I currently listen to my music on Spotify through my phone and tablet. I use a Bose Soundlink Mini speaker which I’ve never been 100% impressed with and recently it’s been spending more time in my daughter’s bedroom….

I am looking at replacing the Bose but I’m not sure what with. I’m thinking a speaker or two from Sonos might fit the bill. I live in a small cottage so don’t need anything too powerful. Should I be looking at anything else?

Sonos 1 is a nice piece of kit for a small room. It’s not hi-fi but will sound better than the Soundlink Mini (which I have too). Bigger Sonos gets you more sound, but not higher quality. I’m listening to Bose Companion 20 connected via cable to iphone for Radio 3 as a I type. It’s a really nice active computer speaker that works well as a small system.

For a better quality solution, A small amp and speakers will blow all of them away. I bought Son1 a Tangent Ampster BT, which will connect via BT to your phone. Add a set of bookshelf speakers and you’ll have a great sound for £300.

https://tangent-audio.com/products/9-electronics/67-tangent-ampster-bt/

Cable is always a better option than BT, and a Dragonfly DAC is a nice tool for better sound quality from say a laptop or phone

https://www.whathifi.com/audioquest/dragonfly-red/review

Two Play1s in stereo is the default option and easilty tucked away. The app can be a bit fussy sometimes, but the system works really well. But there are better sonic options for the same money.

Yes two sonos 1’s would be a nice little system especially if in the future you might want to add other sonos speakers to other rooms . But for the same money an amp and speakers would blow them away for sure giving you a much cleaner more detailed and dynamic sound ….. give Richer sounds a call or even have a look on your local Facebook for sale groups as hifi can be picked up cheap due to people buying those awful little bose type speakers to save a bit of space

I was recently looking at the same thing and I bought a small Yamaha receiver. Beside it having a DAB radio, CD and Internet radio facility it has Yamaha MusicCast which means I can stream Spotify or Tidal and operate the whole lot through my phone. Add a couple of speakers and away you go.

We have several Sonos 1s. They sound is decent, I don’t really notice it’s not hifi unless I turn on the proper hifi when there is a difference. However, we use the Sonoses about 99.99% of the time, so that tells you something (convenience trumps perfection).

If your phone is an iPhone, the Sonos One (not the 1 – they are different) and some others in the range speak Airplay2 and you can stream to it direct from your phone (or Mac or AppleTV). Get a couple of identical speakers and they work together as a stereo pair.

Otherwise – highly recommend Sonos: so easy to use and sound good enough for me. I’m sure there are better sounding options out there but I’ve no complaints about the sound and love the fact they’ve worked seamlessly for the last 5 or 6 years to play music, radio, podcasts and audiobooks.

I knew STW would come up trumps…. thanks for the posts thus far. I mentioned Sonos as my main choice for exactly the reason Footflaps mentioned- convenience. The other thing to consider is that the kit will be going in the living room which is Mrs Beakers domain. It’ll have to be unobtrusive!

I’d look for speaker with Google Home built in, so can use voice control. Much more convenient for playing Spotify etc. Plus can cast from your phone.

Looks like the Sonos One has Google?

Or I have an Onkyo speaker with Google Home, cost £50. Sound is pretty good, though maybe not quite ‘hi-fi’. Looks quite unobtrusive.

Looks like the Sonos One has Google?

It does. As well as Alexa. I’ve one in my garage where I can shout at it to start/stop/change tracks while I’ve got my hands dirty fixing bikes. Pretty handy.

B&W Zeppelin wireless works well for us in a large room. Sounds natural. Often don’t bother with the hi-Fi as the Zeppelin is so convenient to use with iPhone and spotify

It’ll have to be unobtrusive!

Have you seen their co-designs with Ikea, they do a bookshelf and a table lamp variant.

Rumours of a portable version coming out as well.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/news/symfonisk-collection-pubaafe6500

I’d love a Zeppelin but its a bit too spendy. The Ikea/Sonos link up is interesting. I’m planning on going to John Lewis on Saturday to have a look at the Sonos stuff and then over to Ikea after. Is there a viable alternate to Sonos? I see Denon have a similar system….

It has to be Sonos apparently otherwise you will be pilloried for your idiotic decision. I have 2 of the Bose Soundtouch 10’s and they are very good, although I am not a HIFI God. (app is a bit rubbish) but I just stream straight from Spotify anyway so that doesnt matter.

I bought an Audio Pro speaker earlier this year – it’s not a multi-room one, so I’ve plugged a Chromecast Audio into it, but they do multi-room wireless options.

Sound of Scandinavia

It’s bloody good, although I have no experience of the accompanying app, which I guess could make or break this type of multi-room set-up.

Maybe the others do the same (?) – but with Sonos you are not generally streaming from your phone or any other device to the speaker. The speaker itself is a Spotify (Apple Music, TuneIn Radio, Audible,…) client and plays the music. The phone isn’t in that loop at all.

You can control it from your phone but it’ll keep playing if the phone is turned off or leaves the building. It doesn’t get interrupted if you look at a Youtube video etc. on your phone.

