My heart slightly sank reading the above having just bought the soundbar.
But I need to hang on the wall so the soundbar was the right choice. Shame it doesn't match the new design style of the 5's. No doubt they'll revamp the design at some point.
I prefer the soundbar, really don't like those large slabs of the bases. And I think the sub and soundbar will undoubtedly sound better than the soundbase alone. (Given the point of soundbases is to avoid having a sub as well)But I need to hang on the wall so the soundbar was the right choice. Shame it doesn't match the new design style of the 5's. No doubt they'll revamp the design at some point.
https://mobile.twitter.com/maddox/status/833703140...
As an someone with some existing Sonos products I was on the fence. The new prices seem too high (although with nothing to suggest the £ will strengthen in the future I guess we'd better get used to it), but with Sonos you're paying mainly for the software. In the end I decided to get 2 additional playbars as all the remaining rooms I wanted music in also have a TV and a wall mounted option looks nice and neat.
Man maths means I convinced myself that selling a couple of connect amps will cover 50% of the cost. Not sure what other people's experience is, but to my ears ceiling speakers sound rubbish even though they are decent units that seems to retail at £130+. The convenience is great but if I was starting from scratch I wouldn't bother with built in speakers and spend the cash on Playbar/Play5 instead. Under the new pricing the cost of a stereo pair of ceiling speakers is £750+ without cabling, comms rack/cupboard etc, so a couple of Play 1/3/5 makes much more sense in my eyes.
Man maths means I convinced myself that selling a couple of connect amps will cover 50% of the cost. Not sure what other people's experience is, but to my ears ceiling speakers sound rubbish even though they are decent units that seems to retail at £130+. The convenience is great but if I was starting from scratch I wouldn't bother with built in speakers and spend the cash on Playbar/Play5 instead. Under the new pricing the cost of a stereo pair of ceiling speakers is £750+ without cabling, comms rack/cupboard etc, so a couple of Play 1/3/5 makes much more sense in my eyes.
Wasn't sure whether to post in this thread or start a new one but here goes....
Wife has requested a "radio" for the kitchen which to me is a chance to buy a new gadget. Been wondering about the whole multi-room audio thing for a while and a few colleagues have Sonus which they speak quite highly of. So if the recent price hike hadn't happened and I hadn't read this thread I'd probably be none the wiser and would have got a Play1 or 3 for her (with a view to expanding it all over time).
I now thinking along a few possibilities, the Amazon Echo/Alexa gadget is quite interesting and would provide for the kitchen radio but as far as I can work out it won't play music from a DLNA server (and probably not FLAC which all our CDs are ripped to), only music you've bought through them or Prime music if you have a Prime account. Not really sure what it can do multiroom wise either? Next option is Chromecast Audio, this would seem to do largely what I want and very good value too. Would obviously need to add some sort of powered speaker with line-in but there are many around, any recommendations though? Then there's the Yamaha kit, this looks very nice and the WX-010 being a good match for the Play 1 and the WX-030 for the Play 3 and so much cheaper. Also at some stage I like to put a proper AV system in my front room (projector etc.), the Yamaha AV receivers typically get good reviews, and obviously have the Yamaha MusicCast stuff built in.
At the moment I'm edging towards the Yamaha, though I could be convinced about Chromecast. Got to be wife friendly, don't want anything that is too fiddly or not reliable...
Thoughts, anything I've missed?
Wife has requested a "radio" for the kitchen which to me is a chance to buy a new gadget. Been wondering about the whole multi-room audio thing for a while and a few colleagues have Sonus which they speak quite highly of. So if the recent price hike hadn't happened and I hadn't read this thread I'd probably be none the wiser and would have got a Play1 or 3 for her (with a view to expanding it all over time).
I now thinking along a few possibilities, the Amazon Echo/Alexa gadget is quite interesting and would provide for the kitchen radio but as far as I can work out it won't play music from a DLNA server (and probably not FLAC which all our CDs are ripped to), only music you've bought through them or Prime music if you have a Prime account. Not really sure what it can do multiroom wise either? Next option is Chromecast Audio, this would seem to do largely what I want and very good value too. Would obviously need to add some sort of powered speaker with line-in but there are many around, any recommendations though? Then there's the Yamaha kit, this looks very nice and the WX-010 being a good match for the Play 1 and the WX-030 for the Play 3 and so much cheaper. Also at some stage I like to put a proper AV system in my front room (projector etc.), the Yamaha AV receivers typically get good reviews, and obviously have the Yamaha MusicCast stuff built in.
At the moment I'm edging towards the Yamaha, though I could be convinced about Chromecast. Got to be wife friendly, don't want anything that is too fiddly or not reliable...
Thoughts, anything I've missed?
I have the sonos units around the house, they seem to do a fairly decent job, they are not imho hifi but they sound 'nice' and that matters more to me.
I decided to have a go with Chromecasts last week. As someone with Macs and iPhones they don't really work.
Hadn't really thought about how much I stream from my phone to the Sonos gear, or from iTunes.
If they added airplay to chromecast they would clean up I reckon. At that point all bases would be covered. But for now the Sonos gear is staying.
I decided to have a go with Chromecasts last week. As someone with Macs and iPhones they don't really work.
