Sonus Multiroom Music System

[DJofSD]

See: http://www.sonos.com/default.aspx

Any one have one of these?

How do you like it?

[BillW]

See: http://www.sonos.com/default.aspx

Any one have one of these?

How do you like it?

Watch out for wireless overload! All wireless runs in the same area (frequency band). I have an 802.11, wireless weather station, bluetooth and wireless video from my dish receiver to remote TV's all running at the same time and do get some minimal interference (a lot when My cell phone rings). When expecting CD type fidelity, that minimal interference may become an issue.

[DJofSD]

Thanks, however, not a problem since my house is already wired with CAT6.

[BillW]

It looks pretty cool to me. I already subscribe to Sirius and use their net streaming all the time. Very rarely do I get any "digital breakup" and it's in CD fidelity (as far as I can tell - they claim it and I can't my dispute it with my super duper computer speaker system ;) ) I would assume this system would work quite well with it.

It would be interesting to find a tech forum where you could get some testamonials regarding the reliability of this system working through the wireless fog that we have these days. I forgot to mention garage door openers, security cameras and plenty of other consumer goods that could be a source of interference. Of course this interference can come from the neighbors too.

My main concern would be that high fidelity music (cranked to 120 Db :cool: ) would be the most vulnerable to this type of interference.

[BillW]

I see what you meant by having the cat-6 installed already. The Sonos system will work wired also! :cool:

[DJofSD]

I purchased a system and have it set up. It is exactly what I have been trying to do with just a PC but not really succeding.

After a few stubbed toes, I was able to stream music from my iTunes library on my HP server running Windows Home Server. Works like a charm.

For me, this system and set up avoids what I consider to be a major flaw with what HP, D-Link and lots of other vendors have to offer. Thier solutions are all video oriented. They assume you are mainly interested in streaming digital video and any mention of just music is as an aside. Furthermore, I don't want to have to turn on a TV in order to select what music to play. (There's a whole lot more to it than just not wanting to use the TV but I'll leave it at that.)

With the Sonos solution, I have the option of using a hand held remote. The remote is a network device and has the look and feel of an iPhone or Touch iPod. All of the information is there in your hand. And since it is a network device, it works wherever you have a signal to your network, so, it allows you to be in a different room to select your music. Furthermore, there is a PC/MAC software application that is a desktop remote. I can start something from a laptop then when I want to change it or select the next item to put into the queue, I can do that from the handheld. Very flexable. Very nice.

I find this an elegant and simple way to stream music from the server to the A/V unit. With the A/V units multiple zone and speaker support, the possiblies are mind bobbling.

I recommend the Sonos system.

[BillW]

DJofSD,

How about a 2 month (almost) report. Has the system held up to your expectations?

[DJofSD]

Oh, yes, it has been just about everything I expected.

The only disappointed has been of my own doing. When I set up my server about a year ago then moved iTunes to it, I had already ripped my CDs using the wave (.WAV) format. That was all well and good for iTunes. However, with the Sonos wizard, it had problems with some of the albums. The original file structure and wave files are still there for iTunes but the Sonos view of those folders, etc., is incomplete. Some albums do not show up in the albums listings. If there is a specific album I want to listen to that is not in the album listing, I have to use the option in the controller to browse the actual folder structure on the server. Furthermore, I can make my own playlist for the Sonos application, saving me the hassle of the additional navigation. But creating my own play list is something I have yet to fully explore. If I had ripped my music using a compressed format, with the additional tag information embedded in the files, the Sonos wizard would have been able to see all of the music and create it's catagories, album lists, track lists, etc. For whatever reason, the combination of wave files (no tags) along with the iTunes folder/file structure was too much for the Sonos wizard application to handle, so, I have some gaps in the Sonos generate catagories.

One new wrinkle I only recently started to use is party mode. It allows you to link different zones, in my case two, the living room and office. By linking them together you are able to play the same music throughout all of the zones. It synchs up perfectly, no lag or delays. The end result is being able to wander about while listening to music seamlessly. But, if you don't want to use party mode, you can have independent zones and play different music for each of those. If I remember correctly you can do that up to 10 zones.

The purchase I made was a bundle consisting of two zone players and a remote controller. I have the ZP120 which is a networked power amplifier set up in my office with a new pair of PSB speakers. The speakers were more or less recommended by a high-end stereo shop. As it turns out, they sell Sonos and the person helping me with the speakers has Sonos as a part of his household. The set up in the office is sweet and I love being able to listen to music while working especially those nights when it's past bedtime for my son. I can close the office door, select some classical or jazz and forge ahead on whatever project or problem I have before me. Why did it take me so long to get something like this set up?

Since the Sonos system is a network oriented one, you can use it to play internet radio or other streaming music services such an Pandora. Again, I've only fooled around with this feature enough to see how it works -- and it does, just fine.

All in all, I am very happy with the hardware, the design and implementation of the Sonos system.

The company recently annouced another product which is a boom box. The handle of boom box does it a disservice. In essance it is a portable combination speaker/power amplifier of beefy proportions. As long as you are within the range of your wireless network, you can take the new device wherever you want to go, plug it into a power outlet and you have music.

[BillW]

Thanks! Glad to hear that it's worked out for you.

[DJofSD]

You're welcome.

Here's a link for the new "boom box" offering: http://www.sonos.com/demo/s5/default.aspx?rdr=true&LangType=1033

[LottaKash]

A good website, and one that I have been subscribed to for a couple or 3 years, is: http://www.audioholics.com/

It is a most comphrehensive site....It has a great users forum (at least as good, if not more so, than PA, per it's context), reviews, tips & tricks, and many how to articles.....If you search their "archive" I am sure that you can find just about anything that has anything to do with audio and video and it's mixes....

best,