Sonos play:1

Picked up a 1 and the bridge the other day to try them out and liking it so far.

Need to get my music sources sorted out to make the most of it but seems good.
 
Are these just mono speakers? Can you team 2 up in a room for left and right channel?
Edit: Looks like you can.

What's the quality like of SONOS? Because they're asking a lot of money.

I can't see why i'd go for this over a wired system with Airplay.
 
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airplay is stupidly limited and has major issues with drop outs and configuration.

Sonos is multi room and airplay is not - comparing apples and oranges ;)

Anyone got one of these in the bathroom, i always intended to get a connect amp and ceiling speakers but u read these are splash proof etc so may go that way instead - going to pick up one for the eldest daughters room, fed up of her using spotify on the computer and knocking us off the sonos!
 
Shimmyhill said:
airplay is stupidly limited and has major issues with drop outs and configuration.

Sonos is multi room and airplay is not - comparing apples and oranges ;)

Anyone got one of these in the bathroom, i always intended to get a connect amp and ceiling speakers but u read these are splash proof etc so may go that way instead - going to pick up one for the eldest daughters room, fed up of her using spotify on the computer and knocking us off the sonos!
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Airplay is multiroom though. So long as you are using multiple airplay receiver/devices e.g. airports and airplay capable receiver.

As for the other comments, i don't understand, from my experience, friends, family and work also, we've not had any problems with dropouts and certainly not configuration :confused: unless of course you're running every room.


I suppose it's probably marketed for those that want something simple and don't mind paying for it.
 
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Shimmyhill said:
Anyone got one of these in the bathroom, i always intended to get a connect amp and ceiling speakers but u read these are splash proof etc so may go that way instead - going to pick up one for the eldest daughters room, fed up of her using spotify on the computer and knocking us off the sonos!
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I have a Sonos AMP in my bedroom cupboard driving a "Monitor Audio CT165-T2" moisture resistant speaker in the ceiling of the en-suite. Brilliant, having music in the shower is one of the best things I have done in the house, very clean and tidy install as well, means you don't need to worry about getting power into the bathroom.
 
Rossi~ said:
Airplay is multiroom though. So long as you are using multiple airplay receiver/devices e.g. airports and airplay capable receiver.
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Have you tried a Sonos multiroom system? I've got both Sonos and AirPlay in my house and the Sonos is the clear winner for music. I can have every room playing the same music, every room playing different music (from one iPhone), different volumes, everyone in the house contributing to a shared playlist...

That's not to say that AirPlay doesn't have some advantages over Sonos but Sonos feels like a more complete solution.
 
I also have a speaker in the bathroom. It is a single stereo in-ceiling speaker (ie it outputs stereo through the one speaker - not as good as two speakers but good enough for a small room) wired to a Sonos ZP100 amp in another room. Great for relaxing in the bath
 
Rossi~ said:
Airplay is multiroom though. So long as you are using multiple airplay receiver/devices e.g. airports and airplay capable receiver.

As for the other comments, i don't understand, from my experience, friends, family and work also, we've not had any problems with dropouts and certainly not configuration :confused: unless of course you're running every room.


I suppose it's probably marketed for those that want something simple and don't mind paying for it.
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It's not multi room in any way - It s a single room solution, all you are suggesting is lots of single room solutions - for my setup you would need five separate spotify or rdio accounts, i need one.... the list goes on and on but you cant compare them as they are not competing in the same area of music playback.

As regards drop outs it again becomes part of airplay not being multi room - you hit issues when you try to get it to do stuff like multiroom. In the case of a house with thick walls or even large layout the reliability of wifi becomes a factor, if the router cant reach all rooms or is flakey on the furthest away rooms then it will drop out and get buffer issues much as anything using wifi can do - Sonos is a mesh network and each device is a repeater so the range is vasty more than std wifi assuming you have multiple units.

