Any other alternatives to SONOS type setup?

[G-P]

Just wanted to see if there is anything else that I should be looking at in the style type range of speakers.

SONOS ticks all of my boxes, a friend did mention Cambridge Audio Minx but it seems from a quick look on the web site that they only have three speakers that are wireless.

Features that are important/what I want my system to do;

Stream music from my MAC, iPad , iPhone.
Internet Radio
Wireless
Home Cinema System
Best Hi Fi quality as possible from this type of system and budget
£1,500 ish

Thanks,

[Rick Cutler]

Sonos is the only real option, for that budget go with the same as I have for the living room:-

Sonos Playbar, Optical out from the TV, Networked into Broadband.
Sonos Sub
Sonos Play 1 Speakers as rear channels on Flexon Stands.

[Salesy]

I second that. Sonos is only the real deal.
its so simple to setup and use plus its easily expandable.

Obviously dedicated cinema setups are better but don't offer the flexibility.

[Laplace]

Toxicnerves solution is far more attractive if home cinema is a requirement. The very fact that Sonos does not support DTS is a major issue for me and has stopped from going down this route.

[G-P]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Thanks for all responses.
Toxicnerve a friend has suggested a similar route to you but getting one of these; http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/products/minx-xi-dig... instead of the sonos connect, is it worth pushing the budget and going this way?

[Gren]

For my 'Sonos on a budget' setup I've gone the Pure Jongo route.

Just over £100 got me a portable speaker similar to the Play 1 (used in the kitchen & garden) and another £90 got me the device that allows my Arcam Solo mini to speak with my NAS via an app on my phones/tablets. The app lets you stream from the device, from your nas/server, internet radio and Pure's on demand services which can be free or paid for (think Spotify)

3 other speaker options between £100 and £300 do what the Play 3 & 5 do. All are cheaper than the Sonons options by quite a bit and you don't need a bridge as the router does it all for you.

Not compared sound quality but aside from the lack of a soundbar (I'm also not sure of it's multiroom capabilities)it would seem to compare well.

[sparkyhx]

I think Raumfeld do a well regarded system, that gets closer to Sonos flexibility than most rivals........bpossibly beating sonos on sound.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/network-media-strea...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/21/review_wir...

http://www.loudspeaker-reviews.com/news/teufel/201...

[talkssense]

Here's an alternative (maybe not in terms of cost) for this who want better sound quality, a nicer control method that does require picking a phone up to do simple tasks like change volume, skip track etc, and who want better sound quality.

Airplay/dkna embedded, spotify connect, no limit of the number of tracks and plays more audio formats than Sonos. Details seem a bit vague on a party mode though.

http://www.stuff.tv/ces-2014/bang-olufsen-s-essenc...

[Meltham Terrier]

Hi,

Have you tried Bose, they have just launched the SoundTouch range which is very good.



Also have sound bars as well though not sure they support wireless/airplay.

[sparkyhx]

Meltham Terrier said:

Hi,

Have you tried Bose, they have just launched the SoundTouch range which is very good.



Also have sound bars as well though not sure they support wireless/airplay.

Bose - Posted on another thread - soundtouch doesn't support NAS (yet, I was told by the salesman) also very limited on the streaming support (more will come) and uses your own wifi instead of dedicated network. Sounded good though. No timelines available on additional streamers or NAS.

[Bullett]

You could look at Squeezebox. Not available new anymore but should be available on ebay.
Slightly more involved initial setup but excellent usability after that.
For an even more geeky option consider something RaspberryPi based but you will need to get your hands dirty and it may not be as solid as a commercial product.