Multi room system
Discussion
Hi all,
I'm undecided on either Bose or Sonos for the house. My initial plan was to get a couple of the Bose https://m.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-and-personal-audio... or the sonos equivalent.
BUT!
What about these packages (e.g. http://www.electrosupplies.co.uk/p6435/4-Pairs-of-... where you can get in roof speakers and an amp for around the price of 2 of the sonos or Bose.
Does anyone have experience of them? Long story short nearly finished a renovation and I have no carpets down so could look to do an installation quite easily.
Cheers.
I'm undecided on either Bose or Sonos for the house. My initial plan was to get a couple of the Bose https://m.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-and-personal-audio... or the sonos equivalent.
BUT!
What about these packages (e.g. http://www.electrosupplies.co.uk/p6435/4-Pairs-of-... where you can get in roof speakers and an amp for around the price of 2 of the sonos or Bose.
Does anyone have experience of them? Long story short nearly finished a renovation and I have no carpets down so could look to do an installation quite easily.
Cheers.
I'll give you an unbiased as possible reply here considering I run www.kitchenbathroomradio.co.uk and sell systems such as the one you linked to.
Sonos, Bose, Denon Heos...
Pros.. They are undoubtedly good, do what they say on the box, Sonos app is great. Sound quality is good, you can have Sonos Amp connected to ceiling speakers too. Listen to different music in different rooms.
Cons.. Price! The Sonos isn't cheap, neither is the Bose or the Heos. I don't like the way you have to have your phone on you to use the Sonos, you can't simply press a button to turn the radio on.
Multi Room Audio Kits (proper ones!)
Pros. Do all of the above + more, can have physical remote controls, in wall keypads etc.
Cons. Often expensive, most systems require professional installation (not all, I have one that I am allowed to sell retail but I generally try not to steal work from installers when it comes to "proper" multi room.)
DIY Multi Room
Pros. Cheap, you can often get more rooms for your money and most systems cost far less than proper systems.
Cons. 99% of these systems are amplifier connected to multi speakers via in wall volume controls or via a speaker switch as per the one you linked to, so you can only listen to the same music in all areas and in the case of the one you linked to, you need to go back to one place to turn each room on/off and adjust volume.
The one you linked to specifically
It's not a bad price, but those speakers are terrible.
The speaker switch is a good make, but you'll need to control each of the 4 rooms from one place which could be a bit annoying.
Onkyo receiver is good.
Compared to Sonos, you can only listen to one source at one time in all rooms. (this limitation will apply to most DIY kits)
Some AV Receivers do have 2 or more separate zones and allow you to listen to different music in each zone at the same time. Controlling it all easily may become an issue though.
What I tend to ask people when they're looking at this stuff is "What do you realistically expect from your system?" i.e a single person living in a flat is highly unlikely to need to listen to 3 different radio stations at the same time needing a £5000 multi room system. They may well be happy with a much cheaper 3 or 4 zone "all the same" system with in wall volume/on/off controls and an RF remote to control it.... on the flip side, if a family of 4 all with their own music choices who spend their time in different rooms want a system then it's going to be hard to choose anything but a proper multi room system (or separate hi fi's per room)...
Hope you found this useful, I'm not going to post any links to products on my site, but you can take a look and let me know if you have any questions. I am 80% of the way through a brand new site which has twice as many products and a lot more systems as per the one you've linked to, including a system builder so you can easily choose your own elements and I'm working on some unique stuff that no one else has. So if you do want to know more feel free to ask.
Sonos, Bose, Denon Heos...
Pros.. They are undoubtedly good, do what they say on the box, Sonos app is great. Sound quality is good, you can have Sonos Amp connected to ceiling speakers too. Listen to different music in different rooms.
Cons.. Price! The Sonos isn't cheap, neither is the Bose or the Heos. I don't like the way you have to have your phone on you to use the Sonos, you can't simply press a button to turn the radio on.
Multi Room Audio Kits (proper ones!)
Pros. Do all of the above + more, can have physical remote controls, in wall keypads etc.
Cons. Often expensive, most systems require professional installation (not all, I have one that I am allowed to sell retail but I generally try not to steal work from installers when it comes to "proper" multi room.)
DIY Multi Room
Pros. Cheap, you can often get more rooms for your money and most systems cost far less than proper systems.
Cons. 99% of these systems are amplifier connected to multi speakers via in wall volume controls or via a speaker switch as per the one you linked to, so you can only listen to the same music in all areas and in the case of the one you linked to, you need to go back to one place to turn each room on/off and adjust volume.
The one you linked to specifically
It's not a bad price, but those speakers are terrible.
The speaker switch is a good make, but you'll need to control each of the 4 rooms from one place which could be a bit annoying.
Onkyo receiver is good.
Compared to Sonos, you can only listen to one source at one time in all rooms. (this limitation will apply to most DIY kits)
Some AV Receivers do have 2 or more separate zones and allow you to listen to different music in each zone at the same time. Controlling it all easily may become an issue though.
What I tend to ask people when they're looking at this stuff is "What do you realistically expect from your system?" i.e a single person living in a flat is highly unlikely to need to listen to 3 different radio stations at the same time needing a £5000 multi room system. They may well be happy with a much cheaper 3 or 4 zone "all the same" system with in wall volume/on/off controls and an RF remote to control it.... on the flip side, if a family of 4 all with their own music choices who spend their time in different rooms want a system then it's going to be hard to choose anything but a proper multi room system (or separate hi fi's per room)...
Hope you found this useful, I'm not going to post any links to products on my site, but you can take a look and let me know if you have any questions. I am 80% of the way through a brand new site which has twice as many products and a lot more systems as per the one you've linked to, including a system builder so you can easily choose your own elements and I'm working on some unique stuff that no one else has. So if you do want to know more feel free to ask.
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