Truly wireless - Battery Powered PLAY unit

JohanB · 2012-09-01T09:06:00+00:00

I'd like to see Sonos develop: 1. a truly wireless Play:4, with docking station for charging the unit. 2. an add-on battery-pack for Play:3 and Play:5.

One more vote for a battery powered speaker. Would be nice to have a speaker I can take to parts of the house I'm not always in. I'm a big fan of the portable bluetooth speakers - so something small and portable. Bonus would be if it could play outside the system - on it's own - outside the house so I can take it to work or jobsites.

I REALLY want a portable streaming audio unit & I've been looking at the Bose (!) Soundtouch portable - $400 - but...

(a) it doesn't work with a NAS drive (yet)

(b) it's battery life is only 2.5 hours

(c) the battery is integrated into the unit

My wish list would be...

(1) Multiple connectivity - wi-fi for when I'm at home or in the garden, bluetooth when I'm away or out of wi-fi range, also preferably play mp3s straight off a usb flash drive & have a aux in phono or jack for total flexibility.

(2) Long Li-ion battery life - closer to that of a bluetooth speaker (8+ hours) &/or removable rechargeable battery so that you could take along a pre-charged spare that you could hot-swap. Just don't make the cost of spare batteries prohibitive!

(3) Charge on base unit at home & from (mini) USB on a laptop

(4) Max weight (incl battery) of 1.5kg

Please, Sonos, do it before someone else does...and do it better!

Would buy something like this today. Any update?

SONOS, SONOOOOOSSS, WHERE ARE YOU??? PLEASE ALERT CUSTOMER RELATIONS DEPT..... !!! There is an obvious need for a rechargeable, portable speaker with 10-12 hours battery life to add to your range.... please reply????!!!!!

Me too. I would love a sonos I could take to the bathroom or just outside the back door when sitting in the garden.

I am planing to buy any portable speaker to take outdoor . If Sonos could only confirm this speaker i will gladly wait so could ad a unit to my existing Sonos home system. Please make this happen.

I would definitely buy a rechargeable battery powered Sonos unit, happily accepting a compromise on volume / power for the benefit of 3-4 hours occasional but convenient garden use synced up to my existing Sonos system.

We too would definitely buy one, or maybe 2, of a good sound quality/reasonable output, say Play 3 standard, rechargeable player that could be taken out to the garden areas we are working on. We currently have 6 zones, including outdoor speakers on our pool terrace and at the moment have to rack up the outdoor zones to get any sound to the garden areas. We have bridges in the outbuildings so coverage is not an issue. Not interested in having an ipod or similar dock, (although I can see these might be a selling plus) just access to the music library and radio as the rest of our Sonos system

Plus one here. in the UK we cannot have mains power in a bathroom. I would certainly take a Play 1 in there if I was able to lift the handle on top, to unlock it from its base, where inductive charging has charged the battery for my bathtime listening. If it can be done for a toothbrush.....

Will competition from Aether's Cone finally get Sonos to give us a battery powered Play? http://www.aether.com/details

I would prefer a portable and weatherproof Play 5, i.e. something that can extend my home system when I go out to the pool or on the dock. In these areas, something like a Play 1 will barely give decent sound beyond a few feet. To address that market, there are plenty of "personal" battery-powered external speakers available, but I need something that will cover 300 to 500 squatter feet.

Also, in both of these environments (pool and dock) it is unsafe to have anything plugged in to AC powered extensions, so I need it to be battery powered – especially if there are kids running around.

Again, there are plenty of "personal" solutions out there to play from my phone through WiFi or Bluetooth, but if I have a gathering at my home, I want to have the same source that's playing throughout the area. After all, isn't that why everyone of us bought a Sonos system. Therefore, it needs to be more of the size of a Play 5 and more importantly, it needs to connect to the rest of the Sonos system.

Also, it needs to have replaceable battery packs, so that if I host a gathering that lasts from noon through the evening, I can have a few fully charged battery packs on hand, as I would for my digital camera.

If I had a home where it would make sense to leave something permanently outdoors, I'd simply buy a Connect:Amp and run wires to outdoor speakers. But this comes at a different cost level. Furthermore, when I'm only renting a cottage for the season, I'm not going to get into wiring? The very fact that Sonos systems don't need wiring is what makes them so great for renters – i.e. if I move, all my investment in my Sonos goes with me.

For all these reasons, I need a battery-pack-powered Play5 pack-and-play Sonos solution for outdoors.

Correction, make that "several" 😉

Absolutely! Will buy three if they were battery ran for our outdoor areas. Just bought the system and it's INCREDIBLE - but seriously could use speakers with no need for plugin!! DO IT!! Pretty please! 🙂

Me too. =-)

I would love to see a battery powered unit. It would, however, need it to have a line-in. The places where I'd like to take it would be away from my wifi.

I would love to see a battery powered unit. I have a total of 10 sonos pieces over 2 homes. The one thing I dislike is that I currently have to run an extension cord to my condo balcony for a play:3 unit. Can't do any sort of permanent setup here due to concrete walls. Play:1 powered by a rechargeable battery of some sort would be ideal. Please help me out 🙂

I love my Sonos system but I hate having to link a less capable sender and wireless speaker to it just so that I can extend it into my garden without trailing cables behind it. Everyone else is chasing the market for truly wireless speakers and Sonos is lagging behind, despite having started off with the definitive wireless network.

