Home sound system set-up

[Repta]

Hi,

Looking at setting up a music system within my house. I have no idea where to start or what would need. Looking for it to do the following:

speakers in 3 rooms
Be able to play and operate independently from each other
Able to access music from a centrally stored location
2 rooms the speakers will be connected to TV's the third there will be no TV
Wireless

Budget currently is massively flexible as I have no idea what is needed. Sound quality doesnt need to be top of the range, just looking to improve on stock tv speakers really. Thinking a sound bars are probably the best way to go for speakers in 2 of the rooms but looking for advice.

Whats the best way to do all this?

Rhys

 

[a1ex2001]

Sonos it's expensive but it is easily the market leader in affordable multi-room home audio it's simple to use and setup and the quality is very decent too. Just be careful they breed and empty your wallet.

 

[lucid]

When you factor in the things that Sonos does it's actually rather cheap. IOW, you could spend a hell of a lot more on rival systems and still not end up with the flexibility or ease of use.

For what's required in the OP, buy a couple of ordinary Samsung/LG/Yamaha etc soundbars for the TVs, just make sure they have a second input. Then add a couple of the Sonos player boxes (Sonos: Connect) for each TV. For the third room choose any of the Sonos speaker boxes (Play1/3/5) or a Sonos player with integrated amp (Sonos: Connect Amp) and add speakers of your choice.

Sonos also makes a really good speakerbar product for TV use. It has the wireless music streaming functionality built in. This probably works out as cheap as buying a 3rd party soundbar plus Sonos player. It would sound better to thanks to superior performance of the Sonos speaker bar compared to typical soundbars.

 

[Jono]

The only problem with the Sonos playbar (I think) is that it doesn't support DTS, if you care about that kind of thing.

Could be wrong.

 

[covenantuk]

Sonos. Pretty much perfect for your scenario. Except for DTS, which arguably you'd not notice anyway with a Soundbar.

2 Soundbars and a Play:1/3/5 depending on what size your 3rd room is.

Or if you havent got an optical out on your TV, get a Sonos:Connect for it and buy a 3rd party playbar.

Yes, it's a bit pricey, but yes its worth the cash and will lead to you wanting one in EVERY room

 

[Repta]

Sonos looks perfect nice and simple to set up and not much to go wrong. That will have a lot of hassle as its for my dads house!

cheers

 

[a1ex2001]

When you factor in the things that Sonos does it's actually rather cheap.

There is some very weird price points within the range like the connect costing more than the play 1 and 3 both of which effectively contain a connect! It's great stuff though and I can only see my system growing!

 

[lucid]

There is some very weird price points within the range like the connect costing more than the play 1 and 3 both of which effectively contain a connect! It's great stuff though and I can only see my system growing!

I know what you mean, but you have to look at connectivity.

If you want a line in, then you need a Connect (£279), or a Play 5 (£380), Connect Amp (£399), or Playbar (£599). So of all the Sonos models the Connect is actually the cheapest way of getting analogue audio in to the Sonos ecosystem. It's also the only device in the range to feature digital audio outs (coax and optical), and it (and the Connect Amp) includes a two port network switch. None of the Play speakers include more than a single port.

There's commonality with the wireless connectivity, a network port, and the Sonos playback features. But in the broader sense I can't agree that a Play 1 is a speaker with a Connect inside because the Connect does so much more.

You could argue that none of those features are important to you. I wouldn't argue with that. But that's more about personal preference. What you can't argue that the Connect has a broad feature set that some people would require. Horses for courses.