Can I put Play:1’s in an outdoor gazebo?

  • 11 May 2018
  • 7 replies
  • 6868 views

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Moving to Houston and working on a Sonos setup. New house has a 10x10 gazebo with power and a tv. Gazebo is 30 ft from the house.

I would love to put a pair of Play:1’s in it.

What are people’s thought on these speakers outdoors in rain proof environment?

Also, will I have connectivity issues that far from the house (airport extreme router)? If so, any thoughts on how to solve?

Thanks for your time in advance.
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7 replies

Userlevel 3
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The connectivity wireless is just a matter of testing, there are too many factors that could influence the connection. No chance to pull a UTP cable from your router to the gazebo ? That would be the perfect plan B and will always work. If protected for rain, it will work outside but weather conditions will influence the lifetime of the speakers on the long run.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Wiring the Play1s (or just 1 of them) will work but then control of the speakers may be an issue. An Android device can be configured to connect to the SonosNet but other tablets (iOS etc) won't have a Wi-Fi to connect to. This means you'd have to go back to the house to start/stop/change the msuic
Userlevel 3
Badge +4
Good catch Stuart, this could be solved by putting a wifi/router/switch at the end of the UTP in the gazebo, disable DHCP and connect one or both P1`s cabled to the device as well. So it will act as wifi access point to the outside garden for controllers and cabled switch to the Sonos devices.
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Ok newbie question. Why would the speakers connect to my wifi and not my iPhone?

Hmm, what is SonosNet?
Userlevel 3
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If you connect at least one Sonos device (speaker or boost) wired to your router, Sonos creates a dedicated wireless network (mesh type) only for Sonos use. This is SonosNet and works aside of your standard wifi, offering more stability and less chance on hickups, interference etc.
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Ok thanks on the SonosNet. How do I ensure that the SonosNet will reach the whole house (5500 sq ft)?
SonosNet is a mesh network, each Sonos speaker acts as a node. For places that you don’t want to put a speaker, you can use a BOOST, which also acts as a node. I think they use 802.11 b/g, so the distance would be roughly what you get from a normal WiFi router, give or take. It really depends on interference, wall density, electrical fields, all the normal issues for WiFi.