Sonos, or any others?

[sjj84]

Looking for a network attached music player that can be tucked away in a cupboard and power speakers in a bathroom. Sonos seems to have a good reputation but is quite pricey. Are there any good alternatives? Would need to have an amp built in but not speakers, which seems to be the sonos connect:amp or sp120 if buying older second hand. Oh and needs to be fully controllable from smart phone/tablet including volume, I assume the sonos can do that?

[sjj84]

Thanks, I had come to that conclusion really, just wondered if there was another product that I hadn't heard of yet. Sonos it is then. I have been looking on ebay at SP120's which I believe is the older version of the connect:amp, but have seen a number of sp100's, what are they? From what I can gather from the ads they are also amps like the 120's?

[Type R Tom]

Sonos is great but unless you don’t care about the money I think it's a bit of an overkill and complete waste for a bathroom.

I think a better bet would be a Bluetooth wireless speaker receiver connected to a cheap second hand amp off ebay (or whatever you fancy) attached to the bathroom speaker.

You would be using a mobile to choose the music for the bathroom so just put your phone down somewhere near the receiver (within 5m) and transmit the music to the amp via Bluetooth.

[Bullett]

The cheaper alternative used to be squeezebox but Logitech stopped that line later last year. You do need a server of some kind though. There is a large community still and I think even a version that runs on raspberry pi now. It's slightly geekier than sonos.

If eBay or 2nd hand is being considered then take a look.

If you only want one room though the option above might be better. These systems are best as multi room deployments with a large centrally stored music collection.

[Teetertank]

Squeezeboxes for me. As Bullet already mentioned these are now discontinued though but you can fstill find plenty second hand.

Someone on here asked a similar question recently...The cheapest means of network attached player I have found is to get an 02 Joggler. You can pick them up for £50 on the bay. The Jogglers are now also discontinued but you can install the Squeezebox software on them and in effect turn them into a Squeezebox Touch. You could then locate the Joggler in your cupboard or even in the bathroom itself if possible. They have a touch screen or can be controlled with smartphone. You won't get a built in amp so you'd need to connect an external amp; if you are stashing away in a cupboard this is unlikely to be a problem. Depending on the amp, this solution will almost certainly better a Sonos system and likely to be considerably cheaper too, even with an amp factored in especially if you pick up a decent second hand amplifier. Plus you could then always add to it and expand to multi-room for the whole house. The smart phone remotes are fantastic for controlling, plenty to choose from and all and will deal with volume control too.

[JimbobVFR]

I'd agree on squeezebox being superior to Sonos but way geekier. In the same way that you can get better mp3 players than an ipod. I have 3 Jogglers and 1 squeezebox radio in my system and even if I could afford Sonos, which I can't, wouldn't swop them.

However for the majority of people I'd say Sonos while expensive just works and works very well.

[mids]

My local audio shop (Frank Harvey) have been advertising the Pure Jongo as a cheaper Sonos alternative. No idea if it's any good or not.

[allgonepetetong]

I use the Squeezebox system. I have a Duet in the living room, a Boom in the kitchen and soon to add a duet receiver to the extension.

They can all be linked together to play simulaenously or independantly. I use my Galaxy tab and Glalaxy S2 to contol in addition to the Duet controller.

You would need to add an amp and speakers though, so perhaps some sleek in-ceiling speakers hooked up to a small amp somewhere for your bathroom?

[5potTurbo]

mids said:

My local audio shop (Frank Harvey) have been advertising the Pure Jongo as a cheaper Sonos alternative. No idea if it's any good or not.

I didn't even know Pure had an alternative!

However, having bought my wife the Pure Sensia about 3 years ago for soemthing like £250, it continues to annoy me. Even when the damned thing's right next to the wifi router, the signal's no better and regularly it drops and restarts programmes.
We bought it to make the most of internet radio (living abroad) and the fact that Pure had the BBC's "listen again" function - but the signal droppping is a pain.

My point is, let's hope the Jongo's better!

[neil-c]

Am looking at sonos at the moment. There was a deal around chrimbo for a play 3, bridge and trial napster account for £240 or thereabouts. Anyone seen that deal still offered?

[sjj84]

I had considered squeezebox, my brother has one in his kitchen. I was trying to avoid having a seperate amp ideally and they no longer make or support them. Are there any amps that can be controlled via smartphone? Need to be able control volume and power on/off?

Those pure ones look quite nice, but sadly they seem to only do ones with speakers built in which is no good for me.

I agree that the sonos is perhaps over kill for a bathroom, they certainly aren't cheap, even second hand. I'll keep looking and see what I can find.

[Griff Boy]

I've got a Sonos system, set up zones through most of my house. Lounge, kitchen, conservatory, snug, bedroom and bathroom. And it's great, I absolutely love it. Even my wife who complained at the idea and cost when I first suggested it, now loves it, and even admitted she was wrong about it!

I use a stereo in ceiling speaker in the bathroom ceiling from monitor audio, works really well, reasonable sound quality And is great for streaming the radio while I'm showering in the morning. It's also connected to the bathroom tv, and the sound plays through it as well. All the other speakers are in ceiling bowers & Wilkins, with the exception of the lounge where the Sonos is connected into the marantz amp.

One thing with Sonos is that the controller is crap, I went for the second gen version of the unit. And it is rubbish, and half the screen stopped working after about 1 year.. It's not a major hassle as I only control it through my iPhone, iPad or the wife's Sony tablet.

I've also just got a play 5 for portable use, which Is good for taking outside when having b&q s or working in the garden, just plug it in outside and all choices are good.

The new version of the software also allows you to play the music on your iPhone directly through the system as well.

I don't know much about the other systems, but Sonos works very well for me, and I would highly reccomend it.

[14-7]

neil-c said:

Am looking at sonos at the moment. There was a deal around chrimbo for a play 3, bridge and trial napster account for £240 or thereabouts. Anyone seen that deal still offered?

Doesn't seem to be any on the internet at the moment but it would probably be better going in to somewhere like Currys to see if they have any stock left in stores.