Hadn't really thought about how much I stream from my phone to the Sonos gear, or from iTunes.
If they added airplay to chromecast they would clean up I reckon. At that point all bases would be covered. But for now the Sonos gear is staying.
When you figure it out, share the data!
My wife discovered Sonos & decided it would be idea for us about 2 years back....we ended up with 4x Play:1s (including 2 paired in one room), 1x Play:5 and a connect hooked up with our surround-sound kit....for just over £1K - for some odd reason, Sonos was much cheaper shipped from Amazon Spain back then, saved about £300 even then!
Same kit now would be over £600 more, so a significant leap.....not sure whether I would so easily invest in that today, & I do wonder how things will look for Sonos in a year or two....
BUT
It does work just great for us. Nice quality audio (although I am no hi-fi expert, and indeed my hearing certainly isn't the best in the world!).
We have our own music library - actually on an ancient (2009) Mac - also happens to be on Google Music just in case....keep thinking about replacing the Mac, but it only consumes 30W when in use, powers itself off & on overnight & just works). We also have Spotify and Tune-in radio, and between those we listen to SO much more than we ever did 3 years ago.....& that was one of the goals - over the years, we had stopped listening to music as much as we used to. Funnily enough, I'd say we've been out for more 'gigs' than the previous 5-10 years too!
Control from either of our phones, ipad, computer. Very easy, & being simple to use was one of her main criteria when she looked into this. That has a value in itself - the biggest pain for us is switching the amp on if we want the "media room" kit switched on, but most of our listening is actually on the Sonos speakers elsewhere.
Love the multi-room - I work in a room above the garage, and if I am listening to anything (eg radio programme), I can link in the kitchen before I head down for lunch....or we have all the downstairs ones on when we have any party. I have to say it was a good decision she made!
<edit>
Forgot to add....one of the funniest things was a while back when we were having a few late drinks on a Friday night with a couple of friends....our teenage daughter had gone to bed.....& suddenly the music went down a bit....& we got a text saying "some of us have got work tomorrow!!!" Got to love the wireless controls eh!
My wife discovered Sonos & decided it would be idea for us about 2 years back....we ended up with 4x Play:1s (including 2 paired in one room), 1x Play:5 and a connect hooked up with our surround-sound kit....for just over £1K - for some odd reason, Sonos was much cheaper shipped from Amazon Spain back then, saved about £300 even then!
Same kit now would be over £600 more, so a significant leap.....not sure whether I would so easily invest in that today, & I do wonder how things will look for Sonos in a year or two....
BUT
It does work just great for us. Nice quality audio (although I am no hi-fi expert, and indeed my hearing certainly isn't the best in the world!).
We have our own music library - actually on an ancient (2009) Mac - also happens to be on Google Music just in case....keep thinking about replacing the Mac, but it only consumes 30W when in use, powers itself off & on overnight & just works). We also have Spotify and Tune-in radio, and between those we listen to SO much more than we ever did 3 years ago.....& that was one of the goals - over the years, we had stopped listening to music as much as we used to. Funnily enough, I'd say we've been out for more 'gigs' than the previous 5-10 years too!
Control from either of our phones, ipad, computer. Very easy, & being simple to use was one of her main criteria when she looked into this. That has a value in itself - the biggest pain for us is switching the amp on if we want the "media room" kit switched on, but most of our listening is actually on the Sonos speakers elsewhere.
Love the multi-room - I work in a room above the garage, and if I am listening to anything (eg radio programme), I can link in the kitchen before I head down for lunch....or we have all the downstairs ones on when we have any party. I have to say it was a good decision she made!
<edit>
Forgot to add....one of the funniest things was a while back when we were having a few late drinks on a Friday night with a couple of friends....our teenage daughter had gone to bed.....& suddenly the music went down a bit....& we got a text saying "some of us have got work tomorrow!!!" Got to love the wireless controls eh!
Edited by mikeiow on Tuesday 28th February 11:35
R8Steve said:
Well, walked round to John Lewis after work last night and bought everything i needed -
Sonos play:1 x 6 (bedroom, spare room x3, hallway, garage)
Sonos play:3 x 2 (master bedroom & kitchen)
Sonos playbar x 1 (living room)
Sonos sub x 1 (living room)
Sonos connect:amp x 2 (bathrooms)
Sonos:boost x 1
I've plugged a couple of them in just to see what they are like and i'm really happy with the decision i made to be honest. It all does exactly what i want and sounds great, worst case situation if i don't get on with it it's all probably worth more second hand now than i paid for it!
have done the same but I could not bring myself to buy the Play3s as the Play5 is a much newer model so took a double hit by getting P5s for rooms which were marginal Sonos play:1 x 6 (bedroom, spare room x3, hallway, garage)
Sonos play:3 x 2 (master bedroom & kitchen)
Sonos playbar x 1 (living room)
Sonos sub x 1 (living room)
Sonos connect:amp x 2 (bathrooms)
Sonos:boost x 1
I've plugged a couple of them in just to see what they are like and i'm really happy with the decision i made to be honest. It all does exactly what i want and sounds great, worst case situation if i don't get on with it it's all probably worth more second hand now than i paid for it!
how is the sub have the Playbar in the basement and like it but the bass is certainly lacking (lounge TV has a DB1)
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