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2 Sonos 5 and a Move?

J

Hi there, I have two living areas connected at right angle by doorway, looking at Sonos for streaming but also Turntable and CD Player.. default setup where i dont have to move the speakers all the time to cover both rooms in stereo without cables everywhere? Maybe 2 sonos Moves, wifi and wireless, but they'll mainly sit where they are.. Or 2 x Sonos 5 with one in each room, paired in stereo, but then no voice assistant which I do want.. Plus do i need a sonos PORT to connect up my amp, cd player and turntable for the rare times im not voice commanding spotify thru google assistant on my iphone? Happy to spend a couple grand.. so maybe it is 2x top-of-the-line Sonos 5s and a Sonos Port, but I still want to use Voice command. A rambling bunch of Qs, I know, but do you think I should get 2x Sonos 5 for great music AND a Move to get the google assistant voice control in the mix? Could plug the turntable direct to a Sonos 5 with RCA.. otherwise will need a Port as also have full Nakamichi hifi and thousands of CDs.. lol!! Tricky to navigate and thanks in advance for any suggestions!!  Cheers, John (Sydney)

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Best answer by 106rallye 6 June 2022, 09:40

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106rallye
Userlevel 7
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Reading your post it is not clear to me where you would want to use the Sonos gear you want to buy. Where do you want to place the turntable? Is the CD-player part of the Nakamichi hifi? Do you need Sonos speakers in the same physical room as your Nakamichi hifi?

If the turntable and the CD-player can be connected to the Nakamichi, you can use the Port to bring the Nakamichi up to date with streaming services, while also connecting all Nakamichi sources to the Sonos universe. Just connect the Port to the tape in/out on the Nakamichi (if it has tape connections). If you experience a delay when grouping the Port with other Sonos stuff, maybe another way of connecting the Port is advisable.

If you go for sound quality in Sonos the Five is the best you will get. Voice on those can be arranged with a Google Nest Mini or Alexa device.

J

Hi.  You do not want to stereo pair two Sonos Fives if they are in different rooms.  But you could group them to play in perfect sync.

To add voice control you could buy a couple of Echo Dots.  Older generations of Dot are fine as you are just using them to deal with voice commends.  So these can be picked up cheaply.  You can use Alexa Groups to associate each Dot to one of the speakers.

Two Fives would give you two lines in, one for turntable and the other for the CD player.  However, if you wanted to keep the CD player, turntable and amp as a unit, you would need something like a ‘Rec out’ connection on the amp in order to play that content on your Sonos system. 

J

Thank you so much and appreciate my question is at best vague as i have quite a few options..

To 106 Rallye, thankyou!! I have many choices and think ideally will set up turntables and CD with an amp and then ‘Port’ across when needed. Because with 2 sonos 5s i’d have two RCAs but not in same place, for the two bits of equipment id like stacked (cd and turny), and I have lots of amps already.. (Instead, while I would use Nakamichi stack that amp is massive and i dont have the space right now - hence looking for wireless, and will instead use a small cambridge audio solid state amp to drive CD and turny). Otherwise I’d use my gargantuan B&O speakers the Nakamichi which were purchased together years ago, it’s serious hifi but on ice for now, and both items under utilised without each other.. 

You are right - I want Sonos 5 sound quality BUT I also want voice activation. I have many Google Home and Google minis in my home already (7 of ‘em!), hence rather than Nest which i’m not familiar with, can I use these to talk to my two Sonos 5s and ask Spotify to play tunes?

Which leads to to John B’s excellent advice. I would put a Sonos 5 in each room but now appreciate from him the advice that it wont make good (left right soundstage) stereo if in different rooms. Still, I would be safe in knowledge that with a pair of 5s I had the best fidelity Sonos can offer in each room (also good for future stereo in another place), and simply Group them (not in stereo) at times. BUT…. if not using them in stereo which was a goal (and understanding each 5 already plays stereo in its own right), does it introduce a use case where I should consider 1x Sonos 5 and 1x Sonos Move? It sounds  like perhaps I should pig out on 2 Sonos 5s, and work out how to voice activate them easily.. But the freedom of Move is also attractive, if only it sounded as good as a 5..

Thanks again, really appreciate that my question has many spokes and very grateful for your help!! I have been researching this for months and speaking to loads of ppl and here in this forum i am finally getting sound advice, pardon the pun. Thanks!

