Sonos Experts – Tell me what i need

Ok, i’ve got an oldish mac mini in the living room connected to an amp and speakers and the TV. I’ve got my itunes library on the mini and got loads of films on an external drive connected to it.

The current set up is great for watching films or listening to tunes banging out of the living room (using remote app to control itunes via an iphone or ipad).

What it’s not great for is listening to tunes elsewhere in the house without pumping the living room speakers up to max!

I was considering an airplay set of wireless speakers but it turns out my mini isn’t airplay compatible (pre 21012 or something). Based on this i’m now thinking Sonos might be the way to go.

fyi my router isnt in the living room but the hallway.

Exactly which bits of kit would I need to say have a speaker in the kitchen (or upstairs) on which I could listen to tunes from the Mac?

any of the sonos players. They now run from your wireless home network so if you have your mac running as a NAS drive a speaker upstairs will be able to access it.

They really are quite good. My only issue is too many wireless networks in the house (old sonos, roku tv, wireless). It sometimes gets confused.

Or Airport Express and attach any hifi/powered speakers.

would I need a Sonos Connect to plug the amp/mini n to in order to get sonos working in the living room?

so if you have your mac running as a NAS drive a speaker upstairs will be able to access it

forgive my ignorance but how do i go about doing that?

any of the sonos players

Would a Sonos Play 1 do the job?

unless they’ve changed the setup you’ll need a sonos bridge and a speaker, eg play 1 you would still be able to use your current setup to listen in the living room

I think you just need a Sonos Bridge which plugs into your router and then whatever speaker takes your fancy.
My Bro-in-Law has got the mid-sized speaker for the living room and the little one in the kitchen; pretty nice bits of kit.

But, there are alternatives; Pure do a version called the Jongo; 3 or 4 speakers in the range. They have just released an updated range, which I think gives more connectivity options than Sonos – for example, you can also connect via bluetooth directly from a phone/tablet.

And LG have just released a range of wireless speakers that from some reviews seem to have raised the bar.

You don’t need a Sonos bridge any more, that changed.

But surely you can airplay from your mac using itunes even if you can’t use mirroring?

Pook – Member
any of the sonos players. They now run from your wireless home network so if you have your mac running as a NAS drive a speaker upstairs will be able to access it.

I think Sonos sets up it’s own wireless network, rather than running off your existing wireless – from what I have read, this gives you less issues of poor wi-fi coverage. This is why you need a bridge, plugged into the router. If you plug one of the speakers into the router, then that will work as a bridge for other devices, but obviously it’s stuck in the same room as the router.

If you want to stream stuff to your existing amp/speakers, you can use the Sonos Connect, plugged into the amp.

EDIT – or maybe not, regarding the Bridge….following this post…

Rubber_Buccaneer – Member
You don’t need a Sonos bridge any more, that changed.

Or Airport Express and attach any hifi/powered speakers.

But surely you can airplay from your mac using itunes even if you can’t use mirroring?

maybe this is easier/cheaper?

So i could just get an airport express (£70) plug it in to a socket in the kitchen (or bedroom for example) then plug a set of speakers into the express and i’m good to go and still able to control the music via the Remote app on my iphone/ipad?

you don’t need a bridge any more as it runs off your wireless network. That’s why i said it.

😉

Pook – Member
you don’t need a bridge any more as it runs off your wireless network. That’s why i said it.

It’s all too complicated for me….. 🙂

true you don’t need a bridge, but you do need to have one sonos device connect with a cable to your home network.
from the sonos site

Connecting any Sonos player to your router with an Ethernet cable automatically creates a dedicated Sonos wireless network. Any player (PLAY:1, PLAY:3, PLAY:5, PLAYBAR, CONNECT, CONNECT:AMP) or a BRIDGE or a BOOST can make this hard-wired connection. A dedicated Sonos network is ideal when your WiFi isn’t reliable in your home.

You don’t need a bridge for one speaker.
For multiple speakers you do need a bridge or one speaker connected to your router will do the job.

The latest version of Sonos software does NOT require a bridge.

With Sonos version 5.1, you can now connect Sonos to your wireless network directly, without using any Ethernet cables.

You used to need either a bridge or one of the players connected by ethernet. That is no longer the case.

Sonos website

We’ve got a sonos 1 & a 3, no bridge & it works fine on wireless.

As bits of kit they work well, means I can turn my teenagers music down so I can shout at them 🙂 Also can turn it off from my phone when they go out leaving it playing.

The only thing I need to sort is random play or I get the same playlist in the same order all the time – but thats probably me needing to learn.

I have a WD NAS so can play any music on either speaker

I had a similar setup – Nas for storage, mac mini and various airport express units. It was always flaky, dropping out and limited by position from the router.

Sonos creates its own SonosNet wireless ‘mesh’ where each component adds to the overall network. It used to require a component wired directly to your router – either a bridge or one of the speakers. The recent firmware upgrade makes this optional. I still wire but you don’t have to.

Another bonus is Android phones can connect over SonosNet to the internet, so you effectively have a booster in every speaker location, handy in a thick walled stone house.

Just sold the mac mini to fund more Sonos kit, it’s really good and refreshed the way I listen to music.

Music lives on my Nas.
Sonos accesses this as well as streaming my Google Play music, my Amazon account and will do Spotify etc.

Connect is excellent if you have existing amp and speakers and want things like digital out.

Play 1 is surprisingly good for the size.

