Jump to content
  • Sign up for free and receive a month's subscription

    You are viewing this page as a guest. That means you are either a member who has not logged in, or you have not yet registered with us. Signing up for an account only takes a minute and it means you will no longer see this annoying box! It will also allow you to get involved with our friendly(ish!) community and take part in the discussions on our forums. And because we're feeling generous, if you sign up for a free account we will give you a month's free trial access to our subscriber only content with no obligation to commit. Register an account and then send a private message to @dave u and he'll hook you up with a subscription.

HiFi buying help


Bob
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm not sure if this is techy or nerdy enough to be in here, but I'm sure TLW can help me...

 

We've bought a new house and been in a month or two now, and we're thinking we need a new hifi system.

 

I'm after an ability to play songs I've downloaded or copied into my laptop, while my missus likes to have her CDs. We want digital radio but would be happy with streaming Internet radio I guess in stead.

 

I'd like to be able to play what we want from the system into whichever room we want it in at the time, ideally with the ability to have more than one choice in two places at the same time.

 

We went into an independent hifi shop a week or do ago and was shown a Naim system which was £1800 for the unit that would do all that, with it them being about £400-500 for each set of speakers we need after that, and apparently another £100 or so for a network drive to store our music on.

 

We want speakers in the lounge / dining room, kitchen, and 3 of our bedrooms, but we probably can't get our budget to stretch to the kit we were shown right now. We reckon we can spend £2k on the whole lot really.

 

So, for those who know, is that system worth the money, and should we go for it and just accept we can't buy all the speakers we need now and add to it over time?

 

Or is there another option, a bit less expensive that would for in our budget?

 

Or is there any other advice we might benefit from?

 

Cheers in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

What did you end up going for, Bob?

 

I've just started my own Sonos system, got a Bridge and the small Play:1  for now. WIll be getting a second Play:1 to add to the system, with a view of getting Play:3 in the not too distant future. (In a smallish ground floor maisonette, so don't need much).

 

For anyone wondering how these set up, it is pretty straight forward, though if you are looking to expand your Sonos network, you have to start with the Bridge and then add components to your system from there.

 

Firstly, download the app/software to your mobile device and/or PC/Mac. These downloads will now be your controller for the system.

 

Next, set up the Bridge. Plug in the power and connect the Bridge to your internet router via the supplied ethernet cable.

 

Start the controller (see above), and follow the simple on screen instructions. You're asked to press and release the relevant button on the Bridge which is then detected by your controller and added to your Sonos network.

 

To add Play devices to your Sonos network, again, plug in the power and the ethernet cable from the Sonos device, but this time to the spare ethernet connection on your Bridge.

 

Start the controller and choose to add another Sonos component in the settings menu. Follow the on screen instructions once more to pair the device to your network. (Again, just simply pressing the relevant buttons on the component so your controller can add it to your network).

 

Once added, you can then disconnect the ethernet cable from the newly added component and move it to where you want to locate the speaker/dock/sub/playbar. The Bridge must remain connected to your router.

 

Once you've set the physical hardware, you can start adding your music services and music libraries*. TuneIn Radio is available as a default service, which is nice, and there are various Music Services that you can add to your network, the more popular of which I would imagine to be Spotify. Be aware the you must have a Spotify Premium account to play music through your Sonos network.

 

*When you start the software on a PC/Mac, it will ask you if you would like to add your music library(ies) during the initial set-up.

 

If, like me, you don't start with the Bridge first, you always have the option to reset your controller, which just means you start the set-up process from the start.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a nice little bonus feature on the Play components that I wasn't aware of until I got mine. Once you've moved the Play speaker to where you want it, you can use the ethernet connection from the component to create a wired connection to any other device that uses an ethernet connection. So, in essence, the speaker not only plays your music, it becomes a homeplug network extender as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does the Sonos allow you to play music from more than one source at the same time into different zones?  I've got a much less fancy AV box, but it does have two zones, so it lets my play radio (or CD etc) into some rooms and iTunes or whatever elsewhere in the house.  It's effectively two players in one.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does the Sonos allow you to play music from more than one source at the same time into different zones?  I've got a much less fancy AV box, but it does have two zones, so it lets my play radio (or CD etc) into some rooms and iTunes or whatever elsewhere in the house.  It's effectively two players in one.  

 

Yes. Each Play component can be controlled individually or as part of a group.

 

Once I get the further Play components, I'll stick up some screenshots from the Android & PC controllers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What did you end up going for, Bob?

 

.

Opted for sonos play bar and play:3, with a bridge as the router is in a different room, and got a 3TB nas drive to store our music on.

