on my wishlist is: upgrading the PC software to work as a sound driver as well so that one can use Play 1's as PC speakers which would be great.
Big thanks to Lance for selling me a spare Bridge at a great price. I'll be ordering a Play:1 on payday in a couple of weeks time. I'm already enjoying Airplay using my Airport Express through my JVC Hi-Fi or TB EarForce XP510s, but that's only a temporary setup because I will need the AE elsewhere soon, so the Sonos is going to take over. Eventually I'd like to have one in the workshop, office, kitchen and bedroom which are the places I spend most of my time. It'll be expensive, but worth it, especially since my old workshop Hi-Fi has finally blown an output channel and I haven't had a chance to look about repairing it yet.
In case anyone is interested had a bit of a tinker this afternoon with some different setups. I recently got a new Play:1 for another room and I did a bit of tinkering today setting up a pair of Play:1s in stereo just to check it out - very impressed, definitely more than the sum of its parts. Well suited to a smaller room like a bedroom or study. Not exactly room-filling sound in a 24x14' kitchen and clearly no comparison to a pair of Play:5s, but maintained fidelity well past background music volumes. The new one is destined for a different room than the one I had already (and one is black and one white anyway), but I'm liable to pick up another at some point on the basis of this little experiment. In terms of comparisons... FIGHT! 2x P1 vs. 1x P3 There's a little bit of low end missed when switching between one and the other, but the separation just makes everything sound better on the Play:1 pair IMO. Fidelity at volume seems largely similar, but with the P3 you're very conscious that it's all coming from one point whereas with the P1 pair the music is just there. 2x P1 vs. 1x P5 This one is a little tougher to call - perhaps a bit apples and oranges. For low volumes the P1 pair has the edge IMO, but when the volume gets past "polite" listening levels (or when in a large room) the P5 easily overtakes and the difference in range is pretty clear when listening to certain music. My test material was Slipknot - The Grey Chapter and Norah Jones - Not Too Late, and the former is definitely better on the P5 despite the lack of stereo imaging. 2x P5 Clearly the winner of the bunch (the 3x connects weren't allowed to participate!) I've only got the 1 P3 (for now?) - anyone have a pair of them and able to offer some comparisons against the rest of the range?
Easily accomplished, and very usable if you're really wanting/willing to make it work. That said, for PC speakers - having tried with a pair of 1's - for the same cost, my B&W 686's absolutely blow them away. Speaking from personal experience, it's easy to get carried away with Sonos, but I found that I needed to remind myself that they serve a particular purpose - convenience - and are not the be all and end all... /heresy TSB EDIT: I now realise I'm responding to a reply to my own (moany) post some months ago when I complained about this very issue! Now I'm acting blasé indifferent to the fact that I too once faced that problem (although I had forgotten) - but later found the above solution. If only upgrading brain storage was as easy as upgrading pc storage...
I'm with you here on the general premise, but isn't that a bit of apples and oranges? For a similar cost you're getting integrated amplification and very accomplished streaming with the Play:1s - even adding a fairly ropey amp and player to the cost of the 686 leaves you looking at appreciably more money for the combo - not to mention the fact that you're looking at additional components to house along with speakers 4x the size, perhaps not entirely suited to desktop use (I can't talk though, I'm using 6.5" monitors for the desktop...) I had a mild argument along similar lines recently ("mild" is probably even overstating it in all honestly) with a shop assistant in Best Buy as I was looking at a PlayBar (not for me, just out of curiosity). Despite the fact I said I wasn't interested in buying, he kept going on that a particular Klipsch Soundbar is so much better for the same $700. Sounds better perhaps, but it's not the same $700, as for the same capabilities you're adding 50% to the Klipsch one with a Connect - "well not everyone wants streaming" was his response, and then proceeded to talk about some $80 streamers that I had never heard of... *sigh* At any rate, at risk of getting into a rant here. IMO Sonos are superb doing what they do best and even pretty competent at doing what they don't, though clearly expensive when compared to "dumb" alternatives. Although I shudder to think of comparisons drawn between a full £1500-2000 Sonos 5.1 system and what the same money could get you with other kit, convenience or not.
Just thought I'd give this thread a little bump to say that, despite my best efforts and resisting for over a year, I've just expanded my Sonos family a little - I bought another Play:1 A few deals / offers have brought the relative cost down to only £29! O2 Priority Moments have a code at the moment for £10 off a spend of over £100 at Currys and American Express have a similar thing - £10 statement credit on a spend of over £50 at Currys. Combine that with a year's free Deezer Premium+ (and therefore allowing me to cancel my £10 a month to Spotify) rounds off the savings!
Geroge you just gave me the last little push i needed and I have bought my 1st Sonos, just a Play:1 but really impressed. Also the little things are pretty loud if you need them to be, 10% fills the room. Now to stop myself buying more of them ...
One of us, one of us... I've never had mine above 50% and that's in a noisy kitchen. My new one is for the bedroom and as an alarm clock 7 or 8% is more than loud enough. If I ever won the lottery I'd buy a soundbar and sub so fast lol
My Father in law just got in to Sonos (I may have had some input) with a PlayBar, Sub and a couple of P3s. I might request ho brings the sub along next time he visits, to try in the kitchen with the pair of P5s. I have considered on occasion that there's not enough low end when the volume starts to increase. The main issue is I'm not sure I have anywhere to stick it though :/ Anyone found a need to use a Boost yet? I've got two bridges (one on ground floor, one in the loft), but I'm occasionally having "can't connect to Sonos player" issues on a couple of players. I can't decide if I get a boost to replace one of the bridges, one boost to replace both of the bridges (and then, loft or ground floor?), or a boost along with both bridges, or just another bridge... any opinions? I really wish it was possible to see stats on a per player basis with regards to signal strength and which bridge it was connecting to.
Shiny, no doubt. Do want, just because it's shiny, sadly I can't think of a location where it would be appropriate :/
Thread bump, stumbled upon something interesting that I had never come across before when troubleshooting some network issues last night (presumably because I had never previously had the need to troubleshoot any Sonos issues). http://<ip of any sonos player>:1400/support/review And the bottom network matrix link is the most interesting... Very helpful if there are any zones having issues, or when figuring out if wiring a zone or adding a bridge/boost would be of benefit. The issue I was having was entirely different, in that upon swapping out a switch in the network, everything died. Turns out Sonos relies on STP for its own path finding and when using an unmanaged switch, it sorts itself out and the switch is oblivious. When using a managed switch, however, it needs to be configured properly for very bad things not to happen.