Playbar is a good sound bar for TV/movies but not as good sounding as a full amp and 5.1 setup, but way way more convenient.

cool i was searching for where it said it changed but couldn’t find it was under the impression you still needed one device connected with a cable.

The only thing I need to sort is random play or I get the same playlist in the same order all the time – but thats probably me needing to learn.

it’s playing your playlist, from the ‘current song’ artwork screen click the little list icon with an arrow (three bars, little arrow pointing at the middle), in the bottom right. Then on the next screen, click the two crossover arrows. Bingo – shuffled playlist.

lots of info above, thanks.

so if i go out and buy a PLAY1 speaker/player thing is that all i need to play music off the mini anywhere in the house?

Yes, as long as there is WiFi signal. And a device to use as a controller (phone, tablet, PC).

But it’s addictive and only really starts to make sense when you have multi rooms or stereo pairs! One step at a time is fine though.

You can also play locally stored music from your phone to the Sonos.

Even easier, upload your music from the Mac to Google Play and you can turn the Mac off!

Denon do some kit similar to the SONOS now so that might be worth a look too

Thanks Pook 🙂

No bridge required but unfortuately you can’t airplay to a SOnos which is a shame I think. I have an Airport Express,but there is no input in the back of my Sonos 1 to plug an input from my Airport Express to the SOnos. The only drawback from what is a superb bit of kit. Hopefully they’ll sort this out and allow airplay compatabiltiy soon.

No bridge required but unfortuately you can’t airplay to a SOnos which is a shame I think.

why would i want to airplay to the sonos? from what gravity slave is saying so long as my mac mini (where da tunez are) is connected to the wifi (and the sonos is also in range) it should work right?

I have Sonnos Connect so can use current amp & speakers in living room, and Sonos Three in kitchen.
Connect is very expensive for what it is, but if you have a half decent hi fi setup i guess you have to bit the bullet.
Its expensive but it does work and multi room works great, Im gonna get a Sonos one for bedroom. Works very well with Spotify as well.

So i could just get an airport express (£70) plug it in to a socket in the kitchen (or bedroom for example) then plug a set of speakers into the express and i’m good to go and still able to control the music via the Remote app on my iphone/ipad?

Yes.
Used AE go for about £35 on ebay and can be connected to a hifi/powered (not just a apir of speakers… you need an amp somehwere) either using a standard 3.5mm jack or an optical cable.
Plus side is that the AE will extend your wifi as the same time (you can also plug a USB printer in and it will share that over the network).

why would i want to airplay to the sonos?

To use Sonos you have to use the Sonos app. If you could airplay to Sonos you could use any app (Spotify, iplayer radio, podcasts, etc) which would be more convenient for many people. The Sonos app is good but doesn’t offer all the functionality of these individual services.

To use Sonos you have to use the Sonos app. If you could airplay to Sonos you could use any app (Spotify, iplayer radio, podcasts, etc) which would be more convenient for many people. The Sonos app is good but doesn’t offer all the functionality of these individual services.

thanks. the sonos app looks pretty good to me. I don’t use spotify or many other apps. just interested in accessing the mp3s on the mini and maybe some internet radio stations.

Djambo, it would be useful to AirPlay to Sonos to play audio from other apps. E.g.youtube. Minor annoyance but would have been a nice touch.

The Airplay/Sonos workaround is expensive and a bit complicated.

Sonos with a line in – a Play5 or Connect
Connect Airport Express to Line In
It can then be picked as a source and thrown round the other speakers

Other option is a PlayBar – TV audio can then be sent to other speakers.

djambo – Sonos supports 1000’s of streamed radio stations through the app.

… Sonos to play audio from … youtube

… TV audio … sent to other speakers

Just in case you don’t already know: the Sonos system introduces a huge amount of latency to the audio (1-2 seconds – ish) so the sound will be out of synch with the video from youtube, TV, etc. unless you use a video player that can be set to delay the video a similar amount.

Or the Playbar, which is perfectly in sync with my TV and has tuneable delay if needed. Expensive but brilliant.

To use Sonos you have to use the Sonos app.

Not entirely true, the google music app can “cast” directly to a Sonos now.

So i could just get an airport express (£70) plug it in to a socket in the kitchen (or bedroom for example) then plug a set of speakers into the express and i’m good to go and still able to control the music via the Remote app on my iphone/ipad?

I’m just going to add another YES to this. This will work without investing in the whole Sonos kit.

You can do it with Airport Express old or new + any old speakers/hi-fi or a stand-alone AirPlay speaker like this (£52);
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009M2QY4S/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2JJZKJ4Y7CTCE&coliid=IS6YO0TD2QR63

ok, looks like a 2nd hand airport express from t’ebay it is then. plan is to connect it to the dab radio unit we already have in the kitchen with the flexibility to use it upstairs if needed or even in the garden come the summer.

thanks for the advice, i’ll be sure to report back with results/complaints later!

everyone likes a happy ending…

…2nd hand airport arrived yesterday. took about 5 mins to set up and appears to work perfectly. thanks for the advice all.

one question. if/when i turn off the airport express at the wall will it all auto connect when I switch it back on?

If you have a couple of Pi’s, you could try out PiCorePlayer. I have them around the house and you cannot tell it’s not Sonos. 😉

if/when i turn off the airport express at the wall will it all auto connect when I switch it back on?

Yep.

Yep.

lovely stuff