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Multi room speakers



swindonseagull

swindonseagull

Well-known member
Aug 6, 2003
9,265
Swindon, but used to be Manila
I know we have discussed this before but I cant find the thread.

Im looking at buying a Bose soundtouch system

any pros any cons or any other brands recommended Sonos etc?

I have several Bose items and love the sound but will look at others.
 




AK74

AK74

Bright-eyed. Bushy-tailed. GSOH.
NSC Patron
Jan 19, 2010
1,190
We have two Sonos Play 5 speakers (1st generation): one's in the kitchen, the other's in the sitting room. I'm not a huge audiophile, so our requirements were straightforward, namely to stream from Spotify and an existing music library. The sound quality has proved to be absolutely fine, and I'd recommend it to anyone on the grounds of:

a) ease of set-up
b) ease of use
c) reliability
d) options to add extra devices as and when necessary
 


Bozza

Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
55,719
Back in Sussex
Also #TeamSonos.

I suspect there are very few of us who have decked out our homes in multiple systems and able to make a direct comparison of day-to-day usage but Sonos suits us just fine.
 


mejonaNO12 aka riskit

mejonaNO12 aka riskit

Well-known member
Dec 4, 2003
21,497
England
I bought a new tv and soundbar last week.

I was delighted to learn that I could buy additional speakers (of the same brand) and they would link to my soundbar and create a multiroom system (not that I need one really)
 


T

tinx

Well-known member
Jul 6, 2003
9,198
Horsham Town
Definitelty another vote for Sonos. We have a play 5 in the lounge which is plenty loud enough to fill the room with great sound, a play 3 in the bedroom which is almost too much but they didn't do play 1s when we got ours. And we have play 1s for the kids. All work perfectly and sound great. Couple that with a premium spotify account and all music requirements are covered.

best thing I ever bought.
 






Westdene Seagull

Westdene Seagull

aka Cap'n Carl Firecrotch
NSC Patron
Oct 27, 2003
21,005
The arse end of Hangleton
Another member of team Sonos here.
 










Mr Bridger

Mr Bridger

Sound of the suburbs
Feb 25, 2013
4,440
Earth
Team Sonos, 2x play 1's and A sound bar.
 




nigeyb

nigeyb

Active member
Oct 14, 2005
352
Hove
A word of caution re SONOS. I bought a Play:1 speaker recently with a view to getting some more.

First thing that was not obvious to me was the requirement to download and use the SONOS desktop app.

No probs I reasoned, so I downloaded it for Mac and used it to add my iTunes library, but after 15-20 minutes, I got an error message saying "There is not enough room to update your music library. Please remove unused queues or saved playlists and try again."

I hadn't even begun playing anything through the speakers.

After a few posts on the SONOS help forum and some other online research I discovered that Sonos will only index a MAXIMUM of 65,000 songs. It may be less depending on how much space is taken by tags.

I got a few solutions and workarounds suggested to me, most involved additional software and it was getting ever more complicated.

I didn't buy the speaker because of the app. I didn't even realise there was an app. I just wanted good wifi speakers, for multiple rooms, that could work together or separately. Finally I established there is no way of using Sonos speakers without using the Sonos app. and the app cannot accommodate a large music library.

I returned the SONOS Play 1 and bought a UE Boom 2 which, so far, is meeting all my needs...

http://www.trustedreviews.com/ue-boom-2-review

http://www.johnlewis.com/ue-boom-2-by-ultimate-ears-bluetooth-waterproof-portable-speaker/p2199675

Perhaps not as good soundwise but completely portable (rechargeable unlike the PLAY 1) and will stream music anywhere in the house straight from my computer (though only bluetooth not wifi) - and half the price of a Sonos Play 1.

Sonos really should make the 65k track upper limit far more explicit in their product information.

If you just want to stream from Spotify etc and have moderate sized collection then SONOS has some merits however if just want to wirelessly use your existing set up then Sonos has a few limitations.
 




Govinda Tim

Govinda Tim

Member
Apr 13, 2012
174
Brighton
Mate of mine has a set of Naim speakers. Pricey but oh my god, what sound quality they put out.
 




A

afters

Well-known member
Jul 9, 2003
6,828
as 10cc say, not in hove
Bozza said:
Also #TeamSonos.

I suspect there are very few of us who have decked out our homes in multiple systems and able to make a direct comparison of day-to-day usage but Sonos suits us just fine.
Click to expand...

sonos and plex here. plex in lounge plays lossless, sonos elsewhere. works a (musical) treat
 


D

darkwolf666

Well-known member
Nov 8, 2015
7,576
Sittingbourne, Kent
nigeyb said:
A word of caution re SONOS. I bought a Play:1 speaker recently with a view to getting some more.

