Speaker solution for kitchen?

413x · 23 Sep 2020 at 12:32

I'm spending enough time in the kitchen would be nice to have a speaker in there. Something like a sound bar maybe.

Would be great if it had chromecast/bluetooth.

Basically something I can just connect my phone to and play Spotify or YouTube through.

Is a soundbar the best bet?

Its by far the easiest thing to tuck away. Never had a sound bar before

Junglist · 23 Sep 2020 at 12:41

We were thinking of getting an Sonos 1 in the kitchen but decided against it and thought of getting one of the cheaper IKEA ones and they're just as good especially considering the low price

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/symfonisk-wifi-bookshelf-speaker-black-80357557/

Ahleckz · 23 Sep 2020 at 12:45

I've shoved an Echo Dot on the side of my extraction hood. Works fine for me, it's out the way, the noise quality is acceptable for a kitchen and having the smart speaker is great for a cooker timer, changing music by voice and conversions. Plus, it's very cheap.

chroniclard · 23 Sep 2020 at 13:04

We have an Echo dot and an old Sonos Play 1, works for us. Those Ikea ones mentioned look quite good for the price. You can play music via Sonos App -> Spotify using your phone.

Junglist · 23 Sep 2020 at 13:06

chroniclard said:
We have an Echo dot and an old Sonos Play 1, works for us. Those Ikea ones mentioned look quite good for the price. You can play music via Sonos-> Spotify using your phone.

My friend has two paired up to his Beam and I'm quite surprised at just how well they work. We decided we have the ability to get the Play Ones so we will spend the extra and get two of those for the living room but for any additional rooms, the IKEA ones are really hard to ignore.

I wanted to get the lamp for the bedroom but she thinks it's ugly so it wasn't a fight I was ever going to win

fobose · 23 Sep 2020 at 13:16

I bought an echo (normal one) for my kitchen and that works well. My bro bought two for his and used them in stereo for a while which sounded good too. I quite like being able to use the multi room feature with them as I have 3 dots too, two connected to an amp with speakers so can have a music playing on all floors without being on full blast.

413x · 23 Sep 2020 at 13:26

Am I finally going to have to cave in to home automation?

These echos seem popular. (I would definitely get the larger one.

I guess I need to pick an ecosystem?

413x · 23 Sep 2020 at 13:26

Junglist said:
We were thinking of getting an Sonos 1 in the kitchen but decided against it and thought of getting one of the cheaper IKEA ones and they're just as good especially considering the low price

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/symfonisk-wifi-bookshelf-speaker-black-80357557/

But this is good too

chroniclard · 23 Sep 2020 at 13:31

Echo dot is a very cheap way of trying it out. They are also surprisingly loud for such a small device.

*ah, they are no longer as cheap, they were about 30 quid for a bit, now 49.

barmyllama · 23 Sep 2020 at 13:31

Went down the Sonos One route myself.

I can just ask for songs or use the app to stream direct from my phone, music rips on my PC, Sonos radio or Prime music, or any other streaming service.

They also sound a lot better than the Echo I used have and are a lot more flexible.

413x · 23 Sep 2020 at 13:45

barmyllama said:
Went down the Sonos One route myself.

I can just ask for songs or use the app to stream direct from my phone, music rips on my PC, Sonos radio or Prime music, or any other streaming service.

They also sound a lot better than the Echo I used have and are a lot more flexible.

Don't they become bricks eventually? Ie they drop support?

Basher · 23 Sep 2020 at 13:52

413x said:
Don't they become bricks eventually? Ie they drop support?

That happened on some pretty old devices that didn't have enough memory to support the new OS. But yeah, technically possible in the future, too.

Buffman · 23 Sep 2020 at 15:27

I went for 2 sonos play ones for stereo. Works well in my fairly big kitchen (circa 4m x 7m)

BigBoy · 23 Sep 2020 at 15:30

I have a 7" Google home in the kitchen useful for keeping recipes on and playing music/radio and even TV if you have Plex or YouTube subs.

Gav_r26 · 23 Sep 2020 at 15:45

4 Polk Speakers in the ceiling and a tangent ampster bluetooth amp paired with a fire tablet.

Flibster · 23 Sep 2020 at 16:26

Previous owners of the house put some half decent 10" ceiling speakers in the Kitchen when it was extended, couldn't find where the cables came out so I replaced them with some left over Cat5e cable going to a banana plug wall plate. Much better than the cheapest of the cheap bell wire they were using.

Added a Pioneer HM82D to output audio. Talks to our mediaserver, has internet radio, DAB, bluetooth, usb and CD player. Have paired it with an Echo Dot as well, connected over a 3.5mm cable. Works really well and I can wake the other half up with the speakers as they're under the bedroom.

fobose · 23 Sep 2020 at 16:35

Would love to have added ceiling speakers to my kitchen tbh. Too much effort for me. It does also add quite a bit of extra cost though, especially with the amp.

Gav_r26 · 23 Sep 2020 at 16:39

fobose said:
Would love to have added ceiling speakers to my kitchen tbh. Too much effort for me. It does also add quite a bit of extra cost though, especially with the amp.

Yes to be fair, we did put them in whilst we were building it. Probably a pain to do without.

SpeedFreak · 23 Sep 2020 at 21:43

I would go Sonos having had it in the past and currently running Google Home. Easier to multiroom on a Spotify subscription in my experience.

BigBoy · 24 Sep 2020 at 10:13

Multi room in Google home is easy just set a group in the home app it give you the option to individual rooms or the group's