Sonos type speaker recommendation/help

kinobestew123 · 8 Jul 2013 at 11:51

Hi everyone.

Ok, so i'm after a bit of help. I'm wanting to purchase a sonos type speaker but I have a fairly specific list of requirements which I would like meeting and i'm not sure Sonos ticks all the boxes.

1) Similar form factor to Sonos, i.e. one single unit, not lots of parts pieced together.

2) Able to play from my Synology NAS (using DNLA?) wirelessly.

3) No reliance on a computer/central server pc.

4) Able to control using android, iOS, OSx and Windows

5) Able to use a spotify premium account with it.

6) Capable of multiroom. I'm purchasing with a view to getting more in the future for various rooms around the house and want to be able to have them play music separately or all together.

7) Able to plug a TV into it and use as the tv speaker.

8) Able to stream laptop sound to it, so for example if I was playing a game or watching a movie on my laptop (osx or windows), it will come out of the speaker.

9) Able to support several users at once, i.e. two or more people can queue songs.

I think Sonos pretty much has them all covered except perhaps number 8 which is really important to me. I've used the sonos in the past and have generally been impressed, it does seem to have limited input though (would 7 be possible)?

Tunney · 8 Jul 2013 at 12:26

With the additional of an Airport Express, a Sonos system supports AirPlay. That'll let you play anything from OS X. Not so sure about Windows.

7 almost certainly won't work though. There's too much lag on a Sonos.

kinobestew123 · 8 Jul 2013 at 12:53

I suppose that's where things start getting more expensive and complicated. I'm already happy with my network setup and would rather not be buying new equipment other than the speaker (especially when sonos is so expensive as it is).

Both myself and my girlfriend both use android phones so ideally it should be controllable by those. We also have an iPad and it would be nice if they could control it too.

I'm happy to skip 7, I just thought it would be good in the bedroom to improve the TV sound.

Potential alternatives seem to be the Pioneer A1 or A4 or Pure Jongo. None seem to just work on all devices however.

Jano · 8 Jul 2013 at 13:31

It's expensive, but I thought the whole point of that new Sonus Soundbar thing was to use with a TV?

kinobestew123 · 8 Jul 2013 at 13:48

Indeed, the sonos soundbar looks like an epic bit of kit. Definitely overkill for the bedroom though and as you say, the price is pretty high.

Ideally i'm just after a multiroom wireless speaker system that is reasonably cheap (say £150-200 per speaker) and can be used to stream sounds from any device be it android, microsoft or apple. Sonos are close but the system is still quite limiting as you can only stream internet based music and not music stored on a NAS unless you faff with airplay and other stuff.

There are lots of bluetooth based speakers out there, but I believe the sound quality is decreased and they don't allow the multiroom.

covenantuk · 8 Jul 2013 at 14:34

kinobestew123 said:
Indeed, the sonos soundbar looks like an epic bit of kit. Definitely overkill for the bedroom though and as you say, the price is pretty high.

Ideally i'm just after a multiroom wireless speaker system that is reasonably cheap (say £150-200 per speaker) and can be used to stream sounds from any device be it android, microsoft or apple. Sonos are close but the system is still quite limiting as you can only stream internet based music and not music stored on a NAS unless you faff with airplay and other stuff.

There are lots of bluetooth based speakers out there, but I believe the sound quality is decreased and they don't allow the multiroom.

Where did you get the idea Sonos can't play off NAS?

1) Similar form factor to Sonos, i.e. one single unit, not lots of parts pieced together.

Sonos

2) Able to play from my Synology NAS (using DNLA?) wirelessly.

Sonos can stream from the NAS as long as it's plugged into the same network router or LAN that the Sonos is attached to. Sonos HAS to be able to connect to the internet so it must be connected to your router. Just plug your NAS into that router somehow and you;re good to go.

3) No reliance on a computer/central server pc.

That's what a NAS is for

4) Able to control using android, iOS, OSx and Windows

Yes to everything

5) Able to use a spotify premium account with it.

Sonos can ONLY use Spotify premium, you can't use a free account with it

6) Capable of multiroom. I'm purchasing with a view to getting more in the future for various rooms around the house and want to be able to have them play music separately or all together.

Yup

7) Able to plug a TV into it and use as the tv speaker.

The Play5 has a line-in socket. Most TVs have phono outputs, so just use an appropriate lead.

8) Able to stream laptop sound to it, so for example if I was playing a game or watching a movie on my laptop (osx or windows), it will come out of the speaker.

Again use the line-in?

9) Able to support several users at once, i.e. two or more people can queue songs.

You can have any number of controllers and all use the same queue