Buying a new house and it’s all open plan. Lounge, dining room and kitchen have all been knocked through to create a massive open plan space with just a few nub end walls.

Always had seperate hi-fi in the louge, then Bose Sound dock mini in the kitchen

Looking to fill the space with music (Via Amazon music)so thinking Main speakers in the lounge (Linked into TV/virgin) then additional speakers in the dinning room and again in the kitchen. Wireless so not to have cables

But what to buy?

I’d say Sonos (because that’s what I have throughout the house) but there are plenty of options open to you. Probably best go somewhere and listen to the same track through as many different option as you can and choose the one you like best

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Sonos is kinda the default, and the sound is good, particularly compared to things like Alexa and Google Audio. And you can buy all sorts, from a soundbar for the TV to individual speakers to pair for stereo etc. But it’s undoubtedly expensive, and the app is an ever-changing lottery – will today be the day that it all stops working for no good reason and require restarting from scratch?
But I don’t know what else there is beyond Sonos, so I’ll watch this thread with interest!

Never done any serious music other my separate system.
But most of the Sonos speakers look to be mono rather than stereo, or does that not seem to matter these days?

I presumed my amazon dot would mean that I wouldn’t really need to use the apps as it would integrate into the system??

But most of the Sonos speakers look to be mono rather than stereo, or does that not seem to matter these days?

Buy a couple of Ones and pair them in a room and you have a stereo experience.

Currently got mine set up with a soundbar, a sub, and pair of ones (or whatever the first ones like a one were called) in our open living ground floor for great surround sound films and flattened for radio around the house.

But it’s not hi fidelity by any stretch. My richer sounds late nineties £300 seperates setup sounded better.

I’m not an andiophile (whatever that means) and I CBA to set things up.

I’ve got Echos around the house and they stream multiroom easily with zero faff. Sound it good as far as I’m concerned and it was cheap as I bought them in an Amazon sale for £50 for the 3rd gen Echo.

I don’t have any experience with Sonos so it could be much better, but for faff free voice controlled multiroom streaming via Amazon music I’d go Echo.

If you want decent sound from Sonos forget about all the toy one box options and get Sonos Amps with a decent set of speakers. In less important rooms where you just want some music every now and then, put in a One, Symfonisk or whatever you fancy. These sound great for what they are.
Also the App is great. If it doesn’t work sometimes then it’s your internet / wireless network that will be at fault, not the Sonos App.

Sinks hardware is excellent but it’s app is infuriating. As suggested above, it is a complete lottery

Seriously if you think the Sonos (Sinks??) app is sketchy then have a look at your internet / wireless setup. I used to think this until I ditched my flaky wireless with extenders and all that jazz and sorted a decent mesh network which properly covered the whole house, after which point the Sonos has been pretty much faultless.

Naim Muso / Muso QB

Beautiful sound – not artificial enough for those who are used to BOSE/Sonos etc.

Not cheap mind

Bose Soundtouch here.
Airplay 2 configured.
I’ve 7 units all configured and connected including 3x Bose Soundbars.
Always a compromise but I am fussy and these are excellent.

Use a Naim Uniti Star and Muso QB on a mesh setup. Works perfectly in sync across multiple rooms

I’ve never had an issue with the Sonos app. Sometimes it takes a while to connect when I load it but that is my dodgy WiFi in the house.

For decent sound use the new Port connected to your hifi. And then use Ones in other rooms. If you want stereo in other rooms use a pair of Ones set up as a stereo pair, that’s what I have in the kitchen and it sounds petty good. Obviously not as good as my floor standers with a Sonos connect plugged in to an amp.

There will be cheaper ways of doing. Sonos is like the Apple of streaming, it just works but you can’t really tweak much of it.

Wow some £5grand solutions listed here! Bit much.

Thinking of just putting the amazon dot in the lounge connected to my separates amp and floor standers and just buy a pair of Sonos ones for the kitchen/dinning room side of the stub wall.

I enjoy listening to music. As much of it as I can. For ease of use, vfm and a tidy package, I love Sonos stuff. People slate it, slate the app etc. I can’t really fault it. Sonos coupled with Spotify and a Sonos Amp hooked up to my old hifi for when I absolutely have to listen to vinyl suits all my needs. Kids are getting Sonos speakers for xmas.

I don’t really know my hifi onions, but the Apple HomePod is a world better than any of the amazon stuff I’ve had the misfortune to hear.  You can make multiple HomePods play nicely together too.

May be an option for Apple Music users…

Yamaha MusicCast. Either their own wireless speakers (which are mono but can be grouped together for stereo/surround) or the little WiFi receiver they do plugged into an amp/speaker combo of your choice.

We have MusicCast AV receiver connected to wired surround sound speakers, couple of MusicCast speakers and a MusicCast receiver connected to amp & stereo speakers. It works seamlessly, sound quality is excellent – easily comparable with Sonos, app is just okay but once the components are set up you can generally just stream direct from whichever music service you use and not bother with it.

I’ve been quite impressed with a pair of Sonos Ones in the living room. I plan to upgrade them to a set of fives etc when the missus isn’t looking.

Prior to this I had my old Cambridge A1 amp and some budget end Wharfedale speakers which I never got round to replacing but was fairly content with.

Thinking of just putting the amazon dot in the lounge connected to my separates amp and floor standers and just buy a pair of Sonos ones for the kitchen/dinning room side of the stub wall.

You may not find the synching is the same all around, this may not be an issue but in an open plan area with a sub second delay it might also drive you mad.

I also have Yamaha kit as the flying ox does above and I’m happy with it. I have both the standalone speakers and streamers into amps and it’s working well for me at the moment.

