Wireless Home Audio

[Saints Rest]

As we get ready to move into our new house, I am thinking about going wireless throughout the house. We love music, but I don't consider us remotely to be true audio-philes (I went thru that phase in high school and am now well beyond it). So I am looking for nice clean sound over 3 floors and, ideally, onto the back deck area.

I saw an ad for Sonos while listening to Pandora this morning. http://www.sonos.com/ It sounds like what I am looking for, but I bet there are many other options out there.

Here is what I would like for the system to be able to do:

• Wireless signal throughout the house;
• Clean sound (no dropouts, no clipping), but not HIGH-FIDELITY!!!!!1111!!;
• Ability to send music from an iPhone or iPad, both via the iPod player and any Pandora-type apps;
• Expandable -- I probably won't want to fork over the money to put speakers in every single room today, but it would be nice to be able to add rooms as budget allows;
• It would be great if individual rooms could be zoned in some fashion so that I could listen to one stream in the Man-Cave, while my wife listens to something else in the kitchen, and the kids listen to a third in the playroom;
• Conversely, there will be times when we want one stream in every room simultaneously;
• Individual room volume control, including muting by room.

Anyone have any recommendations or comments based on your own experiences?

 

[Hendu for Kutch]

I've got Sonos, but only for one room. So I can't really comment on zoning and how easy it is to handle. However, my dad has a couple running independently of each other at his house and hasn't had a problem with it. Overall, I find the Sonos very easy to use and the sound quality is great. I'm not an audiophile either by any means, but I've never had dropouts or static other than when my WiFi was shitting out on me.

I've used Amazon's cloud player, Pandora, and Spotify and they've all worked well. There were a ton more options available as well. One drawback was that I was hoping to stream music directly off of my Android phone and that wasn't available. The phone app was really only acting as a remote control for the Sonos, not actually giving it any info from the phone itself. You can, however, stream music from a computer. So I'm guessing if you've got all the music in iTunes anyways, you could do it from your PC or set up a network drive with your music on it. And you can control that from your phone as well.

Overall, I like it a lot.

 

[AlNipper49]

I considered wireless for my house and, I won't bore you with the long story, but I ended up going wired since I had some sheetrocking done in the basement which allowed me to easily conceal wires.

Prior to making that decision I was going wireless for the same reasons you state - we like music playing in the house but I couldn't tell you what gigahertz (or whatever it is) a MP3 is recorded in. I don't even know the term. I don't care. By far and away the Sonos was the way everyone advised me to go. It wasn't even close.

 

[Monbo Jumbo]

I have a pair of Logitech Squeezebox's. That Logitech discontinued the Squeezebox line a few months ago says all you need to know about Sonos owning that market. I don't like the Squeezebox controller, though I can control them through my phone using an android app.

 

[SumnerH]

I have a pair of Logitech Squeezebox's. That Logitech discontinued the Squeezebox line a few months ago says all you need to know about Sonos owning that market. I don't like the Squeezebox controller, though I can control them through my phone using an android app.

I have a pair of squeezeboxes. They're highly hackable and programmer friendly--I wrote my own server software for them that's fairly minimal (and much more lightweight than the Logitech slimserver) but allows synchronized wireless playback between 3 points (my computer and the 2 squeezeboxes), shows visualizations on my TV, pulls custom playlists and such from my music database, integrates playback info with my WD TV live, phone, and other sources, and does some other stuff that I like.

But the bundled Logitech software sucked and unless you want to hack them Sonos is really the way to go (even before they were discontinued).

 

[OfTheCarmen]

I've got Sonos, but only for one room. So I can't really comment on zoning and how easy it is to handle. However, my dad has a couple running independently of each other at his house and hasn't had a problem with it. Overall, I find the Sonos very easy to use and the sound quality is great. I'm not an audiophile either by any means, but I've never had dropouts or static other than when my WiFi was shitting out on me.

/snip

Overall, I like it a lot.

Based on the bolded, is he able to have the same output to multiple rooms via a single source or would you have to start the same playback simultaneously on both systems? I've been interested in this technology for a while and just havent pulled the trigger yet. Glad to see the technology getting better and it beoming more mainstream.

 

[Oil Can Dan]

I was in the same boat as you about a year ago and did lots of research. After doing so, I went with Sonos and simply could not be more pleased with it. It hits on each and every single one of your line items, and does so with such ease that it's ridiculous. Well, except for #3 - there is a Sonos app that my wife and I have on our iphones and ipad (and laptop, for whatever that's worth).

