Zonal music - Sonos alternatives?

[Adam.]

I am renovating a large house and want to future proof the AV.

All rooms have cat 6e points and connections to hard wire TVs and speakers or Sky

All cat 6e cabling routes to a cupboard under stairs which will have an AV rack, patch panels, amps, router etc

For the 3 main TV areas I will likely have separate Sonos setups (sound bar, subs and play 1 surrounds) as I have most of this kit already for 2 TVs.

But in addition 7 rooms will also have ceiling speakers so ideally I would like a Sonos type system with 7 zones that can play same or different music, whether via Spotify etc or via my collection stored on a NAS.

Trouble is I think a Sonos solution means 7 amps at £600 each which is a lot!

Are there cheaper / better alternatives?

[Adam.]

Don’t really need the TV zones to be integrated no, as those 3 rooms also have ceiling speakers.

I have a play 5 and 3 that can go in two of the bedrooms which don’t have ceiling speakers, but yes looking for the sleek hidden look in all the 7 rooms with zones.

Had 4 Sonos amps in last house but sold them as extras when we sold the house, so I know they work well but a) expensive and b) wondered if there was a more open source future proof option

its more b) though, a few hundred quid is not material given the eye-watering overall budget

Also I coudl split up the Sonos TV kit and use upstairs, and go down the Yamaha amp / MA speaker set route for TV rooms

Edited by Adam. on Wednesday 23 June 18:26

[Adam.]

Yes in the largest room there are 4 ceiling speakers in that one zone. In others there are one or two but the idea is each room can be individually controlled

Looks like Sonos is the best route for me

[Adam.]

Griffith4ever said:

I was only trying to help.

It actually works very well.

I have voice control of the radio everywhere, and Amazon music. Even in my field, and my workshops. If I want to listed to my own music collection I say "Alexa connect to my phone" and then that's it, play it from my phone through whichever Dot and amp I'm nearest, or whichever I tell it to play through.

In all the years I've owned a sonos system I can barely recall using the party mode.

Perhaps if the OP doesn't like my Franken-system suggestion he'll let me know.

I appreciate your suggestion thank you, and I have linked in Amazon dots and it’s very cool to ask Sonos to “play stone roses in kitchen” or similar

However your uses are very different from mine, I play a lot of music, no audiobooks and radio only in the car

Thank you

[Adam.]

Thanks VEX and Git (Chris you fitted some of my AV in previous home!)

Coming round to same conclusion, whilst the aging of older kit was a bit cheeky it didn’t really impact my play 5 as it still works fine with all the existing functionality it had.

Haven’t had an issue with updates that have limited my use yet.

Will look into BluOS

Edited by Adam. on Saturday 26th June 04:06

[Adam.]

paulrockliffe said:

You're butting up hard against the sunk-cost fallacy here I suspect. Some people have spent a metric fk tonne of cash on Sonos and the like and they need you to do the same to justify their folly.

Assume you are talking about me seeking to justify my wasting a tonne of money? You usually get at least one polite comment like this on PH.

Despite the fact the point of my question was to do the opposite.

I was thinking of buying a bunch of £150 Yamaha amps and adding something from Sonos (a bridge?) that turns them into the equivalent of the over priced Sonos amps.

[Adam.]

JEA1K said:

Ask yourself if you really need 7 zones of audio? You could always run a couple of zones from the same amp if they're rarely used together. I rarely see (or advise) that many zones of audio these days. I class Sonos as 'convenience audio', its not about sound quality, its about accessible music in a particular zone.

I'd go better quality audio in less rooms but thats just me

Did you mean if they are rarely used apart? how many speakers can i drive off one Sonos amp?

I know it’s not the purist solution but I gave up on high end audio as I got older, reckon it’s wasted on my ears now

It’s a big house - 4000 sq ft

Zones are:
Kitchen / living room
Main reception
Study
Rear reception / TV snug
Bedroom 1
En-suite 1
Bedroom 6 / gym

(En-suite 1 seems unnecessary but I like radio 4 in the mornings and not waking up the missus)

I probably won’t hook up main or rear reception to amp initially as they will have the Sonos soundbars / sub / surrounds so I can use them until we are moved in and know how we are living there.

Edited by Adam. on Wednesday 30th June 21:09

[Adam.]

JEA1K said:

Forget cobbling together janky systems with amps and chromecasts, I've seen people do this time and time again and usually doesn't achieve what the individual needs to save a few quid.

Heos or Yamaha are the only credible alternatives ... its not just about the products, its the way in which the app works and how intuitive it is. They won't actually 'that' much cheaper .

Thanks yes the convenience of Sonos is excellent, being able to hook up to Spotify, my iTunes account, my NAS library etc.

Through gritted teeth I have to admire their stuff - its good quality, pricey so not best VFM and they manage supply well to limit discounts

[Adam.]

JEA1K said:

A Sonos amp will drive 2 zones fine, so if you could combine it makes life easier. The Bed/En-suite is more difficult ... it does seem like an extravagance to have two seperate zones ... we usually recommend an inline/in-wall speaker selector .... rudimentary but does the job. Although if already cabled, its possibly too late for one of these ...

how does that work please?

not sure if too late, speaker cables all in place, speakers not in ceilings yet, all speaker and data cables feed down to a central AV cupboard

[Adam.]

thanks but I meant this bit:

"we usually recommend an inline/in-wall speaker selector "

which I assume does allow you two select having one room speaker on and one off (or both on) using a single amp

this would work well for my bed 1 / ensuite 1

[Adam.]

gotcha, thanks paralla

[Adam.]

paralla said:

Singe the impedance of two pairs of 8 Ohm speakers is 4 Ohms when connected in parallel and since the Sonos Amp is rated down to 4 Ohms, a parallel speaker switch (QED WM15) is better suited than a series speaker switch (QED WM17).

If any of the speakers are less than 8 Ohms you should use a QED WM17 to ensure you don't overload the Amp.

Thanks was going to go for
Monitor Audio C165 6.5"

[Adam.]

rxe said:

I would be inclined to separate the sources from the amplification and playback if at all possible. Sources are where the technical innovation happens, amps and speakers will work until the capacitors fail. Unfortunately, manufacturers would much rather you bought some integrated thing that they sell for £1500 rather than a simple source for £100.

Hopefully I am achieving some of this.

The hard bit is installing the speakers and running all the cables, that will all be done and go to an amplification area, source will increasingly be streamed and online but I have a hankering for buying a turntable and playing my vinyl again which should be easy enough to link up via the many cat6 sockets around the house

[Adam.]

paralla said:

I have Monitor Audio CP165’s (similar to C165’s but with a closed back) in the kitchen and bathroom, they have been great for 8 years since I installed them (powered by a couple of old 55W/Ch Sonos Connect Amps) and they get used every day.

Thanks - should I go for the CP? Budget is 100-150 per speaker though given the limitations of ceiling speakers I am not sure it’s worth spending more than 165s

[Adam.]

Thanks Driller, that’s exactly the sort of option ideas I was after.

I think I need option 2 as I certainly want to play radio and other sources through the speakers. Looks like 4 zone switchable amps are about £1000 each, I am starting to think the savings are not worth the hassle when Sonos can sync to radio, my NAS music library and Prime so easily