Thinking of just putting the amazon dot in the lounge connected to my separates amp and floor standers and just buy a pair of Sonos ones for the kitchen/dinning room side of the stub wall.

One issue with this idea is you’ll have half Amazon Echo and half Sonos. You won’t be able to join the lounge and rest of the house as a group and play sync’d music everywhere.

One issue with this idea is you’ll have half Amazon Echo and half Sonos. You won’t be able to join the lounge and rest of the house as a group and play sync’d music everywhere.

Would it work with a full Amazon set up? Amazon Dot hardlined into the separates amp, then a couple of Amazon echos in the other room.

Can you even string Amazon devices together in sync

Some big foook-off speakers at one end of the room will give the whole house a magical music experience…

I ended up splashing out on a B&O A9 for a similar set up, open plan kitchen, dining room and extension with TV and sofas. Not cheap but easily fills the room with music. Depends if you want proper TV audio from the set up too though I guess. Matter of personal taste but I think it’s a lovely looking piece of kit too.

Couple of sonos play1 ‘s here, they’re excellent, app works perfectly, and with spotify it’s fantastic.

I’m no audiophile tho.

Would it work with a full Amazon set up? Amazon Dot hardlined into the separates amp, then a couple of Amazon echos in the other room.

Can you even string Amazon devices together in sync

It would work. You can group Echos together, so ‘downstairs’ for example, and then play from Amazon Music to the group. The only unknown is any audio delay your amp/speakers introduce but might be OK if hardwired?

You can also pair Echos as a stereo pair if you had two. A couple of the bigger Echo Studio might be an option if you have the room?

TBH Amazon returns is so good I’d be tempted to get a couple and try it. If no good return them.

I’ve been quite impressed with a pair of Sonos Ones in the living room

Have a pair of Threes on stands. They could do with a sub, but it’s a nice simple unobtrusive system. I have an original Five in the dining room and a One in the bedroom. Son1 has a connect for his HiFi as I wasn’t really using it. Son2 has taken a One to Uni.

I can tell you that a One makes a great party tool at Uni. And everyone can control it on the same WiFi in hall! #sonoswars

We are a Google home house. Mostly due to using play music (now YouTube music) which integrates nicely. For general day to day use we have a bundle of minis dotted around which is fine quality wise. Sony soundbar with the TV is cast enabled so the system sees it as another device that can be linked to others for grouping. Issue with stereo pairs and multiroom is you lose the stereo effect as you move around the house so easier just to group them as a set of monos. Then group as a stereo pair for single room use of you have to.

A mate has an IKEA Sonos and it works and sounds great.

I can tell you that a One makes a great party tool at Uni. And everyone can control it on the same WiFi in hall! #sonoswars

The Sonos app sometimes has a meltdown when me and the wife are fighting over what to listen to!

A mate has an IKEA Sonos and it works and sounds great.

Only became aware of those a few weeks back but I think thats what our kids are getting for christmas – one of those each and one of my old mobiles each with Sonos installed on it to control them!

i bought sonos ages ago. i had play 1’s and play 3’s

It was the first wireless system i had that actually worked as it should. I loved it. However moving to a house where wifi was poor it just fell appart. I had to re assign the speakers (by plugging into a router) everytime i wanted to use it. Wife hated it as it didnt work and playing stuff was a faff.

eventually sold it all and moved to google as i got a few free nest minis. their sound is crap but the ease of which they play music is whats swung it. we now have 6 minis (there rubbish) a home (its not as loud as a play 1 but at low volumes its comparable with my music) 2 nest displays (mrs loves the pictures of the kid from google) a max display and a max speaker. Best of all you can play music just by shouting at them.

If its  massive open plan space youll need more than play 1’s for it. Or lots of them. youll need to have them plugged into the mesh system for them to work.

We have Echo Dots organised into groups so I can say, for example, “Alexa, play ‘The Best of Phil Collins’ on the upstairs group”

Cheap, effective and good enough quality for my philistine ears.

Only issue is when someone wants to stream something different on one of the other Dots because then you get the dreaded “Amazon Music is already streaming on a different device. Should I stream from here instead?” message – but that’s a limitation of the Amazon Music sub, not the hardware.

TBH Amazon returns is so good I’d be tempted to get a couple and try it. If no good return them.

Genius idea! Nice hi-fi in the lounge two of the bigger Amazon speakers linked up to the downstairs system. Try it all out for size and sound. Works – thumbs up! Doesn’t work – free return and money back after you post it.

That’s sealed it for me – cheers everybody.

We have a few sonos in the house Since 2012. Used to have a play five but sold it and just have sonos ones now with Alexa built in.

Sonos app works great (no idea what the others are doing) but if you don’t like the sonos app you can link the Spotify app and use that instead.

Works great for music, radio and podcasts.

Loud enough for me but I suppose if you want to spend 5k on separates and wires everywhere then I’d expect the sound would be better.

Only think that slightly annoys is Alexa sometimes needs updating on the mobile device otherwise it might not work. I’d say every few months it needs updating.

If I bought any more I would purchase the sonos one sl without the Alexa/google smarts.

—— Thread resurrection ———

So I bought two Amazon echo plus speakers in the sale for £60 each, tried them linked together with the Amazon dot hard lined into my separates amp works perfectly with no audio delay on the separates amp.

So the original way to fill the open plan ground floor works, amp in the lounge with proper speakers, and an echo plus in the dinning room and one in the kitchen all linked, but…..

Now I see prime day are doing Echo studios for £50 less. So now I’m wondering if I can do away with the amp in the lounge and just use two echo pluses and a echo studio all linked.
It would certainly be a lot cleaner and smaller solution. But would it be loud enough in the lounge?

Or just return in of the echo plus and replace with a echo studio and keep the amp.

Bump for the day crowd