Sonos component recommendations

S

I am considering replacing my current home stereo system with a Sonos system.  I have turntable connected to the stereo, as well as wired outdoor speakers.  Also, I use an Amazon Echo in my kitchen. I currently have small wall mounted speakers and a subwoofer connected to the stereo.  Finally, I have a large amount of music on a Mac computer (connected to our home network), that I would like to able to access and stream in addition to the typical radio, Spotify/Pandora, and online content.

So, here are my requirements:

1.)  Play my vinyl collection, via the turntable, through the Sonos system.

2.)  Access and stream from the music collection on my Mac

3.)  Play music on outdoor Sonos speakers

4.)  Have a voice activated Sonos speaker in my kitchen

5.)  Mount wall mounted speakers in a separate room

Basically, I would like to duplicate my existing setup, be able to play vinyl through the new system, and be able to play music on a set of outdoor speakers. In addition, somehow be able to play music from my computer.   I currently have a CD player and CDs, but will burn what I want in to my computer and eliminate my CD player.  Lots going on here, not even sure if it is possible, but I would like recommendations on where to start.

Thanks.

Steve

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16 replies

G
Userlevel 7

Sonos devices can definitely do what you want.

  1. Connect your turntable to a Sonos Five or Port. If your turntable doesn’t have a phono preamp, you will need to get one. https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3548?language=en_US
  2. You can connect and access the music library on your Mac through the Sonos app. https://support.sonos.com/s/article/257?language=en_US
  3. Use a Sonos Amp to power your outdoor speakers. You can power up to four speakers with one Amp (up to six Sonos Architectural by Sonance speakers).
  4. I recommend getting a Sonos One or Move for the kitchen. But you can continue to use your Echo device.
  5. Consider mounting a pair of Ones or Fives.
"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
buzz

Is your subwoofer powered (contains its own amplifier) or passive?

I’m not keen on storing music on a computer because the computer must be running whenever you play music through the SONOS system. I prefer storing my music on a NAS (Network Attached Storage) drive. You’ll need the computer to rip the CD’s, but once you copy the music files to the NAS, the computer can be shut down. SONOS can play music from the computer if you like.

K

I currently have a CD player and CDs, but will burn what I want in to my computer and eliminate my CD player. 

This can be a major effort of time, aggravation, and some cost. Be sure you really need the local access to the music on your CDs which is almost certainly available on one of the streaming services which you will probably subscribe to anyway to have a much bigger access to more music without buying it.

I did this ten years ago, but streaming services were not there then, and today I hardly ever access the music from about a thousand CDs sitting on what is now a idle NAS.

If you use an Echo Show 5 device, you can also get album art for all the music you play, available through Sonos - provided you wire the Echo to line in jacks on Sonos - which means ensuring that your kit has line in jacks, where the Echo is to be placed.

One caveat to that - I think that in the latest version of the Show 5, the necessary audio out jack has been deleted by Amazon, so this won't work unless you get hold of the superseded 5 device.

buzz

I still use my NAS.

Ripping is mostly a one time chore. For a large project I’ll strap together as many computers as I can find, set the ripper to open the reader tray when complete, then position myself in the center of the array and feed trays as needed. Depending on the number of computers available, I can rip 30 CD’s an hour if there is not too much editing of metadata. Part of my routine is making sure that the CD’s are clean. 

If I’m ripping a few CD’s I’ll simply stack them by my computer and feed the tray from time to time as I work. This is not a fast scheme, but it is low impact.

A modern problem is that fewer and fewer computers include a reader.

S

Thanks for the responses.  My comments below:

1.)  The CDs are almost all in the computer at this point, so no need to go through each one and burn it to the computer.

2.)  My subwoofer is a powered subwoofer.

3.)   My indoor wall mounted speakers and outdoor speakers are connected to the current stereo receiver with typical speaker wires.  It seems like I could just use the Sonos Amp with a subwoofer output and two sets of speaker outputs to provide a signal to the wall mounted indoor speakers, outdoor speakers, and subwoofer.  The analog input to the Amp could come from my turntable, and I could stream my CD collection from either a NAS (need to figure out how what a NAS is and how it is connected on the network) or directly from a computer on the wireless network.  So, I could stream from any online source or streaming source, play any vinyl on the turntable, and stream from the NAS or computer.  All problems solved?

The only negative to this is that the indoor and outdoor speakers would be playing the same signal, so there would be no ability to have separate music indoors and outdoors, but this might be the cheapest way to get the system going and see how it works.

4.)  Sonos One voice activated speaker in the kitchen seems like the best idea.

Is this a viable setup?

 

Steve

K

 

Is this a viable setup?

 

 

Yes, essentially you are using the Sonos amp as a drop in replacement for the amp you have just now, so all of that will work.

In addition, you will get the Sonos ability to play music from the internet or from your ripped CDs sitting on the computer.

A NAS at its simplest is a hard disc drive that is ethernet wired to the router and therefore visible on the WiFi network.

To set up one, you will copy/paste the music files from the computer to the hard disc and then point Sonos to those files via the Sonos control app which will then index the files such that they can be accessed and played, leaving the computer out of the loop.

S

So, I would not need the Sonos Port.  The Sonos Amp would be able to power the indoor and outdoor speakers as my stereo receiver does now.  If I wanted to be able to play different music outside versus inside, I could replace the current outdoor wired speakers with equivalent Sonos outdoor speakers (or alternately use a Sonos Port for those speakers and keep the existing outdoor non-Sonos speakers), and basically have the same setup I have now. 

