I currently have a pair of second gen fives, but I’m beginning to think that I could replace them for something that’s sounds just as good for a lot less cash.
I’m happy to Bluetooth from my Mac/iPhone/iPad, I like the idea of a pair of Bluetooth speakers,(Jvc sell a pair for £100, Ruark mr1s look good for £300, any one recommend anything that they use? It would be good to plug in the tv for better sound too, though not imperative.
Ideally I’d like separate speakers, as I like the stereo soundstage, Bluetooth or airplay, something with a bit of whoomph, all for less than £700, well?

at the top end of the price range for these products, but take a look and listen at Naim QB or Naim Muso wireless speakers … if you hunt around and decide the 1st generation models suits you might even get a deal

Proper stereo speakers, proper amp and a streamer like the Gramofon (if you use Spotify). You won’t believe how much Sonos has blunted your music.

I always thought my Cambridge minx 200 had a better sound than my Sonos, but it was a pain to connect and stay connected.

I bought Yamaha musiccast, work great

Ikea are doing their own speakers, and lamps with speakers built in that work through the Sonos system, Synfonique I think its called.

Audio Pro have much better sound than Sonos (at least to my ears). The app is shite though unless you’re using Spotify Connect.

These don’t suit everyone, but I love mine:

https://minirigs.co.uk/speakers/bundles/

Ikea are doing their own speakers, and lamps with speakers built in that work through the Sonos system, Synfonique I think its called

Made by Sonos I believe.

I have a pair of the Ruarks connected to a musiccast in the kitchen.

Then a surround amp with musiccast built in and a further musiccast attached to a stereo for the bedroom.

The sound quality of the MR1s is very good, not quite as bass heavy as Sonos, but good clarity for a small speaker. I only use the Bluetooth feature when listening to older BBC radio shows as musiccast doesn’t have a clear way of doing this. But the connection is solid and streaming quality is good in my experience.

I did try Sonos, but I was rarely able to control it with Android and I was never really able to get past that.

I currently have a pair of second gen fives, but I’m beginning to think that I could replace them for something that’s sounds just as good for a lot less cash.

If you want it to sound a least as good then I would have thought your best bet would be to go with hifi speakers being driven by an amp with a BT dongle – but then you’d have wires to deal with…. not sure if that’s an issue or not for you.

Alternatively you could sell the 5’s (£500 for the pair it seems), get some hifi speakers and drive them with a Sonos Connect:Amp (the later post 2015 version that’s still got at least 3 years before it becomes legacy – and even then it will still work fine) which will cost about £200 used.
You could connect your TV into the connect amp and it would autoswitch between streaming and TV input.

Otherwise, is it even possible to BT stereo to two separate speakers? Dunno.
Personally I think that one of the beauties of Sonos, and similar, speakers is that you can start a stream and then leave the room/house/country and the stream will continue – whereas BT will stop as soon as you move too far away.

Sounds like you are fully Apple-ed up so I’d go something Airplay compatible rather than bluetooth so you have the flexibility to add to the system overtime to make a Sonos style multi speaker/room setup.

Get whatever speakers/amp fancy and add an Airport Express (or AppleTV). Airport Express are no longer sold but can be picked up on eBay for not much.

I have a real mash up of speakers* linked via Airplay and it works very smoothly.

*
– An Apple Homepod
– A cheapie standalone Airplay compatible speaker
– A non-Airplay speaker + Airport Express
– TV soundbar + AppleTV

+1 for Audio Pro stuff.

I’ve got a non-multi room Addon T5 in the bedroom with a Chromecast Audio plugged into it. The sound quality is great.

The range of options from Audio Pro seems to be constantly growing. They do everything from small desktop speakers to floorstanders & separate subwoofers. There is also a ‘link’ unit for plugging into ‘old’ hi-fi.

I’ve not used the multi-room side of things, or the app. But, from a sound quality point of view they are pretty good.

Edifier speakers would be good for bluetooth and connecting a TV to.

I think the S1000 models are similar quality to the fives but you can get the S3000’s under your budget.

Edifier S3000

Bookmarked

The sound quality of the MR1s is very good, not quite as bass heavy as Sonos, but good clarity for a small speaker.

Another vote for these.

I’m sorry, but what are you trying to achieve?

You’ve already got the Play:5’s that, presumably, do everything you want – they have a used value of about £500 for the pair.
And you’re looking to spend up to £700 on a pair of speakers that hopefully do the same thing that the Play:5s already do?
Eh?

Denon DM41 with some proper speakers. Awesome for the money.

Chrome cast audio and whatever amp/speakers you like?

