Sonos is pretty cool...

[vi edit]

So I wired my house with a full whole house setup when I built it. Because I was cheap I was just powering everything with the zone 2 out on my onkyo receiver and tuning into the local FM station.

Growing tired of the lack of control of music and variety I started looking into distributed audio systems.

Really started digging into the Sonos vs. Squeezbox debate.

Ended up jumping aboard the sonos wagon because of the reported "it just works" net chatter.

A local electronics company was doing a "cash for clunkers" promotion where you could bring in an old set of speakers or receiver and get $100 off of a $500 or more purchase. Sonos *never* goes on sale so I stopped in.

I ended up getting a Zone Player 90 and a closeout CR100 remote for $450 + tax. Basically I got the remote for an extra $100 which is a decent deal even though it's outdated.

Anywhoo...brought them home and had the system setup in less than 30 minutes once I figured out that the Zone 2 input on my receiver wouldn't work with digital sources...RCA analog only :\

It's cool being able to sit down in my living room with the in ceiling speakers and control whatever I want to play through my Rhapsody subscription. When I have cookouts later this spring/summer I can take the controller (or my iphone) out to the deck and DJ music out there with it. Or I can just fire up Pandora or Last.FM and let them do it for me.

It's a pricey gizmo, but it really does just plug in and "work". Sound quality appears to be pretty decent, at least with the Rhapsody and Pandora stuff. Haven't dug into Last.FM yet.

I'm pretty impressed. And the crazy thing is that if you were retardedly wealthy you could plug up to 32 of these things into your house and have up to 32 unique sources playing. And all controlled from the sonos controller or your iphone.

Cool beans.

 

[CubanlB]

I got interested in the sonos/yamaha/squeezebox players when I was doing home install work. They are really amazing, and all of the time I have spent putzing around with trying to get a computer to do something similar I should have just bought a yamaha solution when they were on accommodations as it was around $250 for the remote and a player. (Right now I can control my music collection from and web enabled device) but switching over to pandora or last.fm I have to walk into the basement.

Looking at the last XBMC android remote has me excited though.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Love my Sonos. We bought ours in 2008. I had looked at squeezebox too, but at the time it couldn't do UPnP/DNLA, and thus couldn't play DRM'd music via the serving machine; which is a huge bummer if you use Napster, Rhapsody, Zunepass, etc... I also don't think they had a powered-amplifier version of the squeezebox at the time either.

Maybe things are different now, but I'd probably still opt for Sonos. It's been a great product to me, despite the cost. It really should come down in price though.

 

[grohl]

Just got Squeezebox Duet from a Goldbox deal for $170 shipped. Very happy so far although setup was a little buggy. I too had my house wired for sound. Perfect for out at the pool and the outdoor speakers.

So far availability of pandora control in the palm of my hand is awesome, haven't tried even messing with my current music collection.

 

[vi edit]

Just got Squeezebox Duet from a Goldbox deal for $170 shipped. Very happy so far although setup was a little buggy. I too had my house wired for sound. Perfect for out at the pool and the outdoor speakers.

So far availability of pandora control in the palm of my hand is awesome, haven't tried even messing with my current music collection.

$170 shipped for a duet is a hell of a deal. I probably would have bit at that price. I just love the pure convenience of this thing and the iphone integration is excellent. My Dad was amazed at it. He's not a very techy guy and I think he wants an internet radio now. I might get him a squeezbox boom for Christmas and get it hooked up wirelessly and with some pre-programmed pandora channels for him out of the box. He loved the lack of commercials and just non-stop music.

 

[richardycc]

I am starting to look into a whole house audio system, Denon has an Airplay support receiver RCD-N7 now, and more companies are coming out with Airplay support units too. How is sonos diff from a unit with airplay? Sony has homeshare now too, but the unit has a bulit in speaker, and I want to hook up my own in wall speakers, so Sony is out for me.

 

[vi edit]

It sounds like airplay streams itunes from your computer or "i"device back to the receiver. No other content option (pandora, last fm, ect).

Sonos is the content hub. It delivers all content. And it does it reliably and with no major headaches past the initial discovery phase.

And with Sonos if you have the money you can multiple zone players and have independent streams to each room you can control from one remote or iphone/pod.

 

[queequeg99]

It's been a great product to me, despite the cost. It really should come down in price though.

The cost does seem pretty high. But it appears that the Sonos people are marketing the device to users/families that either (i) have one smartphone or other similar electronic device per user, or (ii) don't mind spending $300+ on a dedicated remote. I'm pretty well to do but that doesn't work for me.

I just got a Squeezebox Touch and love it. I had already joined the Squeezebox community with one of their original units but the commitment isn't exclusive (i.e. I would been open to a completely different device in another room). But the cost of Sonos was absolutely prohibitive. My wife has an iPod Touch so she would be able to control the thing but I don't have one so I would have to plunk down additional coin for a Sonos remote. Or perhaps not. When it is far more cost effective for me to go out and buy an 8meg iPod Touch for no other purpose than to control a Sonos, you know something screwy is going on with the pricing.

Anyway, the Squeezebox Touch has worked perfectly. I'm currently using in wireless mode while I work on finishing a new home theater/rec room and there haven't been any hiccups (although the access point just fifteen feet away and separated by a single wall).