I initially bought five sonos speakers and then added four more a couple of months later.

If you'd like any specific info on sonos or my personal experience just let me know, but seriously each thing you've listed is knocked out of the park by Sonos. You can also use them as alarm clocks, although I've not yet tried that.

 

[Oil Can Dan]

Based on the bolded, is he able to have the same output to multiple rooms via a single source or would you have to start the same playback simultaneously on both systems? I've been interested in this technology for a while and just havent pulled the trigger yet. Glad to see the technology getting better and it beoming more mainstream.

I can have the same output going to all nine rooms via a single source with one touch of the button via the app, or have nine different sources going to nine different speakers, etc. I think I can also have nine different pandora stations going to nine different speakers too. Or Spotify, or whatever. Not sure about iTunes though because I don't use that too much. I'm pretty much Spotify, Pandora or internet radio.

 

[Saints Rest]

OCD, thanks for your input. You like most others all seem to be saying the same thing, that Sonos is a clear winner here.

A few questions:

• Have you used the Connect/Amp with your own speakers at all?
• Do you find that you need one Sonos speaker per room or two?
• Do you use the 3's or the 5's?
• How far from the Bridge can any one speaker be? Does it work across multiple floors?

 

[Oil Can Dan]

• I don't use the Connect/Amp at all. I was starting from scratch in a new (old) house so didn't have anything in place. I actually bought six Energy in-ceiling speakers thinking that I was going to wire everything up but then discovered Sonos, so those speakers are sitting in a closet unopened (which reminds me I have to go list those on craigslist!)
• I only have one speaker per room, but I have mostly small rooms. For my larger rooms I went with a 5 and for the smaller ones I have 3's. Keep in mind that it's simple to move these things around from room to room, so if you were say having a party and wanted more firepower in one room you could move one from an upstairs office or something. If you go with multiple speakers in the same room they can be paired so one's left and one's right.
• I have seven 3's and two 5's. In retrospect I may have gone with a 5 over 3 in a few places given that the price difference isn't much, but the 3's kick just fine for what I use them for.
• One of my 3's is acting as the bridge (if you're putting a speaker close enough to your router then you don't need a bridge) so technically I don't have a bridge. To answer the question they work completely fine from my basement to the main floor to the upstairs rooms. They'll work anywhere your wifi works.

 

[Hendu for Kutch]

Do you use the 3's or the 5's?

I've got a 3 in my living room and it's more than good enough for my entire main floor. But I don't crank it either, living in a townhouse between 2 other townhouses. If you're looking at getting more than one of these, I'd buy a single 3 first just to see how it sounds in each place you'd want to use it. Then just upgrade to a 5 wherever you feel like you need a bit more. But I thought I would need a 5 and was pleasantly surprised to find a 3 was doing just fine, so maybe you'll have the same experience.

 

[OfTheCarmen]

Do you use this strictly for music, or have you hooked your TV/Blu-Ray/etc into it as well?

 

[Oil Can Dan]

For me just music. The best you can do for TV/movies is to pair two speakers as right/left and then add their sub. For now, at least.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Reviving this thread, is there any reason not to go with a Sonos?

They're now offering the bridge for free, so $299 for a 3 series speaker. My main use is going to be on our porch, which is fully covered so weather wouldn't be an issue. We're a almost completely Apple household. I love airplay with the AppleTV. Sonos sounds like a great fit. Is the sound decent enough? Does the app really suck? Can I not play certain apps?

 

[Wimmy Jilliams]

The Sonos app is really great. Its ease of use is why it killed Squeezebox and, when I saw it in action at my dad's, is what sold me on paying way too much for it. I only have a Connect, but for how it works, I have all of my mp3s on a server share in our home network. Once Sonos indexed all my files, the app allows me to search for any track, any album from our iPad and have it start playing over our sound system or I can start building a playlist from my songs. No niggles, it works well, glad I made it a birthday present to myself a week ago. I may actually add a Play 3 to cover our bedroom...

 

[Van Everyman]

What is the advantage of Sonos over AirPlay other than multi-zone use?

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Does the Sonos rely on iTunes at all or can I setup a NAS and just have all my audio files on there? Any restriction on playing DRM'd iTunes stuff?

 

[Wimmy Jilliams]

Unsure on DRM restricted iTunes stuff. In my setup, it doesn't have anything to do with iTunes. But for example, I have Sonos linked so that it access anything on my Amazon Cloud Player.

It seems like it can play nicely with iTunes, but I have no firsthand experience.