Configuration is related to things like doing party mode on multiple devices and getting them all in sync, when i last tried it (and people who have it and still tinker daily with it in other forums i frequent so its still present) you couldn't get the music 100% in sync when playing in party mode. On sonos you can walk through the house through all zones and it will be bang on in sync, even between connect and different play units if you are in party mode.

It's not a case of it being more expensive than airplay, its not comparable as a system, airplay is not multiroom at all - i say all of this as an Apple user who is frustrated that airplay is not worth owning, all my music is ripped in itunes and stored on a NAS in apple lossless format - initially as i wanted to run airplay with various express / atv combos but you can't do multiroom so i bought a Sonos and never looked back - its not even expensive when you compare it to other multiroom systems, only logitech used to compete on price but they were horrible units to setup / use and look at and they have long since bailed from the market!
 
Finally hooked up the Play:1 and Bridge I bought before Christmas and I'm impressed, great sound from a small unit and the iPad interface is nice - feels a bit clumsier on an iPhone.

Will get more for sure, although not convinced by the current Playbar, looks like it would need an extra £100+ box to get it working properly with my Panasonic TV. Wonder if they'll do a V2 with HDMI (and maybe DTS).

Doesn't look like it's possible to have multiple Amazon CloudPlayer accounts configured, is that the case? Had been thinking we would get one each to upload our separate iTunes libraries to. May be redundant with Spotify/Napster I guess, or could upload the whole lot to a single CloudPlayer account maybe.

Anyway, nice bit of kit.
 
Excuse my ignorance but people having these in the bathroom, how are you powering them? I thought they had to be plugged into the mains? Also can't see the wires in the above picture by thebandit?
 
They need mains power and that's it.

For the bathroom if you don't want to run risk running them you can buy a Connect with an amp or a Connect:Amp and run speaker wires from loft/adjacent room into the bathroom for waterproof ceiling speakers.

I actually put my Connect:Amp in the ceiling space above the bathroom powering the speakers below.
 
Shimmyhill said:
It's not multi room in any way - It s a single room solution, all you are suggesting is lots of single room solutions - for my setup you would need five separate spotify or rdio accounts, i need one.... the list goes on and on but you cant compare them as they are not competing in the same area of music playback.

As regards drop outs it again becomes part of airplay not being multi room - you hit issues when you try to get it to do stuff like multiroom. In the case of a house with thick walls or even large layout the reliability of wifi becomes a factor, if the router cant reach all rooms or is flakey on the furthest away rooms then it will drop out and get buffer issues much as anything using wifi can do - Sonos is a mesh network and each device is a repeater so the range is vasty more than std wifi assuming you have multiple units.

Configuration is related to things like doing party mode on multiple devices and getting them all in sync, when i last tried it (and people who have it and still tinker daily with it in other forums i frequent so its still present) you couldn't get the music 100% in sync when playing in party mode. On sonos you can walk through the house through all zones and it will be bang on in sync, even between connect and different play units if you are in party mode.

It's not a case of it being more expensive than airplay, its not comparable as a system, airplay is not multiroom at all - i say all of this as an Apple user who is frustrated that airplay is not worth owning, all my music is ripped in itunes and stored on a NAS in apple lossless format - initially as i wanted to run airplay with various express / atv combos but you can't do multiroom so i bought a Sonos and never looked back - its not even expensive when you compare it to other multiroom systems, only logitech used to compete on price but they were horrible units to setup / use and look at and they have long since bailed from the market!
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I think you're being a bit harsh on AirPlay when actually it's the performance of your Wi-Fi network that is at fault. You're right that controlling it as a multi-room setup from an iPhone is harder, but if you're running a bunch of AirPort Expresses out of iTunes then you can play to them all at once, it's in sync and it doesn't drop out. Sync is something that some third-party AirPlay devices get wrong, but as Apple show it's possible to do it properly.

