Recommendation for vacation/rental property. Not worried about theft just ease of use for coverage area of medium size living room only. Suggestions?

Hi @khancockSonos1.

Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the Sonos community!

I’m not certain on what recommendations you are looking for but if you can be more specific we are willing to help.

If you have any other questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out.

I have many items already using my home network wifi.  (6 Modern Forms ceiling fans) amongst others.  Worried about adding another w my Sonos playbar and Play 1 rear speakers.  Do I need the Sonos Boost to ensure a clean connection?  And would a Connect Amp do the same in creating its separate network thus not needing the Boost?

Thanks Much

If this is for a vacation rental property, everyone will need to download the app to use the speaker. If so, I suspect that a unit with built-in tuner and a Bluetooth connection rather than a Sonos wifi speakerwould be more appropriate?

I found a previous post and chat where someone recommended a kiosk in the unit w/ an Ipad w/ the Sonos app installed and my Spotify.  That could make it easy on them to stream to speakers?

Also, I assume they can have the surround sound w/ TV programs without applying app?

Thanks

If you really aren’t worried about theft, I suggest an iPort “Charge Case & Stand 2” with an iPad Mini.  The Mini is about the right size for casual use, and the user won’t feel like they have been “cheated” from the full use of all iPad apps by the dedicated kiosk mode, as a full-sized iPad might feel. The case & stand allow it to be docked almost as easily as an old Sonos CR100 (in both portrait & landscape mode), rather than wedging the Lightning connector onto a fiddly charger/stand.  The alternative is a lock-down wall-bracket and a full-size iPad kiosk.  (The Trufig for example is very sleek, but there are many other manufacturers.)  Wall-mount prevents multiple users from having to look around the place for where the previous person “tossed the remote”, but forces everyone to stand up and walk over to the wall to operate.

The most annoying thing about kiosk mode is the incessant Apple and Sonos updates and having to break out of kiosk mode to accommodate them, or just live with the notifications all the time.  Casual users won’t be clueless in these modern times, nevertheless it’s nicer not to have the distraction.  For this reason, I suggest trying the S1 old version app, which *might* have fewer updates going forward.  That would suggest using old speakers, i.e. not the Arc which requires S2.

I don’t believe that the Modern Forms fans are likely to use too much of your Wi-Fi bandwidth, because they shouldn’t “speak unless spoken to” for status & speed requests.  (Their own remotes and the wall control are RF, but not WiFi, even though the fans do have & use WiFi.)  But I don’t have any personal experience with them to know for sure, sorry.  Bandwidth & coverage of modern WiFi is so good that SonosNet / Boost is not really necessary, but this can depend on how close your neighbors are and whether *they* are blanketing the 2.4GHz band or have “left it behind” for 5GHz, leaving you a clear channel for SonosNet.  With a single zone, it almost doesn’t matter, because your Spotify feed will be 320K max even in Premium.

This is getting longwinded, so I leave it to others to suggest Sonos gear and configuration, but one final observation: You are making a house with just a single Sonos zone!  So unless you really love the Sonos app -- or you have a local music library or wish to be integrated with other music services -- you could just run Spotify app as primary on the kiosk iPad, rather than Sonos app.  The Sonos gear is/can still be configured to auto-turn-on for TV sound, but you could simply AirPlay to the Sonos speaker (and/or Spotify Connect as supported) thus allowing anybody else to pick up their iPhone or whatever and AirPlay too!

Thanks Much Tracker!

Tracker,

I love the Modern Forms fans but the RF controllers have given some guests problems. (i guess they are used to toggle on/off switches and pull chains). So I purchased the Modern Forms wall mount, (a small android tablet in a nice wall mount case), in the hopes of solving the problem.  The wall mount controller was a disaster.  I returned the first one, have given up on the 2nd they sent, and finally at the advise of Modern Forms themselves, (they have discontinued the wall mount due to performance), purchased a cheap Ipad 5 and Monoprice wallmount as a kiosk.  I plan to keep a search engine, (google), and have the Modern Forms app, and my second Spotify, (2 for $12/mo), account on the start up screen.(what else could be needed?)  Is there a need to have a Sonos app there?  Can’t they simply play music thru my Spotify on the Kiosk?  And the TV will remain in my surround sound set up, will it not?  What would be the need to have the Sonos app on the Kiosk?  Does the system just shut down when an update is needed?  And can I Remotely do the update thru my phone?

Sorry, but as you can probably tell, I’m not very astute w/ modern technology.  Just trying to make the condo more enjoyable for my family and our guests.  And yes, this will be a simple living room only set up.  Today I purchased an unused Connect Amp S1 with the hopes of adding my Definitive Tech bookshelves as side speakers for the playbar, and Play 1’s (2 rears), already purchased.  I may add a 3rd party subwoofer at a later date. 

Weather permitting, I’m headed to the condo, (Galveston, TX.), in the am to attempt the set up. 

Any suggestions or any additional help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again and thanks to all of the Sonos community!

Sincerely,

Kevin Hancock

(Hmf.  Well, that Android fan control had to use either Bluetooth or WiFi, and not the out-of-band RF of their remotes.  The fan models look like they ripped off many companies’ design ideas, so who knows what other shortcuts they took.)

To your direct questions:

No, there is no need to have the Sonos app front on the kiosk except adjusting the treble/bass, or if you integrate local library and other (non-Spotify) music services.  Of course you’ll need it to configure the setup the first time, but if you follow the steps to get the TV remote working to control volume on the soundbar, you should not need the app again.

Yes, users can play thru Spotify to the Sonos system; the Sonos app is not needed for that.

Yes, the TV is by default (and/or can be configured with the Sonos app) the audio output of choice for whichever Sonos soundbar you plug in to it.

No, the Sonos app does not shut down when an update is available.  But it will complain and prevent you from using it to play music on your system *if* it is out-of-date, **versus the components** -- i.e. someone else has connected their phone to your system and allowed it to update without your kiosk Sonos app knowing about it!  Only/always do your updates locally, so the kiosk Sonos app matches the speakers’ software version.  (My earlier comment was only explaining that Sonos notifications about updates available, or promotions for their “radio stations” or whatever, are insistent even though not necessary, and get in the way of “quiet enjoyment”.  Same way with iOS updates: it keeps telling you, even though you can’t quit the kiosk to do the update.)