K

A port will need amplification between it and the existing speaker pair; that could be your stereo receiver in use today. You could then play different music across the two speaker pairs.

S

A port will need amplification between it and the existing speaker pair; that could be your stereo receiver in use today. You could then play different music across the two speaker pairs.


From the user guide, it looks like the Amp has an analog input (in my case, this would be a turntable), two sets of speaker outputs (one would be for indoor speakers, one would be for outdoor speakers), and a subwoofer output.  If I am thinking about this correctly, it seems like this would replace my current receiver. 

I guess an alternative route would be to buy a Port, and have the Port be an input to my existing receiver.  I could keep the turntable connected directly to the receiver.  The Port would allow me to stream from a NAS, streaming services, and my phone, the output of the Port would go to my receiver, and the receiver would power my speakers

This setup is all new to me, so I am thinking I need to consider the best/cheapest way to do this with my current components.

K

I suggest you get exposure to music from streaming services by getting an Echo Dot, wiring that to the existing receiver and see how it goes. That may even be all you ever need to do, if you find that you don't miss the music on your CDs. Note that you can use the Dot via the Phone without ever talking to it, if that is not something you see yourself doing. 

That is the way to go to leverage current components for a very low cost. The Dot will deliver the same sound quality you are getting from your present set up, once wired in to the receiver.

Once you get acquainted with how well the Dot can - or cannot - serve you for music, you can decide next steps, especially if you think that you need access to your CD music.

Adding a Port to the receiver in the manner you say will work and will provide access to music from your CDs, but for a little more money you can get a Sonos Amp - that makes sense if the receiver is aged and out of service access.

Of course if you want to also play the same music at the same time in the kitchen, including that from the CDs/turntable, Sonos is the way to get that. But if you do not see that need, that place can be served by many options including Sonos. 

buzz

From the user/operator/setup standpoint two AMP’s plus the voice capable SONOS unit would be the ultimate, retiring the receiver.

In terms of cost, PORT (as an input to the receiver) and a voice capable SONOS unit would be next. You would be able to play different programs through each of the SONOS units, but indoor and outdoor speakers connected to the stereo receiver would always play the same program, unless it is a multi-zone unit. If the receiver is multi-zone you could play SONOS sources in one zone and receiver sources (Tuner, CD, VCR, etc.) in the other Zone if the receiver has four amplifiers. Note that most legacy multi-zone stereo units have only two amplifiers and simply provide preamp level outputs to the second zone -- you must supply the second zone amplifiers.

Note that none of the SONOS units include a Phono Preamp. Attempting to use the receiver’s Phono Preamp is tricky because there is a 70ms delay between input to SONOS Line-In and output from the SONOS players. In your case you could probably get away with using the receiver’s Phono Preamp as input for the SONOS Line-In because you would not normally be able to simultaneously hear indoor and outdoor speakers and will not notice the delay.

S

I suggest you get exposure to music from streaming services by getting an Echo Dot, wiring that to the existing receiver and see how it goes. That may even be all you ever need to do, if you find that you don't miss the music on your CDs. Note that you can use the Dot via the Phone without ever talking to it, if that is not something you see yourself doing. 

That is the way to go to leverage current components for a very low cost. The Dot will deliver the same sound quality you are getting from your present set up, once wired in to the receiver.

Once you get acquainted with how well the Dot can - or cannot - serve you for music, you can decide next steps, especially if you think that you need access to your CD music.

Adding a Port to the receiver in the manner you say will work and will provide access to music from your CDs, but for a little more money you can get a Sonos Amp - that makes sense if the receiver is aged and out of service access.

Of course if you want to also play the same music at the same time in the kitchen, including that from the CDs/turntable, Sonos is the way to get that. But if you do not see that need, that place can be served by many options including Sonos. 


These are great suggestions.  I will probably go the route of sneaking up on the system.  I already have an Amazon Echo Dot in the kitchen, so I could replace that with a Sonos One, move the Echo to be an input to the receiver, and see how it works.

Thanks to everyone for this discussion.

 

K


I will probably go the route of sneaking up on the system.  I already have an Amazon Echo Dot in the kitchen, so I could replace that with a Sonos One, move the Echo to be an input to the receiver, and see how it works.

 

 

If you are ok for the kitchen to be a standalone music zone that plays just music via streaming services/internet radio, I suggest trying one of the better voiced speakers from Amazon or Google. I have a Echo Show 8, and the sound from that for music play is - IMO - perfectly adequate for a kitchen, for about half the price of Sonos One. Plus, the album art feature is very useful for knowing, at a glance, what is playing. 

It may also serve better for things like videos of cooking recipes - if you/family is into those kind of features.

The thing about Sonos is it is still pretty much in a class by itself if you want multi room music in perfect sync across the zones. If this feature is not needed, there now are many other options, many of which are more value for money.

 

S

I probably don’t need the video option, and would prefer better sound.  We typically have a laptop in the kitchen or use a phone for recipes.  It looks like the Amazon Echo, Apple HopePod Mini, and maybe a Google smart speaker would get me decent sound, at ½ the price.  Any recommendations?

K

It really depends on which smart ecosystem you prefer or are into. At around the USD 125 price point, all offer decent for kitchen sound quality.

And you never know...what will happen if video is available in a convenient way!

I would therefore suggest Amazon or Google, since Apple doesn't offer video at this time.

K

If you haven't discovered this already:

 

https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-smart-displays/

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