Considering an AirPort Express is £80 and a Sonos Connect costs more than three times that I would expect it to be a better package. The Play 1 is a genuinely good product but as you go up the range the value drops off quite quickly. The Connect shouldn't cost more than a speaker with an equivalent to the Connect built in, and I hope that the success of the Play 1 sees a cheaper version of the Connect without the line in, digital outs or built in switch.
 
Goodie said:
Excuse my ignorance but people having these in the bathroom, how are you powering them? I thought they had to be plugged into the mains? Also can't see the wires in the above picture by thebandit?
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Officially Sonos don't recommend them for UK bathrooms. Connect:Amp (ZP120) in another room with speakers run to the bathroom - as mentioned above - seems a common recommendation.
 
Just to chime in. We got a play 5 for the lounge, a 1 for the kitchen and finally a 1 for the bedroom.

This stuff is incredible. The wife is a bit of a music/sound snob, so doesn't think its amazing in terms of sound quality. But she enjoys it. That means 99% of people will think the sound is incredible. She is an audiophile…we just don't have the space nor the risk taking to set up a proper stack and floor speakers for her because of our 2 year old...

Tempted to get another play 5 and a sub for the lounge.

The two play 1s are fine for kitchen and bedroom.
 
Caged said:
I think you're being a bit harsh on AirPlay when actually it's the performance of your Wi-Fi network that is at fault. You're right that controlling it as a multi-room setup from an iPhone is harder, but if you're running a bunch of AirPort Expresses out of iTunes then you can play to them all at once, it's in sync and it doesn't drop out. Sync is something that some third-party AirPlay devices get wrong, but as Apple show it's possible to do it properly.

Considering an AirPort Express is £80 and a Sonos Connect costs more than three times that I would expect it to be a better package. The Play 1 is a genuinely good product but as you go up the range the value drops off quite quickly. The Connect shouldn't cost more than a speaker with an equivalent to the Connect built in, and I hope that the success of the Play 1 sees a cheaper version of the Connect without the line in, digital outs or built in switch.
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I'm not knocking airplay, merely pointing out its not a multi zone setup. It's reasons like the fact that sonos has its own mesh repeating (even the remotes repeat) that make it so good and obv add to the cost and not having to use itunes makes it worth 3x the cost ;) Airplay relies on wifi and you can have wifi range issues in a 2 bed cottage with thick walls, you then need extra hardware to repeat signal etc so its all ramping up costs and it is a negative of airplay should you compare it to any other multiroom setup (an awful lot are still wired)

You cant really compare airplay to sonos as they aren't trying to do the same thing, saying it's cheaper is as much use as saying a Veyron is dearer than a focus...

Airplay is decent enough for getting sound from a device to an amp with all the limitations that has but you could argue its pretty expensive itself for what it delivers!
 
Play 1's have a single mains cord each, I just routed them neat and tidy, don't like to see wires on show.

I am a true Sonos convert now, in only the 2 weeks I have owned any Sonos stuff. I'm already weighing up the options for my next purchase. I'm either going to get the sub for the living room (sounds seriously good with the play 1's in stereo pair, really fills the room out nicely), or I might put the plays 1's in Kitchen and bedroom and get a connect with some audioengine A5+.
 
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Shimmyhill said:
Airplay relies on wifi and you can have wifi range issues in a 2 bed cottage with thick walls, you then need extra hardware to repeat signal etc so its all ramping up costs and it is a negative of airplay should you compare it to any other multiroom setup (an awful lot are still wired)
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I agree with you, Sonos is better it just gets a bit eye-wateringly expensive as you go up the range, but you're paying for convenience. With regards to Wi-Fi, I've always seen getting good coverage across the entire house as a priority at which point AirPlay sitting on top of it is a very low cost option - it would annoy me if I couldn't use my laptop or tablet in a certain room.

Do Sonos bother making remotes any more or is it all app-based?
 
Thinking about picking one of these up, are they currently the best on the market at the moment? how do they compare to the BOSE equivalent ?

I missed the boat on the 20% off Amazon deal that happened yesterday which was annoying.
 
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