A rechargeable Play One please, before Christmas

I think that Sonos has dropped the ball - I am a big fan (PlayBar, 5x3, 3x1 and 1x8) but I would currently struggle to recommend it to others: Sonos was so far ahead, had rich users (they had to be given the cost) and had the benefit of loyal users like us giving feedback and ideas which they have completely ignored. The software is appalling - the new iPhone and iPad apps are so useless that my wife made me JailBreak her iPhone to get the old software back: it completely misses the point that users want functionality over style. There are so many simple functions which would dramatically improve the software - either provide them or publish an API so others can. Battery powered unit - how many requests? Seriously how many? It won't damage the existing market - people like me would buy more, it would attracted new customers, and it would protect against competitors. Sonos headphones / a headphones dongle / iPhone as a Zone - again, how many requests? I simply do not believe that any of these would hurt existing demand; I'm sure it would stimulate it. I've just had a baby and have had to put together a ridiculous combination of a TOSLINK 1 to 2 splitter and a second digital to analogue converter in order to connect wireless headphones to my system between my TV and my PlayBar so I don't wake the baby; I would gladly paid handsomely for a wireless dongle. Come on Sonos, don't rest of your laurels, get these things sorted.

I love my Sonos system but I hate having to link a less capable sender and wireless speaker to it just so that I can extend it into my garden without trailing cables behind it. Everyone else is chasing the market for truly wireless speakers and Sonos is lagging behind, despite having started off with the definitive wireless network.

A rechargeable Play One please, before Christmas

I agree with resting on laurels. Sound Bar is a great idea but only not size! Play 1 a good addition but that's it? Disagree with the new controller software. Slight adjustment and learning curve but actually easier to use. Sonos, you need more hardware offerings. Get it in gear!!

I love my Sonos system but I hate having to link a less capable sender and wireless speaker to it just so that I can extend it into my garden without trailing cables behind it. Everyone else is chasing the market for truly wireless speakers and Sonos is lagging behind, despite having started off with the definitive wireless network.

A rechargeable Play One please, before Christmas

I absolutely agree as the owner of a number of Sonos units. There is a clear market for portables at all levels: Play 1, Play 3, and Play 5, or (not as elegant, but in some ways as appealing) a portable battery unit that could be used with the existing Play units. Sometimes a Play 1 would be all I needed, but other times I would like the benefit of my Play 5.

Sonos -- I too am having a hard time continuing to sing your praises in the face of the advances from your competitors.

I also STRONGLY agree about the new interface-- it needs to be much more user friendly - I am often frustrated with not being able to access a needed function intuitively.

thanks.

Ron

I love my Sonos system but I hate having to link a less capable sender and wireless speaker to it just so that I can extend it into my garden without trailing cables behind it. Everyone else is chasing the market for truly wireless speakers and Sonos is lagging behind, despite having started off with the definitive wireless network.

A rechargeable Play One please, before Christmas

Respectfully disagree with portables at all levels. The device needs to be easy to carry and Play 5 is not it. Play 3 is still a bit heavy.

So can a Play 1 be the foundation? Seems so. Lithium battery with charger a must but if the device is loaded with premium performance then battery life could be a complaint. So Sonos you have design issues for sure including making us all happy. For starters I would like an outdoor worthy product with the typical Sonos performance. Lithium battery with the unit working while battery is charging. Also working sans battery is OK.

As for the new controller design, I like it and prefer it actually. Folks need to stop complaining and learn it.

Nuff said.

I have been thinking about this a lot. I think a portable battery pack that can have a Play5, a Play3 and a Play1 all fit on top of it. would be an excellent solution. It could have the ability to plug into existing speaker systems with the same power cord the Play units now use. New Play units could be modified to accept a more direct "docking-like" connection.

absolutely should be top of the line battery and should be able to be recharged both at an electrical outlet and via a car charger.

The reason I've shifted to the idea of a battery pack is so that I can have the option of using the same battery pack with any size Play unit. I probably wouldn't mind a custom battery pack for each size Play unit as that would probably look better on the Play1 and Play 3 unless the design folks could come up with a pleasing appearance and stable connection etc for those units.

Ron

Lynchburg, VA

Trying to modify these existing Plays will probably be a problem. Can't imagine a device designed to work 110v able to run on a battery of any size. Instead a device designed for the start to operate on a battery pack that plugs into 110v outlet is the way to go. Thinking Sonos designers/engineers would have better chance at success this way, a brand new Play.

I like to have a SONOS mobile speaker/music solution with battery and bluetooth functionality. Does anybody knows where this idea is on the SONOS innovation list? Would be great if we can push the topic!

Sonos, do this now.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Batteries or mains or both. Hi, I'm considering joining the Sonos community but have some questions - it all looks great on the ads and on the website but there aren't any power cables to the speakers. Can they run on batteries or mains and if only the latter then its not exactly wireless is it? If batteries are they rechargeable and what's the play period between charges or battery changes?

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