Sonos

Is there a guide somewhere on how to do this?

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Once I get home I will dig the one I used out.

I think it took about an hour and maybe Ā£60 of parts.

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This reminds me that the biggest limitation of Sonos (IMO) is that not all the speakers in their line-up have line-in ports. Use Line-In on Sonos | Sonos Depending on which Sonos components you own you might need to use a creative solution as used by @BritishLibrary to interface external hardware. Itā€™s something worth being aware of for those considering Sonos.

However, you only need one component of the system to have line-in and that external audio source can then be routed wirelessly to any of the Sonos speakers in the house.

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Another +1 for Sonos. Got my beam before Christmas and love it - wouldnā€™t say Iā€™m a massive audiophile but I appreciate the bass it packs as well its clarity even at the highest volumes. AirPlay works a dream too. Wouldnā€™t mind investing in a pair of Sonos Ones to create a wireless surround setup.

Google assistant is a nice addition so Iā€™ve been able to move my Google mini elsewhere in the house.

Prepare yourself for the awkward phone waving and walk around the room to set them up!

@o99 and anyone else looking to add Aux Capabilities to their Sonos; this is the guide I used:

You need a RPi (about Ā£25), a USB Soundcard (about Ā£20) (or a USB output on your audio device) - and a couple of cables.

If you want to a vinyl player, or any other RCA type output with your whole sonos system, this will let you - and is useful if you donā€™t want to fork out for the larger units that have these capabilities.

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So I have caved and gone for two Sonos oneā€™s Gen 2. Thanks for all the advice you lot are the best! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Stereo pair is definitely the way to goā€¦ enjoy :heart_eyes:

Where did you get them from?

Would love to hear how you find the surround sound experience once youā€™re up and running :slight_smile:

My view is that the sound is more real, deeper, accurate than echosā€¦ echo show 2 sound is pretty great however though itā€™s not perfect

A sonos amp with floor stander speakers and a pair of play 1 for surround is awesome! Plugged into Netflix itā€™s like a magician has somehow thrown in more speakers

Play 3 are also great off eBay as they donā€™t build them anymore - great sound especially in stereo

I mean a single play 1 itself is amazing for the size and money! Watch the net for deals as theyā€™re clearly going to get rid of them for the newer version

Integration into echo is excellent - proffered speaker is brilliant

Desktop app is very useful

Might be worth mentioning in this thread Ikea will soon be releasing some multifunction speakers which integrate into the Sonos platform (next month, I think). To start with thereā€™s a bookshelf speaker which can also double as a shelf (priced Ā£99) and a tablelamp speaker (priced Ā£150). Both devices also have Airplay 2 and TruePlay functionaility. The bookshelf speaker in particular will enable a less expensive way to expand a home Sonos system, compared to Sonosā€™ own speakers.

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Used to have three Play 1s but after I got my first Echo it wasnā€™t long before Iā€™d sold all three and replaced them with a combination of Echoes and Google Homes.

The sound isnā€™t as good, but for casual listening itā€™s fine. Some people obviously wonā€™t like it but at this point itā€™s evidently clear that most people donā€™t care that much. And at the going rate, you can easily double up on speakers and pocket a decent saving compared to Sonos.

Being able to literally think of a track and play it a second later with a simple voice command beats having to find my phone and faff around with the Sonos app. Let alone, all the other things smart speakers can do.

TLDR: Convenience (and price) > sound quality

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New review of Ikeaā€™s Symfonisk speakersā€¦

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Update : I bloody love them. Great sound quality and the fact you can enable either Alexa or Google Assistant from the app is neat.

Also bonus points for the fact my podcast app of choice Pocket Casts has an native integration :partying_face:

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When you say

Do you mean just the Google Home or Google Home Max ?

Iā€™m interested as to how the SOnos One measures up to the Google Home Max or to forget the Max and look at the Sonos PLAY:5

Oooh, those IKEA ones look nice! And a more palatable price point. Alexa/Google integration doesnā€™t matter to me (actually prefer without!)

Google Home. I havenā€™t tried the Max, although I would guess the sound quality is much better.

Agreed - Sonos:Play1 and Sonos One are much better than Google Home for sound quality. I donā€™t know about Google Home Max vs the various Sonos speakers, but I think there are a lot of comparative reviews online.

@T0MM91 Iā€™m pretty sure PC World, Currys, and John Lewis all stock the various Google Home and Sonos speakers in store so you could go and compare for yourself.

If youā€™re even 10% audiophile, avoid it like the plague.

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Some new products from Sonos

Sonos Move: This contains a few firsts for Sonos. Itā€™s their first portable speaker, their first speaker with bluetooth support, and their first speaker with automatic tuning Ć  la Apple HomePod and Google Home Max.

Sonos One SL: Basically the existing Sonos One without the voice assistant.

Sonos Port: Replacement for Sonos Connect. I think the main enhancement over the Connect may be the inclusion of Airplay 2 support.

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