Please make a sonos multi zone amp!
I really like my sonos equipment. However, my whole house was wired for speakers in every room (ceiling, walls, patio) with the wiring centralized in a wiring closet/built in audio rack. Instead of purchasing a separate zone amp for every room/speaker pair, I would much rather buy one or two multi zone amps from Sonos. Any chance there is a multi zone amp on the horizon? Please, please, please!!!!
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I could get away with just buying a CONNECT:AMP for each zone, but then I wouldn't be able to do the same feed to multiple zones (and would cost a fortune!).
Don't know where you got the idea that a Connect:Amp for each zone wouldn't let you do the same feed to multiple zones. That is exactly what you can do using Connect:Amp for each zone. Simply Group all your Zones together and they all play the same source. In addition, you can also have every zone playing a different source, if you wish.
As to it costing a fortune, the same functionality in a multi zone amp wouldn't be much less, if at all. The most expensive components, the amps and wireless, would have to be duplicated for each multi-zone, bringing the cost of production to about equal and, given the small demand; the lack of economics of scale means it just may cost more than the same number of Connect:Amps when all is said and done.
Sorry, jgatie, I read your reply last.
Hmm, from what I read on the website a few months back, I got the impression that you couldn't do the same feed through multiple CONNNECT:AMPS, now that I read the page again, it looks like it can be done with "SonosNet". I'll have to look into this (do you know if zones can be grouped on the fly, using the app depending on where you are in the house?). Also, reading further I see they can do up to 4 speakers! Jeeze, I don't know what page I was reading as I got completely wrong information. So really, all I would be getting is having them all into one unit rather than a large bank. I think I'm ok with that (as they'll be buried in the basement).
Thanks guys!
Whoa! That is perfect! Do you know if there are limitations on what Sonos can use as a source? Say I'm playing a video (whatever app, doesn't matter) on my mobile device, can I send it to the Sonos to play through my speakers? I'd like to know what the limits are (make sure that it doesn't only support Spotify or iTunes as a source) before I put down over $500 bones. 😃
Chromecast or Bluetooth would work, but I need another device for that? That's unfortunate.
So I'll need to buy a Play:5 and a Connect:amp to use Chromecast?
Sorry, but I was looking at the Connect:Amp page and it doesn't look like there's a USB port to plug in the Chromecast: http://www.sonos.com/en-ca/shop/connectamp
Man, that's cool! I've got a chromecast video and assumed that was it. That is a pretty sweet setup! I can't wait to get my connect:amp now!
If I want to have music in half a dozen rooms/outside do I really want 6 non stacking pieces of equipment (in an earthquake zone) on top of all my other IoT systems.
The Sonos response to this question seems to be that for such a situation, the play units are its solution.
For sound quality, they will always trump ceiling speakers. And the only place where current model play units can't work is in shower cubicles or outdoors; third party speakers driven by Connect Amp is the solution for these.
The market for cases where these Sonos solutions are not appropriate may be one that Sonos isn't targeting at this time.
How is a play unit, wired to the mains socket in a room, clutter?
Don't see that at all.... They won't be 'audiophiles' and Sonos kit is generally used to reduce clutter - not create it...
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In a closet what does six stacked vs all in one really matter. I have seen plenty just on racks too. I guess Sonos market research has told them that a more expensive all in one unit would not generate enough sales to support it. They can probably offer larger discounts to integrators on the mass market connect:amp then a small sales rack unit. It becomes all about qty sold driving down cost and the multi amp would just be a costly niche item.
As stated, Sonos is not catering to the rack mount, custom install market. Such low volume, specialty gear is not their aim. It's been asked for by a couple posts here and there over the years, but I'm sure if the demand was there, they'd make it. They haven't, which tells me the investment is not worth the return.
Sonos "has" created a solution for it. You just want it in one box instead of 3, 6, 8, etc. I have seen some excellent looking audio closets done with Connect:Amps. The Comnect:Amp is roughly 8 inches wide and 3-1/2 inches tall. Two of them fit side by side easily on a standard 19" rack shelf or drawer. As has been mentioned, you would eliminate the cost of wifi and multiple power supplies and possibly some cpu. But, ultimately, there isn't probably a huge manufacturing cost savings that could be passed on to the consumer. In the event of an amp failure, your whole house is down while you repair or replace unless it is modular. There are numerous consumer choices for hard wired, built in whole house audio. Sonos can already play in that market but the bigger appeal is for people who move from apartment to apartment or own old architecture homes where retrofitting wire runs is a pain. Don't be elitist. Tens of thousands of new homes are built each year without all of that connectivity. Sure, it may be an option in many but typically a pricey one. And again, there are any number of systems for those scenarios. Sonos is a company. They assess demand and the cost of bringing a product to market. If they see a profitable sector they will likely try to enter it. If they don't, they don't. I don't understand why people complain about a company and their choices in these matters. They're a commercial company. Not the federal government. Buy if you like, don't if you don't. By all means ask for new products and enhancements to existing products. It's good for Sonos to hear. But don't complain about it if they don't build you what you want. Buy from someone who does. If you can find them.
There's nothing elitist about what I'm suggesting. The standard these days is to run cat6 in all new houses instead of just electric. It's just freakin the cost of wire when the sheetrock hasn't been added yet. The electrician uses the same labor to push two wires through the studs in the wall as he does one wire.
I get the whole "if one unit goes down it doesn't take down the whole system" argument, but I think it's overstated here". Yes I'd agree to that principle back in the days of those ancient tv/vcr/dvd combo units where one part would go bad before the other parts, but I'd hope that what I would buy in today's world would be more reliable than the Christmas lights of yesteryear.
They used to use that argument with computers saying that each component needed to be its own card so you could swap it out if it went bad. Now most of those components like sound, video, peripheral interface jacks, ethernet are minified and incorporated in the motherboard itself which itself now can be the size of a credit card. Now no one cares if a part goes bad because they are much more reliable and much cheaper as well.
That's my point here. If Moores Law (better, faster, smaller, cheaper) works for computers, why can't it apply here with sound equipment?
I get the whole "if one unit goes down it doesn't take down the whole system" argument, but I think it's overstated here". Yes I'd agree to that principle back in the days of those ancient tv/vcr/dvd combo units where one part would go bad before the other parts, but I'd hope that what I would buy in today's world would be more reliable than the Christmas lights of yesteryear.
They used to use that argument with computers saying that each component needed to be its own card so you could swap it out if it went bad. Now most of those components like sound, video, peripheral interface jacks, ethernet are minified and incorporated in the motherboard itself which itself now can be the size of a credit card. Now no one cares if a part goes bad because they are much more reliable and much cheaper as well.
That's my point here. If Moores Law (better, faster, smaller, cheaper) works for computers, why can't it apply here with sound equipment?
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