Cheers, John

 

J

Hence, how do you use voice activated google assist with Sonos 5? I have google minis and google Home but not nest.. thanks!

J

Or….should I buy a Sonos 1 as well as two 5s, and use the Sonos 1 to have google voice assist? Thanks

J

Or….should I buy a Sonos 1 as well as two 5s, and use the Sonos 1 to have google voice assist? Thanks

A cheaper option would be a Google Mini.  You cannot use it as a speaker as it won’t sync with Sonos speakers, but you need something to process commands.  Can yo use one of your existing Google devices?

You are aware that Sonos and Google speakers will not sync with each other?

J

Hi John B, really appreciate your help on this!!! Thanks.. I currently have 4 Google Minis and 3 Google Homes, all ready and able. But I am trying to understand if they will ‘sync’ with Sonos 5, and you suggest they will not?

 

Yet other Sonos speakers have the Google Assistant built in. That is why i suggest that if I want Sonos 5 for great fidelity, should I add a Sonos 1, with inbuilt Google Assistant that links to the ‘group’, so I can talk to them all and have it answer back, for playing Spotify and other general enquiries? Don’t need the Google device to provide ‘music’, just need my voice commands to interact with Sonos, and voice command on the 5 is not built in so...

 

In other words, I really want the same experience I have with my Google mini and Home speakers, but with the better sound offered by Sonos… I have 2 living areas but mainly use one, am thinking I start with a Sonos 5 and a Sonos 1 Gen2 Smart Device, and see what happens, adding another 5 to the adjoining room, or maybe even a Move, from there.. What ya think?

J

You can control the Sonos Five by voice using a Google device such as a Mini. So I would suggest you just get one Five to start with and give it a go with your existing Google devices.

J

Thanks John B! I will start with a 5 as you suggest and build it up from there! Was worried the 5 voice assist wont be able to ‘speak back’ but I will just jump in and sort it out as I want the sound quality from 5. :)

Finally, John B, you mention..”Two Fives would give you two lines in, one for turntable and the other for the CD player.  However, if you wanted to keep the CD player, turntable and amp as a unit, you would need something like a ‘Rec out’ connection on the amp in order to play that content on your Sonos system.”

 

Does this mean I could use my small Cambridge Audio solid state amp with ‘Rec out’ plugged to the Sonos 5, and use the CD payer and turntable by stacking them/connecting to the Cambridge amp, so a 3 stack of devices? That would be neat.. Just having to rethink the surface to be near the 5 so they can cable connect, but we can make it work.

My thanks again - huge help!!

 

 

J

When i mentioned the ‘Rec out’  I was really thinking of that going to a Port, as you said you wanted to make the amp and speakers part of your Sonos system.

I think a ‘rec out’ to a Sonos Five would work but I have never done it or seen anyone who has done it.  There would not seem to be much point in having the amp and speakers right next to a Sonos speaker.  If you want to stream Spotify (for example) to your amp and speakers you would need a Sonos Port.

Another option occurs to me… Sell the Cambridge amp and buy a Sonos Amp to use with your passive speakers.  It only has one line-in, but you could use a simple selector switch to connect the turntable and CD player.  Or you could use the Five’s line-in for the CD player or turntable.

That would give you a Five in one living area and an Amp in the other, both of them able to stream Spotify etc and play music from the turntable and CD player.  You could also use the Amp and speakers for your TV sound if you wanted.  At a future date you might add a second Five to give a proper stereo soundstage in the second area.

What do you think?

 

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Any analogue connection to a Sonos device creates 75ms delay. Playing music from your  Cambridge set up and a connected Five in the same room will sound strange.

By the way: the Google Nest Mini is the successor the the Google Home Mini. They look the same and work in the same way.

J

Yeah thanks John B. I bought a Sonos 5 today and will start by simply using the line into to CD and turntable to get started..  then will build out options for second room and other hifi from there, probably a second Sonos 5 coming at some point.. (May yet buy Port or sonos amp yet happy to keep the cambridge audio amp and also have the massive Nakamichi and B&O monsters for down the track when space permits again, plus an old Bose soundwave cd player/ cube system sitting idle :) Will report back and many many thanks!!

J

Yes please let us know how it goes.

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