Soundbar with multiroom option

[ManFromDelmonte]

Hi,

A friend has asked me to research soundbars and has given me the following rough requirements. She wants:

- A soundbar with sub to improve the sound output of her TV but also be used for playing music from a smartphone (Spotify etc.).
- A speaker in another room that can optionally play the same output as the soundbar (i.e. the same Spotify) at the same time but could also play a different output e.g. radio.


So the following scenarios should be possible:

- Soundbar playing TV output and speaker in other room playing radio/Spotify
- Soundbar and speaker in other room playing same Spotify concurrently
- Soundbar playing Spotify, speaker in other room playing another output (e.g. Another Spotify account or radio)

Does this sound at all possible? I thought it should be but looking at things like Sonos, they seem to get expensive (Soundbar with sub £1200ish) very quickly and I'm not even totally confident meet the scenarios above. Similar with the Bose stuff.

Are there any options I should consider or is it not really possible to achieve these results?

Many thanks for any help, I thought it would be easier than this.

[Type R Tom]

I really don't think you can beat Sonos, yes it's expensive but I think it's worth it. For starters, do they need the sub? I think it is overpriced but the sound bar compared to the TV will be such an improvement they may not even miss it. Get them down to John Lewis or similar for a demo, I'm 99% sure what you want is achievable

[ManFromDelmonte]

Type R Tom said:

I really don't think you can beat Sonos, yes it's expensive but I think it's worth it. For starters, do they need the sub? I think it is overpriced but the sound bar compared to the TV will be such an improvement they may not even miss it. Get them down to John Lewis or similar for a demo, I'm 99% sure what you want is achievable

Thanks, I was coming to the same conclusion. Without the sub it would be around £550 and then the other speaker could be a couple of hundred or so.

More than happy to hear any other opinions from anyone.

[VEX]

The difficulty is playing the same thing in both rooms at the same time all sync'ed together.

Sonos can do this, but others cant or dont have a sound bar option (yet)

Sonos also sounds expensive as a sound bar, but if you split it into a £300 soundbar and a £300 sonos box you get alot better understanding of the expectations of the system.

HTH

V.

[Type R Tom]

VEX said:

The difficulty is playing the same thing in both rooms at the same time all sync'ed together.

Sonos can do this, but others cant or dont have a sound bar option (yet)

Sonos also sounds expensive as a sound bar, but if you split it into a £300 soundbar and a £300 sonos box you get alot better understanding of the expectations of the system.

HTH

V.

I've wondered if a sound bar of another manufacturer plus a connect would sound better.

[ManFromDelmonte]

Type R Tom said:

I've wondered if a sound bar of another manufacturer plus a connect would sound better.

So a connect effectively turns another brand of soundbar into a Sonos equipped soundbar? That's interesting.

[VEX]

Yes, connects have line in and outs. So you can take audio from a source and play it around on the Sonos system and it can also play music out from a sonos source.

V.

[VEX]

Providing you have the right inputs to the soundbar

[Type R Tom]

VEX said:

Yes, connects have line in and outs. So you can take audio from a source and play it around on the Sonos system and it can also play music out from a sonos source.

V.

What are your opinion on a system of Sonos Soundbar (£530) vs Connect (£280) + XXX Soundbar (£250ish)? Can a 250 soundbar sound better? I’m also considering android apps (Spotify / Tune in radio) connect to a soundbar with Bluetooth.

[robwilk]

Samsung multiroom will do all of that as well not sure how its priced against Sonos kit.

[Stu R]

Sonos is great and would fit the need, but the DTS thing bugs the hell out of me with them (assuming they still don't support it?)