Hi,

I am organising a Sonos set up for the old man. Not a tech head, lives in an old farm house with very thick walls. He already has a decent Cambridge audio set up which is wired up to cover two rooms. His music is stored on cd and iTunes on his toshiba laptop. He has an iPad which he can use as a remote for the system.

Whatever I get him needs to be low maintenance and faff free, has has neither the patience nor interest to fiddle with anything tech like.

I wanted to check what I needed to get him set up, as I have never been able to justify getting one myself

You just need the Sonos units you consider appropriate for the house to play the music on iTunes. I use 2x Sonos 1’s in stereo in the kitchen and 2 x Sonos 3 in stereo in the lounge.

It will get more complicated to play the CD collection. Personally I would just rip them all to iTunes but someone with better ears than me will be along soon enough to tell you that you mustn’t do that!

BB

Thanks. I had a double post issue going on.

Was going to buy him a connect (has Cambridge audio hifi) and then for the other room either a Sonos 5 or a pair in stereo.

For streaming from laptop without it being turned on, do I need a NAS? Have seen Synology recommended on here.

Bear in mind that the Sonos units have RJ45 sockets, so if wifi penetration through walls is an issue then you can always hard wire into your network.

the Synology works well with Sonos, however i’m finding myself using Spotify more an more rather than simply playing my own music collection.

The Connect is great as he has a stereo already. The only drawback is the same as today – no individual control of his 2 rooms. Add a zone later if you need this.

The system used to need a bridge, but now will work on WiFi only, so all you need to get started is a Connect. Add other speakers later if he likes it.

I’d look at a pair of 1’s over a 5 as they sound great, stereo much better than a single source to fill a fairly large room and a 5 is overkill for a small room.

Mine works superbly well in a house with thick walls. Setup is simple and quick.

The only possible complication is the source.

If he’s not using the NAS for anything else it might be overkill. Google Play will let you sync 20,000 songs from an iTunes library and stream for free over the SONOS, just as if using a NAS – decent solid broadband connection needed. Could always add a NAS later.

So, bought the old man a Sonos system. One play 5, one boost (as the house has thick walls), a connect and a synoligy hard disk.

Have managed to get the play 5 to connect once. Other than that, bollocks. Think it may be the think walls and I need to hardwire. Also, internet is really slow at his (using mobile signal to post this).

I am thinking of trying a tp link set up, plugged into the router. Any suggestions? Tearing my hair out trying to sort it out and i have just spent £800 on the old man’s behalf, so feel a bit bad.

Internet shouldn’t be an issue unless you’re trying to stream from Spotify or other service. It works off the wi fi network.

My experience of tp link is I wouldnt bother…

If it’s an old farmhouse I wouldn’t bother with anything wireless just hardwire it if possible. If that’s too much faff try a set of power line Ethernet adapters. See if you can take the bridge back in exchange for a power line kit? I’ve struggled to get even the best wifi kit to work in that kind of building. Stick with it its a good system for low faff music.

(Note the power line adapters need to be on the same circuit from the fuse box to work I think)

Just seen this, sorry it’s not working easily. The setup should be simple but obviously isn’t for you. If you haven’t given up and returned it:

3 things to try:
– Sonos support are meant to be great on the phone
– Built in diagnostics are at http://x.x.x.x:1400/support/review
(Replace x’s with IP address on one of your units to see what s connecting where). Try the 5 hard wired to your router and take it from there.
– Forums at http://forums.sonos.com/

Gravity Slave,

Hi, I had to bring all the equipment back with me, as I live 200 miles from the old man and we could not get everything sorted at his house.

I tried the Sonos 5 at my house – works fine, so I have managed to convince the wife to allow me to keep it! Bonus.

The rest of the stuff I am going to return (I can’t afford to keep it all and if it suits, will buy a Connect at a later stage).

Thanks for the tips and will check the links if I have any problems running it at my house. Will have to spend some time on the Sonos forums to see what will work well for him, given his house has no option to put in Cat 5 cabling.

I use a sonos 5 and a 1 in and old farmhouse, albeit a small one but with very thick walls. I use the bridge as it uses it’s own wifi, not your existing one and it works flawlessly for me. Just bridge into router via ethernet and then setup via various android and ios devices for control of both zones. I stream spotify, which works really well on adsl here (@7mb download).

I’m on my second sonos system now at the new house. previous was in our old house and i had a total nightmare with set up as the wall thickness was massive in some areas and wafer thin in others. eventually the shop i got it from installed various plug-in the wall ‘boosters’ that strengthen the network. it definitely stabilised the system.

not had any problems with the new place at all.

I tried the Sonos 5 at my house – works fine, so I have managed to convince the wife to allow me to keep it! Bonus.

Top notch stealth purchasing there. Respect.

The definite ‘benefit’ of Sonos is if you use the mesh network (as in, the standard setup with at least on component plugged in to the router. The new software will also use your own WiFi only) then each component you add strengthens the mesh. Ideal excuse for more kit and speakers in every room! 😉

I can’t stop buying this stuff.

I’ve never listened to as much music!