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Some advice please. Apologies if this is a bit noobie but….

I want to add some reasonable quality stereo audio to my living room. My main hi-fi is in another room and it is not feasible to set it up in the living room, due to space and wiring considerations.

So I am looking at Sonos, probably a linked pair of Sonos Ones. I already have an Amazon Echo in the room. Given that I am wondering if the best choice is a pair of Sonos One SLs, controlled via Echo/Alexa, that is, is there any benefit in going for the Gen2 over a pair of SLs? My understanding is that the basic speaker is the same but the Gen2 has microphone and smart speaker capability which presumably I don't need. Is that right?

I already have the IKEA-badged SONOS speaker (in a third room) which seems to play well with Alexa (I find the Sonos app a bit flaky). Mos of the audio will be live radio or streamed from my audio collection that lives on a connected NAS drive.

Also - nice to have - how feasible is it to put the sound from my (reasonably) smart Sony TV though the speakers?

Related - I have mains sockets near where I want the speakers to go  but no convenient shelves - any recommendations for stands, just to get them off the floor?

Thanks,

Phil Clarke.
 

Phil,

That is a lot of questions. Let’s step through them in order.

  1. I would go with the One SLs, and use the existing Amazon device to continue to use Alexa on. 
     
  2. Flaky performance of the Sonos app usually means some sort of wifi interference or duplicate IP address issues. I’d suggest that any ‘flakiness’ can be cleared up with some attention to the network. 
     
  3. No. Sonos sells soundbars that are designed to connect to TVs, the Sonos Ones of any type do not have the ability to be connected to a TV. They can, however, be used as surround speakers when ‘bonded’ to a soundbar. 
     
  4. Sonos sells stands. I tend to use Flexson stands myself, they’re slightly more expensive than others, but I consider the quality to be commensurately better, and I prefer to buy once, rather than being disappointed and forced to buy another pair to ‘test’ them. You might go to a local retailer to see if they carry various versions, and make your own choice. 

I’d suggest listening to the Ones and Era 100s to see if the sound difference is worth the price difference to you.

I’m happy with my Play 1s and Sonos One SLs so they aren’t really a bad choice.

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