Having said that – Airplay streaming is a new addition to Sonos (and only available on some of the speakers). I’ve rarely used it.

What ever home hifi you choose you can make it play spotify and anything else you like by simply connecting a Amazon input to your hifi

The Amazon input can be had for £20 in a sale and has no built in speaker, once connected to your hifi it plays everything through that, simply tell it what you want to listen too, no need to keep using your phone

Ive got one connected to my Yamaha amp in the house and one connected to my Cambridge Audio amp in the garage

The garage set up cost £120, £60 for the 2nd hand Cambridge Audio Topaz AM5 amp, £40 for some brand new Warfedale Diamond 9.0 bookshelf speakers and £20 for the Amazon input (had the phono to aux in cable already)

We have two Sonos 1’s (the voice ones) in bedrooms. Great for the room size.

We were in ikea recently and spotted the collaboration ones they’ve done with Sonos. We were toying with the idea of some downstairs and at £99 each bought two to run in stereo. More than happy with them considering the pair cost the same as a single Sonos 1.

Being critical:
No voice control (not bothered where they are tbh) but you can tell one of the voice activated ones to control it.
Not as sleek as the Sonos 1’s
They’ve got an Ikea tag on the front should such things bother you.

The available brackets look good too. An extra £10. Didn’t get any though as not needed.

All in if you or indeed anyone are Sonos etc curious for the price I’d highly recommend the Ikea offerings.

Got one of these Technics all in one things recently, amazing sound, doesn’t distort when cranked up, and does everything you ask, check it out OP: https://www.richersounds.com/technics-sc-c70eb-ottava-forte.html

This is something I’m currently trying to understand also. I really like the look of the all in one Marantz system which crucially also has a cd player, https://www.richersounds.com/marantz-melody-x-mcr612-black.html

Already have speakers wired up under the floors/in walls so dont really want a system with built in speakers.

These Marantz seem to be pretty well regarded and have the facility of CDs etc or streaming from a variety of sources.

Thanks for all the info above on Sonos.

I’m going to be controversial: avoid Sonos. Overpriced in my opinion with average sound. A budget Yamaha stereo network receiver and Wharfedale or Q Acoustics speakers will come in around the same price and sound miles better.

Sonos Beam under the TV and if you can 2 play 1s as surrounds and music boosters, Sonos in other rooms as required, I rarely turn my hifi on these days

I concur with Sonos and other all in ones being a waste of money. The 3020i q acoustics are brilliant, they really aren’t far off the 3050i floor standers in my 5.1 setup.

If they are going right up against a wall, maybe some elac b5.2s as they are front ported and get 5 star reviews like the 3020is.

You can make classic hifi speakers as easy to use as Sonos, as others have said with the simple addition of an amazon input. Yet, the speakers will last for decades and you can replace individual parts when they break.

Plus proper speakers, especially the little q acoustics with their curved edges and polished aluminium fittings have a proper bit of class about them – much more so than the black plastic crap found in all in one stuff.

Just to add another option to the mix, a set of active or powered speakers would remove the need for an amp but retain the benefit of improved sound quality over Sonos kit.

Plenty available at all budgets.

I’ve a lot to think about. I hadn’t considered separates etc. More research needed…

I wouldn’t touch an all in one speaker solution. Separates every time.

They sound better, look better, cost less (for comparable performance) AND give you the option to chop/ change/ upgrade/ add/ subtract.

Have you seen the Ikea / Sonos speakers for 100 quid each?

I’ve got a STW approved Naim Mu-So QB which is quite nice. I’m about to sell it as we’ve rebuilt some of our house and where it is needs something with more ooooomph so putting the Uniti there instead. It’s a nice piece of kit.

I’d seen the Ikea ones, I hope to have a listen at the weekend.

I’m going to be controversial: avoid Sonos. Overpriced in my opinion with average sound. A budget Yamaha stereo network receiver and Wharfedale or Q Acoustics speakers will come in around the same price and sound miles better.

The basic One is about £135 IIRC. I agree the sound isn’t Hifi, but the convenience wins out for me. E.g. our first Sonos One is sat above a £400 Marantz Amp, which never gets turned on, we just use Spotify + Sonus all the time. I’d only notice it’s not Hifi if I turned the Marantz on and did a comparison, but it sounds good enough that I’m quite happy to listen to it for hours. I’ve now got more for other rooms – they win out on size and convenience and are small enough that you don’t really see them.

beaker

Subscriber
I’d seen the Ikea ones, I hope to have a listen at the weekend.

Saw a couple of Youtube reviews. Certainly seem OK for the cash. They’re not going to be hifi-seperates-quality by any means but I’m sure these things can be set up in stereo mode, a pair might sound reasonable to 200 quid. Failing that, get up to a Richer Sounds there’s bound to be something in your price range. I got an old 5.1 Yamaha amp and a pair of Cerwin Vega’s which are great in the dining room. Added a Logitech bluetooth adaptor to the mix so I can stream from the computer or phone.

I switched from Sonos to Audio Pro and other than the controller being a bit naff it’s a lot better imo. If you are using Spotify you can easily bypass the controller too. Not as unobtrusive as a Sonos one though.