2nd the Ruarks – I have the MR1 Mk2’s – mostly used wired to my pc for listening while I work but I have the battery pack and use them in the shed/garage too and they’re a great pair of small speakers.

(I also have some full size pair Rogers LS3’s and a pair of Tannoy DC’s and the Ruarks match them at the sort of volumes you listen at in a small room).

thisisnotaspoon

Chrome cast audio and whatever amp/speakers you like?

How long are they gonna be supported though?
Google ditched them in Jan2019, although they are still available online.

I’ve got 2 currently in use; one hooked up to a separates system in the living room & another plugged into the Audio Pro speaker I mentioned earlier in this thread. But, I do wonder how long it’ll be before they aren’t compatible with Google whatever, and become relics.

I panicked when they announced they were withdrawing them, so bought 4 – 2 are in use, 2 are sat in a cupboard unopened. I should probably stick them on ebay!

How long are they gonna be supported though?

This applies to pretty much ANY item/device that has an OS or is connected. We just haven’t really thought that far ahead.
Taking it to an extreme what happens to your Tesla when it gets too old for updates or, even worse, the company goes bust??

Going back to the OP. I’m not sure if he’s worried about the Play:5s becoming unsupported but I really don’t think he should be. The only items that are becoming legacy are those with 32Mb RAM and his second generation Play:5 has 256Mb…. so it’s a way off yet!

I have an iFi Zen Bluetooth receiver plugged into my audio incinerations amp. It sounds bloody lovely! At 120 sobs it’s at the cheaper end of their range which includes some lovely looking stuff…

Sorry to slightly move away from what you’re directly after, but didn’t see any point starting a new thread.

Anyone used the JBL Extreme? Won’t be for a hi-fi listening experience, but more for garden office/shed/actual garden duties

Chromecast audio will be supported for a good long while as the functionality is still built in to other devices including their TV streamers.

For the ops, lots of good options mentioned but i’ll add: Elipson Facet 6b BT to the mix.
Extremely impressed with them having previously had full towers paired to a decent budget stereo AMP.
I’ve got a single Ruark speaker and it is also excellent but somewhat limited by it’s compact size. If you want the samaller size, the Ruark & AudioPro are both excellent options though.

TAFKAS: For outdoor use, the Minirig mentioned above is comfortably better than anything I’ve heard from Anker, JBL, Bose, Ultimate Ears etc.

I’m currently listening in the lounge (well, not CURRENTLY..but, I have in the lounge..) on some Q acoustic BT3 speakers.

Am awaiting delivery on some KEF LSXs after reading multiple great reviews on them.. it will be interesting to see how they sound quality of spotify is through the onboard ‘gubbins’ rather than via an echo dot and 3.5mm aux cable…

Plus they look cool!

DrP

Am awaiting delivery on some KEF LSXs

They look ace, nice choice Doc! As for the BT3’s they are also very decent speakers.

Cheers… a slight apprehension is I like to play spotify ‘everywhere’, which is easy if your “everywhere group” is ‘echo + ehcho + echo + echo dot’. I wonder if i can set up an ‘everywhere group’ that contains ‘echo + echo + echo + KEF speaker…’.

If not, I can always supply the music through the echo dot and the aux cable if that’s needed?

DrP

One of my hobbies is googling active speakers

If you have space then get bigger speakers

Edifiers seem well loved

The 2000s have 5 inch drives for £240

https://worldofturntables.com/edifier-r2000db-active-hi-fi-bluetooth-speakers-review/

DrP

Cheers… a slight apprehension is I like to play spotify ‘everywhere’, which is easy if your “everywhere group” is ‘echo + ehcho + echo + echo dot’. I wonder if i can set up an ‘everywhere group’ that contains ‘echo + echo + echo + KEF speaker…’.

If not, I can always supply the music through the echo dot and the aux cable if that’s needed?

Does echo do it’s own multi-room, or is it through Google Home? Dumb question I know, but I’ve got Google stuff, rather than anything else.
I’ve got 2 Chromecast Audios, a Google Home Mini & an Onkyo smart speaker all grouped as one & it works fine. Then main problem is that my daughter fiddles with the controls on the amp in the living room, which buggers up my carefully balanced set-up!

Echo devices (amazon) have their own multi room, yeah…

I guess my challenge will be to ‘include’ a non echo device in that (the KEFs).. I guess it would be through spotify, not the alexa app?!
DrP

Mmmm… Just installed the KEF speakers.. Damn, they sound good!

Connected them to the sub (q acoustic sub) and they’re super punchy, with a lovely range…

I THINK I can hear the better quality via the spotify connect direct (got them wired so the stream qual is max)…

Just need to figure how to control them via the amaxon alexa!

DrP