Multi room music system

Shimmyhill · 10 Aug 2010 at 16:40

I have had a search and read the posts that came up relating to Sonos/Squeezebox but many are old so i would like to ask again esp of users of the above !

What i would like :

Music in dining room, kitchen, living room & bedroom.
Dab on all (however internet radio would do the same i assume ?? )
Central HDD storage, music will be in itunes format as i have iphone for car etc
Pref a clock radio on the bedroom device (not a deal breaker)

What i have :

In living room i have a Yamaha 2700 amp hooked into some quad 21L speakers.
Apple Time Capsule (i can use as a networked hdd or another option is an SSD hdd plugged in via USB, thinking silent then)
Iphone - hence wanting music in apple friendly format.

So onto the questions !

I have started looking at Sonos, it seems expensive but does seem ideal - for the kitchen & bedroom i could use the s5, the front room the zp90 (enabling the mesh as router in same room) and use the iphone as a remote with perhaps one actual sonos main remote. I like that you can play any song at any time on any device or have all devices playing the same in party mode. I like the iphone controller option - buying ipod touches as 'cheap' remotes and you can expand as you need to. The price is my main issue, items seem expensive for the job in hand ....

So onto the squeezebox solution !

My first question - does a pc have to have the server on it and running ? This is a deal breaker if so, i have multi computers but none are always on ???

The solution looks good - Squeezebox radios in bedroom and kitchen, touch/duet into my amp and a boom in the dining room. I like that the bedroom unit will have an alarm clock and i assume with the remote i could do the 'party mode' and the price looks good. Where it seems to fall down for me is remotes are 199 and no iphone/ipod app (seems silly not to IMO) so all of a sudden im into Sonos pricing.

I have looked at the Sony gigajuke but it has a nasty UI, lack of features and lots of sony tax it seems for a pretty limited product. Im interested in the Philips unit but i suspect its going to be replaced as there seems to be a firesale on it at RS ?

Any help and/or advice on above setups or something totally different would be great !

lucid · 10 Aug 2010 at 21:53

Sonos is quite simply the most convenient, best thought-out, and IMO most complete solution for wired/wireless music. The fact that it will run off a NAS drive plugged in to a wireless router makes it a fit-and-forget solution.

SimonR · 10 Aug 2010 at 23:05

Both the Sonos or the Squeezebox will need either a NAS or server running 24/7 to serve the music. So either will be a dealbreaker for you I am afraid, but WHS or a NAS can be set to sleep if necessary.

Pug · 10 Aug 2010 at 23:56

maybe buy 3 (or however many) Airport Express?

These enable streaming wirelessly from itunes (so need a PC on, but could be a cheap nettop) and multiple zones can be selected/deselected (though i dont think you can have different things in different zones).

Obviously has remote app for iphone, and with airfoil can be used to stream ANY audio source to multiple/any airport.

Probably clunkier, but a LOT cheaper.

Hank_Marvin · 11 Aug 2010 at 12:00

SimonR said:
Both the Sonos or the Squeezebox will need either a NAS or server running 24/7 to serve the music. So either will be a dealbreaker for you I am afraid, but WHS or a NAS can be set to sleep if necessary.

I'm sure the new touch acts as the server?

You can plug a usb drive in to it and it will feed to all other squeezebox units.

SimonR · 11 Aug 2010 at 13:14

I have been down this route several times. I think if my budget had allowed, I would have taken Lucid's advice and gone sonos...BUT... I am currently 4 zone hardwired using my Onkyo 807 and separate power amp (5.1 Living room, stereo dining room, stereo conservatory, stereo outdoors).
Next time round I will probably use Control4. You can stream music from your iphone or use it as a remote, Speaker Points are a similar price to Sonos and you can feed any source to any speaker point. Oh and you can now mix and match Sonos and Control4.

I really like the squeezebox products, but I think that Sonos or Control4 are a better product

Shimmyhill · 11 Aug 2010 at 16:48

SimonR said:
Both the Sonos or the Squeezebox will need either a NAS or server running 24/7 to serve the music. So either will be a dealbreaker for you I am afraid, but WHS or a NAS can be set to sleep if necessary.

I have the time capsule that is always on and has storage space for the music files - with squeezebox as i understand it i would need to buy a NAS or have pc always running with the server software. (i would actually add an SSD drive to the TM to have a nice silent solution so either way im buying an SSD drive to store music on!)

At the moment Sonos seems a simpler setup but i could have a low spec atom mini itx pc acting as the squeezebox server so its not ruled out - have also found iphone/touch control software for squeezebox

Shimmyhill · 11 Aug 2010 at 16:51

Pug said:
maybe buy 3 (or however many) Airport Express?

These enable streaming wirelessly from itunes (so need a PC on, but could be a cheap nettop) and multiple zones can be selected/deselected (though i dont think you can have different things in different zones).

Obviously has remote app for iphone, and with airfoil can be used to stream ANY audio source to multiple/any airport.

Probably clunkier, but a LOT cheaper.

I have looked at this but as you say all zones have to play the same thing, also the internet radio options seem limited or fiddly - the kitchen 'zone' needs easy access to Heart (lousy local station) for the wife or this is a del breaker

I looked at an Apple TV based solution and if i could only play diff music i would probably go down this route !

Shimmyhill · 7 Sep 2010 at 21:44

I went Sonos in the end and very happy so far, really easy to use and looking forward to Spotify on it!

The wife loves searching out music on napster and its gone down as her fave tech purchase of mine!!

lucid · 9 Sep 2010 at 00:30

I told you

Shimmyhill · 9 Sep 2010 at 13:14

lucid said:
I told you

You did, we love it and having dipped my toe in with an ZP & S5 i will be adding to it shortly!

My m8 has gone for a SB setup so will go see him soon to have a comparison - should be interesting!

lucid · 9 Sep 2010 at 21:25

Shimmyhill said:
You did, we love it and having dipped my toe in with an ZP & S5 i will be adding to it shortly!

My m8 has gone for a SB setup so will go see him soon to have a comparison - should be interesting!

I looked in to SB as a cheaper alternative to Sonos; I'm already Sonos dealer but they don't do anything in black which is something I have been asked for in the past.

Anyway, the deal breaker for me and my customers was having to have a PC on 24/7 to act as a host for the server software. That, or paying for the online library space to host one's own music collection. To me it seems like a major faux pas in what is otherwise a good product.

Regards

Chris