Sonos Speakers

[PK Cronin]

I recently purchased a larger home and my current setup of blasting my computer speakers as loud as they can go isn't ideal for listening to music around my house, so I've been looking into Sonos speakers. Does anyone have them and could offer a review of them for me?

I'm most interested in playing music off my computer, which I believe can be done using the Sonos Play:5 with the line in feature. I'd then be placing other speakers around my two story house so that the music an be played in every room. Has anyone done this before? Is the music synced properly when going room to room? Are the Play:1's loud enough to fill a 15'x'15' room?

Any help would be appreciated. The Play:1 and Play:5 are currently on sale so I'd like to take advantage of that.

(I know they just announced the Sonos One with Alexa, but I imagine I'd only ever need one of those and will wait to purchase that for when they introduce Google Assistant to the lineup)

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[Jasper]

What sort of pc setup do you have? For a htpc setup I can't recommend Sonos enough. If it's a pc off in a room by itself Sonos would be overkill unless you have money to burn. I've played with having them setup in different rooms a bit and they sync fine, the streaming is flawless. I have a 5.1 htpc setup in the living room.

 

[PK Cronin]

What sort of pc setup do you have? For a htpc setup I can't recommend Sonos enough. If it's a pc off in a room by itself Sonos would be overkill unless you have money to burn. I've played with having them setup in different rooms a bit and they sync fine, the streaming is flawless. I have a 5.1 htpc setup in the living room.

I have an office where I do some graphic design and gaming. I'm most interested in having it stream through multiple living spaces. When I'm at home I have music on pretty much the entire time and would love the ability to do things around the house and continue to listen to my music. The computer is the main source of music for me, as I don't have any streaming services like Spotify (I have a music collection of thousands upon thousands of hours of songs). Eventually I wouldn't mind adding in the Sonos playbar and things for my television setup.

How many speakers do you have?

 

[NyQuil]

I have a Playbar, a Playbase, a Play 5 and two Play 1s across three floors.

What is nice is the grouping feature which allows you to add or subtract speakers to whatever you are listening to very easily. You can simply label the speakers to the room names and then just add or subtract them to music queues.

The music is perfectly synched which is one of the big selling features.

They do rely on Wifi - I had to upgrade my router because one part of my house had issues and it would drop connectivity from time to time.

I have one Play 1 in a bedroom, and I use a Play 5 and a Play 1 in a larger room. The Playbase is on one of my TVs and I have the Playbar on my basement flatscreen.

The Play 1 is a solid speaker for a small bedroom given the size of it.

 

[PK Cronin]

I have a Playbar, a Playbase, a Play 5 and two Play 1s across three floors.

What is nice is the grouping feature which allows you to add or subtract speakers to whatever you are listening to very easily. You can simply label the speakers to the room names and then just add or subtract them to music queues.

The music is perfectly synched which is one of the big selling features.

They do rely on Wifi - I had to upgrade my router because one part of my house had issues and it would drop connectivity from time to time.

I have one Play 1 in a bedroom, and I use a Play 5 and a Play 1 in a larger room. The Playbase is on one of my TVs and I have the Playbar on my basement flatscreen.

The Play 1 is a solid speaker for a small bedroom given the size of it.

I have gigabit wifi throughout my house on a mesh network, so it shouldn't have any dead spots (it better not for what it cost me). How do you like the Playbase and Playbar?

 

[NyQuil]

I have gigabit wifi throughout my house on a mesh network, so it shouldn't have any dead spots (it better not for what it cost me). How do you like the Playbase and Playbar?

They offer up a lot of deep sound. What's nice is it's seamless to switch back and forth between the TV input and your music. In my basement, I just have the Playbar and it's enough for the entire area.

In both cases, I didn't feel like I needed the full surround (my seating arrangements don't really allow it) so I just went with those for two televisions.

 

[Jasper]

I have an office where I do some graphic design and gaming. I'm most interested in having it stream through multiple living spaces. When I'm at home I have music on pretty much the entire time and would love the ability to do things around the house and continue to listen to my music. The computer is the main source of music for me, as I don't have any streaming services like Spotify (I have a music collection of thousands upon thousands of hours of songs). Eventually I wouldn't mind adding in the Sonos playbar and things for my television setup.

How many speakers do you have?

Sounds like they'd work well for you then. It's fun to add more pieces and do different things with them (I wouldn't recommend someone just buy one or two things and be done). I've got a Playbar, a Sub, and two 1's. I don't know if they still have them but I got a Boost with mine which effectively acts as a dedicated router for all the Sonos gear. Works great. I'll get more for other rooms eventually.

 

[Jasper]

Oops, meant Bridge, not the Boost.

 

[PK Cronin]

Awesome, thanks guys. I think I'll pull the trigger on these. It's such a pricey thing to get wrong so I appreciate the help.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

I'd recommend looking into the Alexa integration if you want it. The play 1's are being refreshed with Alexa and better controls on top. If you don't care though, they're getting rid of the old stock on Amazon at discounted prices for prime members. Including $100 off the big Play 5's which are awesome.

I have a Play 5, 6 Play 1's and a Playbar, all of them I'm happy with. The Alexa controls right now are really meh, but they'll get there.

If you want an alternative to read about, look at the Denon line, theirs is more friendly to bluetooth and external devices but less established.

I'd also recommend you consider putting together a Plex server and using the Plex on Sonos resource to send out music if you've got a library. If you're trying to play music off your computer via youtube or a browser media player Sonos isn't really meant for that and you could find some less than ideal quality coming from the line in, since it's 2-channel audio only.

Also worth noting, your router makes or breaks Sonos. Do some research there first. My router has a bit of issues with Sonos because of its multiple bands, I have to do everything through 2.4 and when my phone is on 5 it can't find Sonos, so the it has to be on 2.4 as well.

 

[PK Cronin]

I'd recommend looking into the Alexa integration if you want it. The play 1's are being refreshed with Alexa and better controls on top. If you don't care though, they're getting rid of the old stock on Amazon at discounted prices for prime members. Including $100 off the big Play 5's which are awesome.

I have a Play 5, 6 Play 1's and a Playbar, all of them I'm happy with. The Alexa controls right now are really meh, but they'll get there.

If you want an alternative to read about, look at the Denon line, theirs is more friendly to bluetooth and external devices but less established.

I'd also recommend you consider putting together a Plex server and using the Plex on Sonos resource to send out music if you've got a library. If you're trying to play music off your computer via youtube or a browser media player Sonos isn't really meant for that and you could find some less than ideal quality coming from the line in, since it's 2-channel audio only.

Also worth noting, your router makes or breaks Sonos. Do some research there first. My router has a bit of issues with Sonos because of its multiple bands, I have to do everything through 2.4 and when my phone is on 5 it can't find Sonos, so the it has to be on 2.4 as well.

I'm not interested in the Alexa integration, but I am interested in the Google Assistant one when they add it sometime next year. The deal on Amazon is exactly what I was referring to about them being on sale, but it's unfortunately only for people who order it through an Alexa...which might just take the cake for dumbest discount strategy I've ever seen.

You know, I already have Plex set up but stopped using it for the most part. Definitely a good idea to bring that back for my own music collection.

I'll definitely look into the Denon line. Thanks a lot!

 

[MAHJ71]

I've always wanted to have a few situated around my condo but the price has driven me away.

Hoping Black Friday brings about some deals...