Sonos alternatives for Speakers

[Rick101]

Hi,

I know there are a few dealers on here, any advice from anyone appreciated.
Wondering if anyone can give me any solutions that would be better than Sonos.

I'm looking for an amplifier to drive my D80 Tannoys. I use Spotify Premium as the source.

I currently have a couple of other Sonos units, a 5 and a 3. Whilst I tend to only listen to one at a time (not grouped) I do like to be able to carry on listening seamlessly if I move from one part of the house to another.

I was planning on the Connect Amp, but I think this has now been replaced with a new, I think more powerful amp, in black, which is preferable.
It was about £600 iirc which is making me wonder if there are better options.

Thanks

Edited by Rick101 on Tuesday 13th November 13:52

[VEX]

I dont think that the SONOS Connect Amp is being replaced, I think there is just another 'higher powered and possibly spec'ed' amp is being brought it.

Other brands you could consider are Denon Heos, Yamaha MusicCast, NAD/BlueSound, Lode Audio as well as several others.

I (and I am sure others here) have access to all these so happy to help out if you want.

V.

[Rick101]

Thanks for the reply.

I'll look into those. I'm conscious a single Sonos unit could cost the same as another brands entire solution.

May well come back to you come the time.

Thanks.

[2Btoo]

Chromecast Audio. Does (almost) everything that Sonos does but at a tiny fraction of the price, and enables you to use your existing kit.

Whether it works alongside Sonos I don't know. However given the price of them you could have a dozen and still save money.

[Rick101]

Hmm, I think that closer to the 'cheaper' solution I was considering.

I guess I could plug the CA into my existing amp. I think Spotify phone app now can steam directly to that CA.
I already have a old style chromecast plugged into a Yamaha Soundbar which works for anything cast from the phone and also forwards video to telly.

Just wondering if it would them be worthwhile keeping the other two Sonos play units or replacing with some basic cheap small speakers which i could plug the CA straight into without the faff of an amplifier.

I guess you name the CA's individually and can only cast to one at a time??

[bristolracer]

You could buy active speakers, or look out for speakers with built in Google assistant.
Sonos is nice but beginning to look overpriced these days.
The days of these companies having their own operating system have got to be numbered. Many are now including alexa or Google built in

[Rick101]

I think that is what is putting me off.

I'm already invested in Sonos. I like it, it works great but the more you buy, the more tied you become.
Much like Apple, it's hard to get away from.

I prob could pick up a used Sonos Amp for £250. I'm hoping it would be sufficient to power the Tannoy.
https://www.hifidatabase.com/Detailed/Tannoy_638_P...
I think it's the sensitivity that's relevant, 91db.

I suppose I could sell off the existing units. I then need 3 CA or 2 integrated speakers, JBL seem popular, plus be left with a big ugly amp for the main room.
I'm not sure there would be a great financial benefit or more importantly a functionality benefit.

[2Btoo]

Rick101 said:

I guess you name the CA's individually and can only cast to one at a time??

Yes, each one is given a unique name and you can then group them as you choose. "Everywhere" is an obvious one but you could also do "Downstairs" and "Outside" (yes, I have some outside as well!)

I rate them very highly. The sound quality is EXCELLENT (and why I chose them - getting a Sonos system to match the quality of my amp and speakers would have been very expensive indeed). The only annoyance is that the app can be slightly temperamental; a while back it occasionally struggled to progress from one song to the next but they update it regularly and I suspect that problem was solved a few months ago.

[Blackpuddin]

I'm all in favour of this if it gets rid of John Bercow.

[Zodiac M]

Rick101 said:

I guess you name the CA's individually and can only cast to one at a time??

You can cast to as many CAs as you want simultaneously, creating a multi-room system.

It's simple and works great.

[Blink982]

Another for Chromecast Audio then pick any amp of your choosing. You can get decent stereo amps off ebay for peanuts.

I also use two Squeezeboxes. The main reason I didn't ever jump to Sonos is simply the ridiculous cost of the Connect. I would need two. There is absolutely zero justification for 350 quid for a dumb streaming device. My Chromecast Audio cost 30 quid.

Edited by Blink982 on Thursday 15th November 03:51

[matjk]

Whist I agree the connect is a scam it does have one handy feature that chrome audio doesn’t and that’s line in , compared to sonos the app is not as good and I found sonos does a great job of always keeping all speakers in sync with each other chrome could be a bit flaky on multi room setups. A second hand amp or connect might be a simply easy option , I missed a connect the other day on Facebook that sold for £80 , gutted ,
Play3 are very cheap now ( no longer sold) but they sound very good for what they are

[stargazer30]

If you have spotify connect (premium) then this is pretty easy really. I run a decent quality Marantz AV amp for my main setup in the living room driving some B&W floorstanders. The amp has connect built in. Then I can simply switch on the phone to any of the connect enabled speakers in the rest of the house (I assume sonos supports this too). I am using some cheap Jam audio speakers for the kitchen and office. They do a good job for the price.

