vivienz Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 My house has been wired for sound, so to speak, with ceiling loudspeakers wired up to a location in the loft where an amp and all that fancy electrickery will be located. I was originally talked into a Sonos system, but due to issues and time delays with my supplier I want to look at alternatives. Does anyone have any specific recommendations or ones to avoid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravelld Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 (edited) What exactly do you want - what is it about Sonos that made you consider that in the first place? A more "audiophile" brand would be something like Bluesound. You can get a long way just using something like Kef speakers which can stream and have multiple built in inputs like Bluetooth etc Edited August 29, 2019 by gravelld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 What do you want it to achieve? My sound system is a 1980's hifi system, one of the first to be made with IR remote control. That allows me to lock it away in a cupboard where you rarely need to actually touch it. And the source for most music is a Raspbery Pi Music box, that can play radio stations over the internet, play music stored on it's memory card or a whole host of streaming services. The music box is controlled via a web interface accessible on any phone or computer in the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivienz Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 The speakers and wiring to a location in the loft are already installed. The idea is that I can stream music from a computer/internet connection to the speakers in whichever room I choose. There are speakers in the kitchen and dining area on the ground floor (I have a tv with soundbar and subwoofer in the lounge area) and each of the bedrooms upstairs. As well as my phone, I want to be able to control the sound from any connected device in the house, i.e. tablet or laptop. Everything associated with the amp and electronics of the system needs to sit up in the loft, along with other stuff like that. I didn't so much choose sonos as it was highly recommended and chosen for me; I'm no music geek and never bought a diamond stylus or gold plated hi fi leads when things were analogue and I haven't upgraded my tastes since. I have no brand loyalty or desire to flash a label - the sweet spot between function and price is what I usually seek with most purchases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocster Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 If you have some skills ... raspberry pi with amp hat streaming via iPeng is a joy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivienz Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 16 minutes ago, pocster said: If you have some skills ... raspberry pi with amp hat streaming via iPeng is a joy! Some of those words meant something to me, but not sufficient to make a whole intelligible sentence as far as I'm concerned! Consider me lacking in skills. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocster Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 7 minutes ago, vivienz said: Some of those words meant something to me, but not sufficient to make a whole intelligible sentence as far as I'm concerned! Consider me lacking in skills. Ok ! Not for you !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Let's be honest buy a kit like this: https://www.justboom.co/product/justboom-amp-hat-kit/ ...and the collective nerd herd would have you up and running in no time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreadnaught Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 (edited) @vivienz , if you're in the Apple ecosystem (Music, etc.) then an AirPlay-2 compatible multi-zone amplifier could be a good solution for your needs. Let me know if that's of interest and I can advise more. https://www.apple.com/uk/airplay/ Edited August 29, 2019 by Dreadnaught Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 2 hours ago, vivienz said: Some of those words meant something to me, but not sufficient to make a whole intelligible sentence as far as I'm concerned! Consider me lacking in skills. Raspbery Pi is a cheap little computer board. A HAT is an add on board (think of it sitting on top like a hat) that adds extra functions, in this cause an audio amplifier to drive some speakers And iPeng is some software to make it do what you want to. This is just a variation on what I have, except I use my vintage hifi as the amplifier and use the Pi Music Box software. Instead of an amplifier HAT, I have a DAC (digital to audio converter) HAT that makes it produce a low level audio output suitable for my hifi amplifier. Buy the package that @Onoff linked to and you should be good to go. It will be a bit of a learning curve, but an interesting one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joth Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Perhaps the best feature about Sonos is it works exceeding well without wiring your house for sound. It has wireless connection between each their units and synchronizes playback across rooms without wires everywhere. As you have gone for the wired option (as I am too!) then it's a great question to reconsider if sonos really makes sense (I keep going around this loop). One angle to consider is, are there any rooms/areas you haven't or couldn't wired back to the central electrical cupboard, that you suspect you might occasionally / in future like to have music? For me, this might be garden, garage, workshop I haven't built yet, etc. If so, Sonos might still be the best choice as it works very well on the wired install now and future wireless additions. Another aspect to think about is, if you do have music in multiple rooms, how would you prefer to control it? e.g. select what music is playing, and especially what room it is playing in? Options are voice assistant, app on smartphone, controls on the wall (e.g. by lightswitch), IR remote control, central tablet / wall panel, something else I haven't thought of. If voice assistant or phone, which ecosystems do you already use, if any? (Alexa, Siri, Google Home / Spotify, iTunes, ...). Anything you get would need to be compatible with that. The controls etc might sound like small details, but having cobbled together systems (mostly based on Chromecast) in other houses, I know if it's not convenient it'll never get used which pretty much defeats the purpose of installing. Sorry, long post and not very helpful conclusions. I'm in very similar situation and still undecided, but just sharing some of my thought process :-) Left field: my brother has "Denon HEOS" devices all around his house and loves it. Sonos-like but from a more traditional Hi-fi / media maker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivienz Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 Thanks chaps, useful stuff. Joth your thought process is very interesting, thank you, and will help me consider further. Certainly, adding further non wired speakers is food for thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russdl Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 It would make your existing speakers redundant but a few Naim Mu-so’s scattered around the house will tick every other box... apart from the price... https://www.naimaudio.com/product/mu-so-1st-generation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan F Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 7 hours ago, vivienz said: I was originally talked into a Sonos system @vivienz Are you sure it was Sonos you were talked into and not Sonance? Sonos is a wireless system typically used when you don't have any audio system wired-in. Sonance meanwhile sell built-in wired speakers for whole house audio as far as I understand. https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/home https://www.sonance.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joth Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) 14 hours ago, Dan Feist said: @vivienz Are you sure it was Sonos you were talked into and not Sonance? Sonos is a wireless system typically used when you don't have any audio system wired-in. Sonance meanwhile sell built-in wired speakers for whole house audio as far as I understand. https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/home https://www.sonance.com Sonos works fine with wired speakers, it's where the started with ZP100 / Connect:Amp -- now replaced by the Sonos "Amp". But at £600 per room (plus speakers) you're paying well over the odds if only used with a centrally wired setup. Edited August 30, 2019 by joth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_r_sole Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) . Edited September 26, 2019 by the_r_sole 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivienz Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 Thanks all, very enlightening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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