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1049/~/sonos-and-itunes#itunes

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Looks like I can't use any DMR restricted stuff with it. Oh well I'll just convert them all, been meaning to do it anyways. I did find out you can use a NAS for it I may just sign up for Amazon cloud player though.

 

[Saints Rest]

I spoke to an audio engineer friend of mine who is literally one of the best in the business (e.g. He does the audio for the massive Victoria's Secret fashion show, the Macy's parade, and just about every fashion show in NYC). He put Sonos in his shop and in his home. And it's not just for audio-wizards; he said he put it in his home so that his girlfriend can use it without having to ask him any questions. Last week, he and I had a chance to talk about it. Here are some more benefits to the system:
-- if you have it with a regular home stereo setup using the Connect, you can plug your tv/cable audio into the receiver and use Sonos to play the audio of a tv program through your whole Sonos system. He says this is great for baseball games when you need to be wandering thru your house.
-- you can set it up to stream all sorts of podcasts, either thru a podcast-specific app or thru something like NPR.
-- you can put the Sonos app on multiple iPhones (or similar) and all of them can work as remotes for the system (he adds that because of this there is no reason to buy the Sonos remote). This can be good or bad, but if you are in one room listening to music and some news program comes on in the other room where someone else might be listening, he/she can toggle your room over to the news stream
-- if you get one of those 1/4" to RCA adapters that allow you to plug an iPod, iPhone or similar into a stereo, you can plug it directly into the back of any of the Sonos speakers (eg a Play3) so that if a friend comes over and you want to listen to his/her tracks on your Sonos, you just plug that device right in and boom, you can access that library.
-- if you have speakers that you like, you can use an AmpConnect to integrate those speakers into your system. If you have a receiver or amp, you can use a Connect to make that receiver/amp and any of it's associated pieces (speakers, CD players, etc) be part of the system.
-- finally, he recommends buying from Amazon as its usually the easiest way to do so, especially if you have Prime.

 

[Oil Can Dan]

Thanks for passing that along. As to this part:

-- if you have it with a regular home stereo setup using the Connect, you can plug your tv/cable audio into the receiver and use Sonos to play the audio of a tv program through your whole Sonos system. He says this is great for baseball games when you need to be wandering thru your house.

The same is true if you have a Play 5 that's hooked up to your tv/cable audio feed. So you can accomplish the same thing but without the Connect or other home stereo stuff.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Reviving this thread since i got a Sonos for Christmas and just had time to set it up. This thing is f'ing great. The December app update now has AirPlay like streaming so I can stream anything from my iPhone or iPad out of my music library. The built in apps are awesome for Pandora, local radio etc. and most importantly the Play3 sounds great. I haven't had a chance to blast it yet, but that's later. 

 

[NortheasternPJ]

After a few weeks I've got two pet peeves with the Sonos.
 
First is, if go to a album or play a song it only plays the first song. I have to select the entire album and select "Add to playlist" / "Replace Playlist". Isn't this the use case of 99.9% of uses where I go to an album, play a song, I expect the album to continue?
 
Secondly, on an iPhone or iPad, if i quit the app by killing it in the dock, the Sonos still plays. I'm not even sure how that's possible, but its just annoying.

 

[Tony C]

anyone have any advice for getting rid of a radio station (Korean, I think) that has started to broadcast through our in-house speakers? 

 

[Van Everyman]

Revive. I got three Play:1's and a Play:3 for our house for Xmas (we rent so the ability to move it around is good) and I really like it. One hiccup is that I get some guff w Spotify -- I do lots of listening in the bathroom while I shower, then switch it to the bedroom while I get dressed, etc. and periodically it has loses connection with my Spotify account. Wonder if anyone else has had any issues with that. Other than that, I totally love it.

 

[B H Kim]

Revive. I got three Play:1's and a Play:3 for our house for Xmas (we rent so the ability to move it around is good) and I really like it. One hiccup is that I get some guff w Spotify -- I do lots of listening in the bathroom while I shower, then switch it to the bedroom while I get dressed, etc. and periodically it has loses connection with my Spotify account. Wonder if anyone else has had any issues with that. Other than that, I totally love it.

 
Lately, I've found that Spotify is actually the most reliable of the streaming services I've used with Sonos.  Just in the last few days, I've been having trouble streaming from my MOG account over Sonos, but Spotify has been rock solid.  It's somewhat annoying in that I would like to settle on just one music streaming service, but MOG is much better for listening in my car and Spotify is better on Sonos.