[Blink982]

Another reason, I never went for a Connect is they look like a kid's seat. I could live with it if my rack wasn't open but it isn't and that white monstrosity would stick out like a sore thumb. It looks a bit ipod/90's. They've addressed the design with the new amp but there is no new Connect which is a shame.

[Rick101]

stargazer30 said:

If you have spotify connect (premium) then this is pretty easy really. I run a decent quality Marantz AV amp for my main setup in the living room driving some B&W floorstanders. The amp has connect built in. Then I can simply switch on the phone to any of the connect enabled speakers in the rest of the house (I assume sonos supports this too). I am using some cheap Jam audio speakers for the kitchen and office. They do a good job for the price.

Do I understand correctly? Your Amp has a Sonos connect built in? Which amp is this please?
Rereading I'm not sure what you mean by Connect?
Connect is a Sonos product
Spotify premium is needed to make use of Sonos.

Edited by Rick101 on Thursday 15th November 05:53

[Rick101]

Couple of thoughts, the one function I regularly use, almost daily on the Sonos app is the sleep timer. I sometimes use the alarm function.
I also like to listen to various stations though the Radio by Tune in, Radio Paradise, World Service News etc.

As far as I know the timers are not available in the Spotify app. not sure why, I would have thought fairly easy to program.
Also I don't think they have broadcast radio, just their own playlists.

I was leaning towards the Chromecast solution but it may be that only Sonos currently has the functionality I want.


With regard to Connect Amp (old)
Sonos advise - The Connect:Amp will power a stereo pair of speakers rated between 4 - 16 ohms directly using raw speaker wire, or 2 stereo pairs of speakers rated at exactly 8 ohms.

Hi Fi database says for my speakers - Nominal / minimum impedance: 6 Ohm / 4 Ohm

So looks okay, though I thought wattage had something to do with it too?

Edited by Rick101 on Thursday 15th November 07:26

[stargazer30]

Rick101 said:

Do I understand correctly? Your Amp has a Sonos connect built in? Which amp is this please?
Rereading I'm not sure what you mean by Connect?
Connect is a Sonos product
Spotify premium is needed to make use of Sonos.

Edited by Rick101 on Thursday 15th November 05:53

Spotify do something called "Spotify Connect" Its a really cool feature only available to premium account holders. Several AV amps, consoles, speakers support it but it allows the device to directly stream spotify content. Your phone works as a remote. Its a brilliant idea as the device runs the stream so it won't flatten your battery on the phone and ensures the sound quality is as good as Spotify gets, no re-streaming.

I'd be supprised/disappointed if Sonos being the market leader didn't support Spotify Connect, the hardware is certainly capable.

[Rick101]

Ahh okay.

Sort of aware of Spotify Connect and have used it to play stuff directly from Spotify app to either my Chromecast/soundbar or to various Sonos speakers.
Hadn't realised it actually had a product name being Connect.

[Fonzey]

Rick, I've got a couple of these 'ecosystems' floating around at home if you wanted to come see how they interact (or not) with each other.

- TV AV Receiver has Spotify Connect built in, so I can stream straight to it from phone/PC
- Google Chromecast Audio is connected to an old amp which runs the ceiling speakers in my house
- Google Home speaker (x2) can be grouped with/as part of the ceiling speaker setup
- Single Sonos ONE speaker

Generally I have the Sonos in my office, sat on my desk which I use for day-time listening. The ceiling speakers are my "party" speakers, not great quality but good when the house is full and the AV Receiver in the living room I use for when I just want to sit and listen properly on a night.

My plan is to get another CA and add that to my AV-Receiver (rather than use the Spotify integration natively) so that I can group the living room AV with the ceiling speakers, to expand the "party mode" setup a little bit.

I would highly recommend CA for anyone starting an ecosystem out from scratch, just because you can reuse any old stuff - whether it's quality or not. It's a shame I can't group things with my Sonos, but that Sonos speaker will soon be replaced by the new Google Home speaker and the Sonos will probably end up int' garage.

[Rick101]

Ahh, top man. Yes that would be handy to have a play and see how things are setup.

I'm away for a week working on my tan but will get in touch when I'm back and we'll sort something.

Much appreciated.