Thread: Sonos

Has anyone used Sonos as a distributed audio solution across multiple zones in there home? If so, were you satisfied? Also would be curious to know any positive / negative about the product that you've experienced.

Local A/V installers seem to be pushing more expensive client / server type configs which I can't see the advantage for the price difference.

Regards,
Chris

i LOVE sonos, i have nearly 20 zones in a 10k sq ft house
and i can combine, seperate and play all under same/different stations/playlists
itunes, pandora, sirius etc etc

i control either from any computer in the house or my eyephizzle

^ I spy a L4P app?

Originally Posted by Mr. Carter

^ I spy a L4P app?

testing . . .


but seriously SONOS is the shit, and i seen a lotta "shit"

Originally Posted by Mr. Carter

^ I spy a L4P app?

haha, that's the only app i saw...

so with sonos, you can control the music with every part of your house?

Thats ill

I've had a Sonos pretty much since the first year they came out. Started with 2 zones and now run 6 zones (likely 7 come next year) in a 4200 sq. ft house. Easy to install, easy to use, easy to expand over time -- and obviously, unlike a lot of whole house systems you don't have to incur a lot of up front costs if you don't want to. Some features I like:

- party mode: every zone plays the same thing

- independent zones: what ever music you want in what ever room (or rooms) you want. Even with a party I often have three zones (all in connected rooms) playing one set of music, say R&B and blues, the living room will be something quieter for the people who like to sit and talk and the patio will be more up beat / club style

- moving a queue: I'll queue up a ton of the stuff I like to hear, say while I'm working in the shop. Join up the shop with the kitchen, come inside and prep up a meal (drop the shop). Join the kitchen with the backyard while I grill. Join up the dining room with the kitchen, drop the backyard when we sit down to eat, etc...

- streaming your TVs or other equipment to other rooms. You can play stuff off the computer, stream internet content, etc. but you can also hook in conventional stereo equipment so that it can be broadcast back out through the system. So, on game day, the sound from the game can be everywhere. Or the DVD player in the living room can be used to play a CD in the kitchen while the DVD player in the den plays a CD in the backyard.

Two things I don't like:

- I'm not a huge fan of the way they manage play lists;

- no multi-channel streaming (except in one sort of hard to manage way)

Other than that, it's the best bang for the buck I've seen; the cheaper solutions aren't things my wife and kids could use very easily....

All,
Thanks for all the info. My house is roughly 4500 sq ft and I plan on having six zones so I don't think I'll be pushing the limits of the system. Did any of you "centralize" the location of your zone players? I'd like to store all the zone players in my media closet in the basement where I have all wiring for the house coming into. Also, do any of you use with a media server for the sonos? ( I'm considering colocating a mac mini in the closet for this purpose. )

Regards,
Chris

I run a PC based server in my office, lots of people run a NAS box with them. You can run them all centrally and control them with Wi-fi (via the iPhone/ iTouch and maybe the newer CR200 controller). However, it's often easy to patch into home run wiring in a room or two away from the central location. That generally will give you better wireless coverage.

One other thing I forgot to mention; you can use them as wireless or wired routers to distribute hard wired Ethernet around your house.

once again another application which makes me mad that verizon is yet to have the iphone