First thing that was not obvious to me was the requirement to download and use the SONOS desktop app.

No probs I reasoned, so I downloaded it for Mac and used it to add my iTunes library, but after 15-20 minutes, I got an error message saying "There is not enough room to update your music library. Please remove unused queues or saved playlists and try again."

I hadn't even begun playing anything through the speakers.

After a few posts on the SONOS help forum and some other online research I discovered that Sonos will only index a MAXIMUM of 65,000 songs. It may be less depending on how much space is taken by tags.

I got a few solutions and workarounds suggested to me, most involved additional software and it was getting ever more complicated.

I didn't buy the speaker because of the app. I didn't even realise there was an app. I just wanted good wifi speakers, for multiple rooms, that could work together or separately. Finally I established there is no way of using Sonos speakers without using the Sonos app. and the app cannot accommodate a large music library.

I returned the SONOS Play 1 and bought a UE Boom 2 which, so far, is meeting all my needs...

http://www.trustedreviews.com/ue-boom-2-review

http://www.johnlewis.com/ue-boom-2-by-ultimate-ears-bluetooth-waterproof-portable-speaker/p2199675

Perhaps not as good soundwise but completely portable (rechargeable unlike the PLAY 1) and will stream music anywhere in the house straight from my computer (though only bluetooth not wifi) - and half the price of a Sonos Play 1.

Sonos really should make the 65k track upper limit far more explicit in their product information.

If you just want to stream from Spotify etc and have moderate sized collection then SONOS has some merits however if just want to wirelessly use your existing set up then Sonos has a few limitations.
Click to expand...

You have over 65,000 tracks in your library!!!

Do you have Agadoo?
 


A

afters

Well-known member
Jul 9, 2003
6,828
as 10cc say, not in hove
nigeyb said:
A word of caution re SONOS. I bought a Play:1 speaker recently with a view to getting some more.

First thing that was not obvious to me was the requirement to download and use the SONOS desktop app.

No probs I reasoned, so I downloaded it for Mac and used it to add my iTunes library, but after 15-20 minutes, I got an error message saying "There is not enough room to update your music library. Please remove unused queues or saved playlists and try again."

I hadn't even begun playing anything through the speakers.

After a few posts on the SONOS help forum and some other online research I discovered that Sonos will only index a MAXIMUM of 65,000 songs. It may be less depending on how much space is taken by tags.

I got a few solutions and workarounds suggested to me, most involved additional software and it was getting ever more complicated.

I didn't buy the speaker because of the app. I didn't even realise there was an app. I just wanted good wifi speakers, for multiple rooms, that could work together or separately. Finally I established there is no way of using Sonos speakers without using the Sonos app. and the app cannot accommodate a large music library.

I returned the SONOS Play 1 and bought a UE Boom 2 which, so far, is meeting all my needs...

http://www.trustedreviews.com/ue-boom-2-review

http://www.johnlewis.com/ue-boom-2-by-ultimate-ears-bluetooth-waterproof-portable-speaker/p2199675

Perhaps not as good soundwise but completely portable (rechargeable unlike the PLAY 1) and will stream music anywhere in the house straight from my computer (though only bluetooth not wifi) - and half the price of a Sonos Play 1.

Sonos really should make the 65k track upper limit far more explicit in their product information.

If you just want to stream from Spotify etc and have moderate sized collection then SONOS has some merits however if just want to wirelessly use your existing set up then Sonos has a few limitations.
Click to expand...

link with plex and the limit goes....
 


mikeyjh

mikeyjh

Well-known member
Dec 17, 2008
4,486
Llanymawddwy
I bought a few Pure Jongos at £20 reach and then connected to old amp and speaker combos. If you've got some old audio gear lying around and want a better sound quality option that could be cheaper then this is an option. It is a bit complicated mind.
 




Prince Monolulu

Prince Monolulu

Everything in Moderation
Oct 2, 2013
10,201
The Race Hill
Team Bose here fwiw.

bose_logo.png
 


Prince Monolulu

Prince Monolulu

Everything in Moderation
Oct 2, 2013
10,201
The Race Hill
Serious question, as an aside, to sound experts.

Quality wise, whatever speakers you're using, is it better to play the music from eg. your phone and bluetooth it to a suitable speaker, stream a high quality music file (flac/wav) to your phone/tablet over wifi then b/t to relevant speaker or stream a slightly lesser quality sound from an online music provider?
No idea how much sound is lost through the media of b/t and wifi.
 


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