Sonos 101: How to get started

by Volker Weber

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The Sonos family: S5, iPhone app, Sonos Controller, ZP120, Bridge, ZP90 (Photo: Sonos)

David wrote today:

I've been a long-time follower of your blog. I seen many of your posts about Sonos. So, as I started to think about replacing my ancient stereo receiver and cd player, I tried searching your blog. As you probably know, I found very many entries. So many that I have not found what I'm looking for.

I would like to see an entry titled, "How to get started with Sonos" with perhaps three suggested configurations -- a entry level configuration for several hundred USD, an intermediate for a thousand, or so, USD and a shoot-the-moon with unlimited cost.

David is right. I don't have a post like that, and it's not just as simple. I told him to check the Sonos website first. It is pretty good at explaining how this works. There are three simple rules:

  1. Any ZonePlayer plays music stored on your computer, a network attached storage (SMB/CIFS a.k.a. Windows share), or numerous sources from the internet. The ZP90 has no amp, so it looks like a CD player to an existing amp. The ZP120 has an amp, so you can connect your own speakers. And the S5 already has five speakers. Two S5 can be combined as a stereo pair. ZonePlayers have line-in, and you can play that source anywhere else. I like to pick up audio from my TV and relay it throughout the house when there is a game on.
  2. Sonos players have an ethernet jack. They also talk to each other over a proprietary WLAN which you don't see. One player has to be connected to your internet router with an ethernet cable. If that is physically impossible, Sonos sells you a simple bridge that you plug into your router.
  3. All players in your household are controlled via a software app, on a PC, on a Mac, on an iPhone, on an iPod touch, and soon on an iPad. Those have to somehow talk to the same router your players are connected to. If that is impossible, Sonos sells you a remote that talks directly to the players.

Usually people start with one or two players and end up with one per room. :-)

Comments

Am I mistaken or is the minimum basic setup already at about 1'000$?

Ragnar Schierholz, 2010-09-08

Yes, you are mistaken. The minimum setup is one player (starting from $349), and one controller (free software). Most of the time, you already have one controller (PC, Mac, iPod touch, iPhone, iPad).

Volker Weber, 2010-09-08

Ragnar, minimum setup is:

- one S5
- plus an existing device to control it

Controller that you already have can either be:

- iPhone
- iPod Touch
- iPad
- Desktop PC: Windows, Mac (official application by Sonos); Linux (bare inofficial Linux application exists but it's meh)
- Android: Official app soon to come (inofficial app exists, but not as good as official iPhone app)

Hanno Zulla, 2010-09-08

Ragnar, I might add that you don't have to worry about the minimum cost. You are going to buy more than one. Trust me. And yes, reading vowe.net can be expensive.

Volker Weber, 2010-09-08

Which Divice (Nas) do you use to store your music?

Christian Hirth, 2010-09-08

If you live in Germany, I can warmly recommend ueberall-musik.de for the equipment, and if you're new to Sonos and read German, they have an introductory article by yours truly. :) (And no, I'm not affiliated to them; just a very pleased customer.)

Jan-Piet Mens, 2010-09-08

I use a NetGear ReadyNAS. But it does not really matter which one you get. Just make sure it has some kind of RAID configuration so you don't lose your music when a hard drive dies. They all eventually do.

Volker Weber, 2010-09-08

how is the announced AirPlay-Gear going to be compared to Sonos?

Samuel Orsenne, 2010-09-08

Some people will buy into AirPlay first, and Sonos later. It always depends on your funds. :-)

AirPlay changes two things:


You can send music from an iOS device instead of PC/Mac only. Remember, your device has to be on and connected. Sonos controller app tells the player to pull music from a source, which is not your phone.
You can send videos and photos. Sonos specializes in music.


And of course, your gear needs to be Apple approved to work with AirPlay. Which means to manufacturer will have to buy a chip from Apple to make his gear work. No software updates possible.

