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Looking to implement an office speaker system for a new 6000sqft build out. I’ve always known and trusted Sonos and our IT vendor is pushing us towards Russound. Saying that if we want Sonos, we’ll have to add an amp as well to fill the space. (The largest room is 1500 square feet andI thought 2 Sonos one’s & Five would do the trick) they are arguing because it’s a 20 foot ceiling we would need to use an amp for any system we implement. Which I didn’t think was the case with Sonos…

 

Any thoughts or arguments here? Or any comments from anyone that has evaluated Russound & Sonos for commercial purposes?

Hi @alexgervais, welcome to the community! I understand that you want to know more about Russound and Sonos and we have a Sonos Port that is designed to work with the amplifier or receiver using RCA or digital coax. More information here about Setting up your Sonos Port and link about our Sonos components available for your stereo or receiver and an amplifier powering all your entertainment. Let us know if this helps. 


What is the purpose of this space? A rule for commercial spaces is that speakers should be placed every 10-15 feet. Consider a long, narrow room with a single speaker at one end. No one will be happy because listeners near the speaker will claim “too loud” while the distant listeners will complain “not loud enough”. Both groups will be correct.

If there are multiple rooms, you’ll want a means to individually control the Volume in each area. You may or may not need the ability to play different music in each area.

Do you need to be able to prevent users in one area from being able to control another area? Do you need the ability to broadcast announcements to one or more areas?


1500 sq.ft x 20 ft. high = 30,000 cu.ft, yikes.  IME, a pair of One SL’s and a *pair* of Five’s serve a 17’ x 33’ living+dining room at varied 9+/- ft. ceilings, when placed as stereo pairs at the long ends, without sounding like they are “shouting”.  But that’s only 5,000 cu.ft!  So: No, a pair of Ones and a single Five won’t satisfy you. (Sure, it’s apples and oranges because you won’t have residential furniture and carpet absorbing in your room, but 20 ft. ceilings means you also don’t get the help from reflections like the residence, either.  In fact, likely the opposite: you’ll end up installing baffles, “clouds”, or fiberglass tiles up above, to prevent unwanted noise.)  Typically, unless a suspended ceiling is installed, the speakers are “pendants”, dropped-down on rods, hanging much closer to your ears.

But if you think about trying to answer buzz’s questions, you’ll be thinking like your vendor -- *then* you can have a meaningful conversation with him/her!  Yes, I have been in a condominium where each of 9 pairs of ceiling speakers was attached to a separate Sonos amp, but that’s probably unnecessary for you, so *some* kind of multi-speaker single-amp (Russound or other) setup is likely to be cheaper.