Sonos

[miggs29]

Hey All,

It's been a while, but glad to be back. So, the latest idea for the HT is a Sonos system. Any thoughts......

I just updated my wireless router. The new one (linksys E4200) has a built in USB port, in which I am planning to hook up an external drive with all my music. I was thinking on buying a sonos play5 for the kitchen. Will I be able to access the external hard drive connected to the wireless router by usb on the sonos? I was also planing on buying another sonos to hook up to the yammy. Is that the way to go? I want to access the wireless drive in the kitchen on the sonos play 5 and then music on the yammy with the zone player 90. Is that all I need? I am a bit confused. Please help.

 

[bikemig]

Sonos has really good info on its webpage and an active community of users who can help you out. I use squeezebox products to stream music but by all accounts, sonos is first rate and easier to set up than squeezebox. You can't simply set up a sonos player in the kitchen; you'll need to also set up a bridge or a zoneplayer where you have your router. Once you have that set up, you're good to go and you can add more units as you need them.

 

[GranteedEV]

I was impressed by the Sonos system.

**** is damn expensive though

Give me wires any day

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

InTheIndustry highly recommends the Sonos system as well.

Looks very, very cool.

 

[InTheIndustry]

Hey All,

It's been a while, but glad to be back. So, the latest idea for the HT is a Sonos system. Any thoughts......

I just updated my wireless router. The new one (linksys E4200) has a built in USB port, in which I am planning to hook up an external drive with all my music. I was thinking on buying a sonos play5 for the kitchen. Will I be able to access the external hard drive connected to the wireless router by usb on the sonos? I was also planing on buying another sonos to hook up to the yammy. Is that the way to go? I want to access the wireless drive in the kitchen on the sonos play 5 and then music on the yammy with the zone player 90. Is that all I need? I am a bit confused. Please help.

InTheIndustry highly recommends the Sonos system as well.

Looks very, very cool.

We use dozens and dozens of Sonos pieces a year. It's incredible, our cleints rave about it & we get referals every year from happy users. People go out of their way to show it off because it is so easy to use & sounds great. We've never been asked to replace it with something else, only to add more zones.

For what you described will need the following...
- 1 Sonos Play5
- 1 Sonos ZP90
- 1 Sonos ZoneBridge (Assuming your router is in another room than the ZP90, this hooks into your router to wirelessly talk to your ZP90 & Play5.)

As far as the external hard drive is concerned....
The Sonos system will play anything that you have on your network. Depending on how all of your hardware (PC, Hardrive) is setup you may need to call Sonos Tech Support to have them help you configure. Usually it's automated and easy, but different externals can be weird to set up the 1st time.

A word of advice: You get 30 days free of Rhapsody, Napster, Sirius, etc. through Sonos. You can stagger these services if you, for example, sign up for trial of Rhapsody... let it expire, then do Napster... let it expire, then Sirius. That's 90 days of free music trials on top of the already free stuff it provides like Internet radio & Pandora.

Instead of messing with the Hard drive I would try Rhapsody 1st. It's a great service that will expand your music collection exponentially. Most of our clients love it.

Good luck & let us know how you like it!

 

[bikemig]

Sonos vs squeezebox

If I were going to set up a new streaming solution for my house, I'd consider Sonos given that it is more plug and play than squeezebox. That said, squeezebox products are very fine. I use a number of SB products throughout the house and find that the sound quality, ease of use, and reliability is excellent. The cost is lower (the SB Touch can be had for around $250--sometimes a bit more, sometimes less--while the Sonos zoneplayer runs $350) and the SB touch plays hi res music files (up to 24/96) while Sonos is limited, I'm fairly certain, to redbook. That may or may not be an issue for you. Plus you don't need a sonos bridge (or zoneplayer) set up with your router; you can simply set up one squeezebox product in whichever room you want (this saves some money as well). Sonos, unlike SB which runs off your wifi network, sets up its own network which may well be a technologically better (if somewhat more expensive) solution. Squeezebox also has a very active user community and, in my experience, first rate phone support (which is free). I am not trying to sell squeezebox over sonos but just pointing out that there is an alternative that works great and costs less. Sonos is in some ways more mac like and squeezebox more pc like.