A little advice for home audio

Blimey, just had a look at chromecast audio. This is surely a no brainer here. £90 will get you three and it looks like the software is set up for this perfectly. Definitely worth it over my previous suggestion of Apple TVs. You've got £500 to spend on speakers and amplification before you're at the cost of three sonos play 1's.
 
OPTION 1
x3 Sonos Play 1 would be an awful lot easier, then for the main room you use, look add an additional Play 1 so you can have 2 as a a stereo pair. They sound fantastic and easily fill our 7x6m open plan kitchen/living area. Not the bassiest, but impressive for their size and work well for a party.
Total = £510

Simple, sound good, plug and play and can be added to for stereo pairs (forget about Play 3 or 5).

OPTION 2
Otherwise you'd have to:
- x3 Chromecast Audio - £75
- x3 2ch amps (ONEU/LEPY on rainforest) - £65
- x3 pairs e-audio 6.5" ceiling speakers - £105
- Speaker cable (say sommer meridian) - £50
TOTAL = £295

CCAs are good, amps should be ok, but all would need a power socket each (6 total), a cluster**** of wiring. The ceiling speakers are likely average unless you spend decent money (£200/pair) on decent ones.

OPTION 3
Replace the amps and ceiling speakers for desktop speakers (meh for positioning/mounting).

Conclusion
Just go for Sonos unless you want to spend out on expensive wall mounted or ceiling speakers, then have to mess around running wires and trying to control the amps or powered speakers themselves. You'll easily spend a grand trying to implement a decent in-ceiling solution.


Personally:
I'm considering phasing out the Sonos Play 1 pair and adding the Chromecast Audios (x5) I have in storage as a house multiroom system, as we have most things already in place:

Lounge - CCA -> HiFi/AV Setup.
Kitchen/Living - CCA -> Arcam Soundbar & Sub (to buy).
Front Office - CCA -> BOSE Soundlink.
Main Bedroom - CCA to Portable Bluetooth Speaker (with Aux in, to buy).
Hall - N/A as can be heard from Kitchen/Living & Office
Portable/Patio - CCA to Portable IPX7 Bluetooth Speaker (with Aux in, to buy).

Sonos Play 1s could be sold to fund the Arcam Soundbar, then just need to grab the portable bluetooth speakers, like JBL Charge, Riva S, Anker Soundcore etc.
 
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Thank you very much for all the replies and ideas! I'm quite liking the idea of option 1 with the 3x sonos play 1 speaker's. Bit dearer than I expected but probably easier. Would I need the connect amp or would I literally just need the 3 speakers? Can you mix match the sonos play 3 and 5s? And would I connect to Google home via the Chromecast audio? Thanks again!
 
I'm a big fan of the Chromecast audios at the moment. Very easy to use and set up.

I'm in the process of getting some outdoor speakers installed in to the soffits, which will use a Chromecast audio. I like the idea that with a Chromecast audio I'm not as tied in to the Sonos ecosystem, and they're so cheap they're almost throwaway.
 
So I'm thinking of just buying 2x 2channel amps and a few Bluetooth speakers, CCA on them all, would that work ? And can anyone recommend amps that are decent but not over expensive, surely they just need an aux in and sufficient power, nothing crazy. And Bluetooth speakers if possible!
 
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For a cheap little amplifier I'd look at a SMSL SA-36A. You don't need bluetooth speakers if you're using a Chromecast Audio - you'd just use any normal speakers wired normally to the amp.
 
Ah nice that looks smart thanks! And then would I connect the Chromecast to the amp? If so how? Because I thought the Chromecast audio was a standard aux in plug? And what wattage speakers should I get if I'm using 2 per amp?
 
chromecast audios have a 3.5mm socket that supports analogue stereo output using a 3.5mm to stereo rca lead, or toslink optical using a 3.5mm to optical adaptor, so basically you can plug them in to anything.

As far as speakers go, keep sensitivity in mind if you're going to be using low power amps, the higher the better. Other than that, wattage doesnt matter all that much for this application.
 
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Is that impedance? Could you give me an example speaker that would fit the criteria best? Again not looking for anything out of his world price wise haha! Also is it worth spending a lot on speaker cable? Thanks again for the info guys!
 
Dan Darby said:
Is that impedance? Could you give me an example speaker that would fit the criteria best? Again not looking for anything out of his world price wise haha! Also is it worth spending a lot on speaker cable? Thanks again for the info guys!
Click to expand...


Sensivity is the volume of the speaker when given a specific amount of power. The standard is 1W.

So a speaker with 86dB sensivity will be lower in volume than a speaker with 90dB sensivitity. That means you need less power to get the same dB output from the speaker. For each 3dB difference in speaker sensivitity you need twice the power.

Impedence is Ohms. That means how hard a load it is on the amplifier. 8ohm are easy to drive, 4 are harder to drive. That means a speaker with 4ohm impedence require a amp with a larger power supply and being able to output that with low distortion.

Typically with a good amplifier, every time the speaker impedence goes from 8 to 4ohm, the amplifier would output more power, usually around 50%. But not alll, some cheap amps will just run into clipping, and thermal shutdown.
 
Wow that's great thanks! Any chance you could recommend a particular speaker that would work well with those little amps in the link above? Or a general wattage/sensitivity I should aim for? If I'm going for two per amp. The rooms are only small so won't be needing crazy volume levels.
 
you want highest sensivity speaker you can find- typically horn speakers are most efficient. Other than that, larger floorstanders are usually more sensitive than the standmount versions. You also want speakers that are easy load 8 ohm

I would not recommend driving four speakers from one stereo amplifier.

Not unless you have a pretty meaty amplifier.
 
seems to me you go form wharfdale Diamond 9's at £99 pair and then a big gap to Dali Zensor 1 or wharfdale 225, both about £225 pair
it would be interesting to know what the Sonus plays speakers are equivalent to ?
since if you had the Dali or 225's, their price with the amp + chromecast would be heading towards Sonus Play's
 
I see, am I right in thinking the standalone speakers are better than ceiling mount? Because I've seen these Polk Audio RCi60, 8ohm with 89db, comparing them to the whardale diamond 9 with 86db at 6 ohms. Which is the better choice would you say? Sorry to ask so much but just gonna go with whatever you guys recommend to be honest!
 
I had forgotten you want ceiling mount, the ones you ref are £150 no , seems a lot.
( maybe others will comment, but I see ceiling speakers as being a significant compromise on sound quality (no box for baffle, down firing) plus the install hassle,
albeit you need to hide cables either way, they are not so discrete either, breaking up clean ceiling lines.
-Ad- had already commented on ceiling mounts )
 
Dan Darby said:
I see, am I right in thinking the standalone speakers are better than ceiling mount? Because I've seen these Polk Audio RCi60, 8ohm with 89db, comparing them to the whardale diamond 9 with 86db at 6 ohms. Which is the better choice would you say? Sorry to ask so much but just gonna go with whatever you guys recommend to be honest!
Click to expand...


THe Polks are easier to drive and a easier load.
No idea which is better quality or sounding speaker.

In my experience I've found higher end speakers to be 4ohm speakers, not always but the ones I've had in the past are.
 
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