Is Sonos the right product for me?

Hatrick24

I'm looking to update our hifi in the kitchen. At present we have an Arcam something or other, with wall mounted speakers. The room is large so it needs to have decent power.

I would like to be able to listen more easily to downloaded music such as Spotify etc. but also use it an awful lot to listen to the radio - nothing fancy, mainly Radio 2!

I am about to hit the buy button on the Sonos Connect Amp, so we can still use our current speakers, which I would like to do.

Will I be able to listen to normal radio via this and would you recommend this product or possibly something else?

Many thanks in advance for any advice!!

I_have_spoken

Sonos are good, but a few points to note

- You'll need the subscription to Spotify, not the free version to stream via Sonos
- Check out TIDAL as a higher quality alternative to Spotify
- YOu'll need a smart phone to act as controller
- YOu should be able to get live BBC radio streams using the Tune-In facility on Sonos
- If you have a capped broadband of so many GB/month, check a lot of streaming push you over
- IIRC you'll need a PC/Mac to set-up the Sonos for 1st use
- Sonos gear is also good for streaming music you've downloaded or ripped from CD

Hatrick24

Thanks so much - very helpful advice!

Broadband is with Zen, unlimited so that should be ok and do have a laptop and iphone and ipad, albeit old iphone, I can hopefully use as a controller.

Will look at TIDAL, thanks for the recommendation.

BikerEd

Total Sonos convert here. We have a Play 1 in the kitchen, another in the garage, then 2 x Play 3 and a Play 5. The Play 3 in my bedroom is used a lot for radio - it's my alarm every morning and does a great job streaming radio (using the free Radio by Tunein facility) and Spotify. All three units have great sound quality, but pound for pound the Play 1 is stunning. It fills our (12x7) kitchen with sound - much better than you would imagine for a unit of that size. In contrast the Connect Amp is more expensive and I would question whether your own speakers will give the same sound quality as a dedicated Sonos unit.

Neil49

Totally agree with both of the above responses. I have used Sonos for many years and all my music comes through it nowadays. I have a Connect linked into my hifi system and use Napster (£5 per month) for streaming music.

Napster has a slightly lower bit rate (read quality) level than many but still sounds great and they provide a vast range of selections of music through genres of just about everything you could imagine and it is this feature that I find really good. I'm sure free trials are available on all of the services.

The range of radio channels is vast and is worldwide as well as local radio (my favourite is Pittsburgh Jazz).

A friend of mine has the Sonos 1 which has incredible sound quality and plenty of power. Two of those in a stereo format would be more than adequate for most rooms.

Get a demo before deciding but either way, Sonos really is as good as they say.

keith1950

Hi Ensure your " hifi " speakers are the correct impedance and rating.

They should either be 8 ohms and capable of handling 70/75 watts....if they are 4 ohm they should be capable of handling 150 watts.If they are less than 3 ohms impedance don't use them.

As you mention an Arcam amp you will hopefully have decent ( suitable) speakers.

The lower the impedance the higher the load on the speakers so 4 ohms is an absolute minimum otherwise you could blow the amp.

googler

Is there any reason to suppose that the OP's speakers aren't the right impedance?

Hatrick24

Thanks so much for all the advice, I am really grateful!!

It's taken me about half an hour to find out the ohm (not something us girls worry about!) but can confirm the speakers are Boston Acoustics and are 8ohms whatever that means!

You men wont like this, but I bought them because they looked nice! It is my kitchen after all, so my husband doesn't get involved!

Do you think these speakers will be ok with the Sonos amp? Also, and I know this sounds really bad, but beside the unit where it will sit there is a Sony sub woofer (on the floor.) This is about 8 years old and has not been used for 5 years, but is a very useful stand for my handbag! I notice that the Sonos will take a sub woofer too so wondered if I could connect this to it also, or is that a waste of time and maybe it won't get on with the Boston Acoustics speakers.

Thanks again!