 

Really pleased with all of it. The sound is much better out if the 3 than it is from the play bar, but then I think it's made primarily for the TV and the TV sounds ace.

 

Love the flexibility of it and the sound from it all.

 

Was planning on a play:1 addition as next buy for the kitchen, but no point now the wife is leaving me and I'm gonna end up in some two bed shothole of a place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In regards the Sonos systems do they affect the wireless performance of your router or do they work on different frequencies/bandwidths?

 

The Bridge is connected to your router via ethenet cable, it then does all the work with your Sonos components, so you should never have any problem with the wireless performance of your router. Obviously, the more traffic you have running through your router, the greater the chance of degradation, but much depends on your downstream/upstream speeds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Bridge is connected to your router via ethenet cable, it then does all the work with your Sonos components, so you should never have any problem with the wireless performance of your router. Obviously, the more traffic you have running through your router, the greater the chance of degradation, but much depends on your downstream/upstream speeds.

 

i think he means the signal mix - what band are they using to transmit?  Modern modems these days use 2.4Ghz I think

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i think he means the signal mix - what band are they using to transmit?  Modern modems these days use 2.4Ghz I think

 

It uses 2.4Ghz as default, like just about every other device that uses wireless. You can change the wireless channel through the system software on PC, if you do experience interference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sonos don't really do bundles, and if you are able to find a retailer who does, then the savings are likely to be minimal at best.

 

Richer sounds have the following bundle on their site, but if you actually tot up the cost of the components individually, then there's no saving at all, plus they don't include the all important Bridge.

 

Play 1: x2, PlayBar & Sub

 

The only bonus from this offer that I can see, is the "free" 2 year guarantee.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I take it you can configure a number of different 'zones' in order to play music in separate rooms or as various combinations? Can they also be configured to play in pairs as a stereo system?

 

Looking at the prices I'm looking to start with 2 play 3 speakers for my lounge and 'games' room plus a play 1 for the kitchen......the soundbar and sub are a bit to rich for me at the minute so I'll have to make do with my Sony bar and sub.

 

I'm looking to get rid of a Arcam RCube if anybody is interested?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I take it you can configure a number of different 'zones' in order to play music in separate rooms or as various combinations? Can they also be configured to play in pairs as a stereo system?

 

Looking at the prices I'm looking to start with 2 play 3 speakers for my lounge and 'games' room plus a play 1 for the kitchen......the soundbar and sub are a bit to rich for me at the minute so I'll have to make do with my Sony bar and sub.

 

I'm looking to get rid of a Arcam RCube if anybody is interested?

 

Yeah, you can zone the components as you like, each zone can be controlled separately using the Android/iOS app or PC software that you need to download. You can group zones together as well.

 

The Play:1 has 2 speakers (a tweeter above a mid-woofer), while the Play: 3 has 3 speakers (2 mid-range aside 1 tweeter).

 

PlayOneSpeakerImage-100113.jpg

 

sonos-play-3-3.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Before you commit, make sure to read through reviews and officail tech specs to make sure that it will do what you intend it to do. There are a lot of good people over on AV forums that know their stuff, so certainly worth a trip onto their forums to do some homework.

 

 

Have you had a look at any of the Sonos stuff?

 

 

You need a bridge and a speaker to get started, and then you just add on what you want, when you want.

 

 

 

Richer Sounds are certainly worth checking out. They've got a useful 'what do I need' page.

 

Sonos1_zps2f0995a6.jpg

 

Sonos2_zps21191d65.jpg

Sonos34_zps96b861ec.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tbh mate I'm sure the sound quality is pretty decent for what I need, plus I doubt it would be so popular if it was shit. I'm looking more at ease of use and flexibility and it pretty much fits the bill. Just bought a Play 1 for the kitchen, got the lounge and downstairs playroom to sort.....I'm thinking Play5 for the lounge and Play3 for the other room. I'll look at a soundbar and sub when I can reconcile the cost in my head.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How does it work in regards having the controller on multiple devices?

 

It's not a problem. I have the controller app on my Nexus 5 & Nexus 7 as well as my laptop and PC. I'd recommend having the controller on a PC as well as a mobile device of your choosing.

 

I found it easier to use the PC controller when I was adding my own music library so that it could be played on my Sonos devices.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers mate, got my Play5 today but they shop I bought it from forgot to send the bridge. I plugged it directly into my router to set up but I'm having problems playing from the aux in socket. It will play but when I disconnect it from the power, move it into the kitchen (LAN cable is unplugged) reconnect and it won't auto play from the aux.

 

I had a go at changing some settings to enable the auto play function but to no avail. It will play through the aux when disconnected from the router but as soon as I unplug to move it it won't autoplay? Any thoughts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...