If you already have an Echo or similar you don’t need the more expensive Sonos One. I now find myself with a Playbar, six Play Ones and an Ikea Symfonisk.

Has anyone got any experience of the Cambridge Audio speaker I linked to above?

I’ve not tried other systems in quite a while so I can’t compare but… I’ve got a Sonos 1, 3, 5, Playbar and sub. I’ll be adding a beam, move (to take in the garden to save playing it far too loud in the house for bbq’s) and another 1 over the winter. I love it, reasonable quality, great volume and for me, it just works.

I recommend instead of the Play 1 you get the Sonos One SL.

Similar size to the Play 1 but has the very useful feature of taking Airdrop feeds, so you can directly stream audio from your phone to the speaker such as for BBC Sounds – in addition to using Spotify and similar services direct through the Sonos app. Choose the SL version to avoid the spooky voice activation and save a few £. You can get a pair for about £380, probably rather less on Black Friday.

I use Sonos all over the house, for TV surround sound, kitchen and streaming through the HiFi when practicing my bass. It is excellent and the customer service is outstanding.

For podcasts I have to go in from Sonos app and find the physical files on my phone and play them like that.

No you don’t

Use the “Radio By TuneIn” app within Sonos. You don’t need to download the actual podcast file to your phone

Had a pair of Cambridge air minx 200 but they rarely connected so swapped for sonos. Got a pair of 5s in one room and a 3 and 1 in two other rooms.
Can play my own music stored on a NAS. Good sound but the Cambridge was slightly better but woefully flakey.

Play 1 is £130 at Curry’s, the One Sl is £180. Is the £50 extra worth it? Is the sound quality better? Any other advantages? We’ve got no voice activated stuff here, just looking for a streaming system.

Love my Sonos stuff. Great quality and dead easy to set up. I find the app pretty good to be honest.

I have a 5.1 set up with a playbar, sub and 2 One’s.

@schrickvr6

Not that model but I picked up the large Yoyo a while back for not much more & it’s been great – plenty of physical connections which is useful – connected to the tv via HDMI ARC & also has a 3.5mm stereo input & an optical too, check ebay for refurb/open box deals on those – I was going to get a pair of the smaller ones but got a good deal on the big one. Run ours via Google home & it set up in a flash, found every device on the network automatically & linked them all, we stream to it from android phones / imac etc. and it’s been perfect.

@rockhopper

how do you find the SYMFONISK? how does it compare to the play ones you have?

I haven’t done a side by side comparison yet but it sounds okay. The package isn’t a nice as a Play One in my opinion but it is £50 cheaper.
If I had the choice between another Ikea and a used Sonos for the same money I’d go with the Sonos, because just to me they look nicer.

@BoardinBob but that’s horrible too. Considering the premium you pay for the kit it’s a clunky bit of software, horrible to navigate not incredibly intuitive. I use podcastaddict at the moment to service my podcast needs, so maybe pocketcast as mentioned above would be better.

Play 1 is £130 at Curry’s, the One Sl is £180. Is the £50 extra worth it?

I don’t know if there is a significant sound quality difference as I’ve not compared them side by side. But what you are getting with the One SL is the Air Drop capability. BBC is moving to their Sounds app and not interested longer term in things like Tuneln for online radio, and for BBC Sounds you need air drop.

So the One SL is the future proof option and that is what you are paying for.

Have you looked at the HOES stuff? It’s a direct competitor of Sonos, you can see each of the various models has a corresponding one with the competitor. I’ve got a 7, it packs some fairly hefty sound which is very clear and natural. You can get the smaller ones, plus cinmea kit and get them all to work with each other. Im planning n getting some 1’s for the corners of rooms and probably the cinema kit as well..

You also have the option of getting their non dedicated HEOS amps etc and you can use separates all together..

Yeah BBC sounds is a bunch of ****.

@rockhopper

Thanks for the info, you haven’t noticed any quality issues with sound at medium to high volume? I guess as its other function for a lamp its okay too?

Its not the price point which attracts me to the SYMFONISK, looking to kit the home out with Sono One’s but for the living room and bedroom this just adds another cable and object, being able to drop the lamps and replace with these would solve this very first world problem!

Ah, I didn’t buy the lamp version!

ah, you have the book shelf one.

I’ll have to drag myself over to the nearest Ikea and check the quality and look of the lamp one, YouTube has some good reviews but as with any product review online needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

By way of an update…

Currys/PC World have Sonos One SL for 149 inc 6 months Spotify premium – i just bought two!!!

they are still advertising Play 1’s for 129, but they are sold out.

happy black friday eve!

cheers,

paul

Heavy Sonos users here – we have managed to acquire 7x Play1s, 2x Play3s and a Playbar over the years, normally when they are reduced or found second hand (including the Play3s and a Soundbar for £300 once…!)

They run most of the day with background music, and occasionally something louder for specific listening. Love them, they just work and very rarely we have a connection issue. Need a good Wi-Fi signal though – we are moving next month and will probably get a mesh system for the larger house.

I’m planning to pick up a Move in time for the summer, for BBQs and whatnot…

Turns out I was wrong, Sonons One Gen 2 are £159 at Richer sounds which is £40 off RRP or £20 off the price in the summer, am going to pick some up tomorrow, just cant decide how many!

Our old Sonos Play 1 must be 8 or more years old, connects wirelessly to a “Sonos bridge” which plugs into the router. Am I right that the newer ones don’t need the bridge?

Correct, no bridge need but I had an idea that a firmware update on the older speakers will let you do away with the bridge as well.

Had Sonos and it definitely has the best app / controller. I now have Audio Pro and much prefer the sound and the fact that they have multiple input options on the speakers. App is slightly shabby, but if you’re using Spotify it’s not an issue.

I personally prefer the looks too and would love a Drum Fire speaker. Currently have a pair of Add On C5’s. Sound great alone and phenomenal as a stereo pair.

So you just buy those speakers? And they play through an app? On a phone or what? Is a Spotify sub needed too?
Sorry to be slow of understanding…

Paul – I was in your boat! Bought a one sl from currys today, which includes 6 months Spotify premium, worth £60. Set it up this evening – it was all very straightforward. I’m playing stuff via the Spotify app, will try Sonos app and BBC sounds tomorrow.

Heh, I’ve ordered two from Richer sounds 🙂
Good job it’s payday.

At the weekend I picked up a beam, sub and 2no one SL from Sevenoaks for £1176 (the beam was 329, the sub 569 and the 2 one SL’s were 139 each, all discounted for Black Friday so bargain and its absolutely fantastic sound/set up/ease of use, I’d deffo recommend