Volker Weber, 2010-09-08

I'd like to add that the S5 also has a line-in socket (which is not an RCA/Cinch like the others but a standard headphone socket).

A nice addition to a ZP120 is a subwoofer. I use a Magnat Betasub 20A for that. A good thing about the Magnat subwoofers is their automatic standby functionality: If the ZP120 doesn't play for 15 minutes it switches itself of. As soon as the ZP start's again it comes back (with a startup delay of second or so).

Benjamin Bock, 2010-09-08

You are right. I am changing this.

Volker Weber, 2010-09-08

@Ragnar In der Zwischenzeit haben wir übrigens Erfahrung mit dem Versand an Bewohner der Schweiz gesammelt. Und da es keine EU ist, bekommt man bei richtiger Vorgehensweise auch noch die MwSt. zurück, was 19% Rabatt bedeutet... Einfach mal melden, falls Interesse besteht ;-)

Thomas Lang, 2010-09-08

I somehow don't get it: why is AirPlay bad and Sonos good? It's both proprietary, right? Both is a lock-in to a specific vendor. No, wait. For AirPlay you can choose, except that the vendor has to license from Apple.
Maybe I still don't get it.

Moritz Petersen, 2010-09-08

To get started, one ZonePlayer or ZoneBridge must be directly plugged into your router, correct? So yes you can start at ~$350 but your S5 will need to be near your router (or you can run a long cable), right?

Alan Lepofsky, 2010-09-08

Moritz, AirPlay isn't bad. It's just inferior, for music.

Alan, I thought that was pretty clear in rule #2. :-)

Volker Weber, 2010-09-08

Volker, I must admit your superiority when it comes to use technical gimmicks to the max: The line-in usage for distributing TV sound has never ocurred to me, and is simply an amazing use, I was missing all the time. Kudos.

Armin Roth, 2010-09-09

There is a short delay introduced, so you have to turn your TV sound off. But that is all good for sports events. Depending on your compression setting, it can also be a longer delay. Cannot show you a screenshot, since I am running a future version of the software.

Volker Weber, 2010-09-09

ahem... and a wonderful extension for a ZP80 would be a tubes-driven (300B monos will do nicely) pair of avantgarde acoustics horns with a nice subwoofer in each.... Don´t even think about the minimum cost... ahem.

Armin Roth, 2010-09-09

Volker, I don´t own a TV. It´s an app on the Mac. So no problem there :-)

Armin Roth, 2010-09-09

We aren't going for minimum cost, are we?

Volker Weber, 2010-09-09

App on the Mac? If it's Spotify, that is going to be native to Sonos real soon now.

Volker Weber, 2010-09-09

@Thomas: Danke für den Hinweis, ich hab' mich schon länger gewundert, was daran so schwer ist, in die Schweiz zu liefern. Aber Du bist definitiv nicht der Einzige, der das nicht macht(e)...

@vowe: Wenn ich die Gesamtbetrachtung der Kosten und Ersparnisse bzw. Nutzen meiner vowe.net Lesetätigkeit anstelle, bin ich mir ziemlich sicher dass ich da im Plus bin. Ich hab' kein Unternehmen, für das ich werben könnte, aber wenn mal wieder Dein FlickR Pro Account abläuft oder sowas, lass es uns wissen. Ich bin da sicher nicht allein, wenn ich sage, dass wir durchaus bereit sind, vowe.net am Leben zu erhalten - über unsere aktive Lesetätigkeit hinaus.

Ragnar Schierholz, 2010-09-09

I don't know if you guys can access UK Channel 5's Gadget Show but the Sonos was one of the Gadgets reviewed (Monday 6th Sept) against an Apple system of some sort and a Logitech system. The Sonos was the one that was recommended with 5 G's (out of 5). I think that's the first time I have seen 5 G's awarded.

John Lindsay, 2010-09-09

Assuming there is no wireless connection between several sonos players. Too much concrete. All of them are wired to the same LAN. Router, NAS & iPhone via several WLAN APs are part of this LAN, too.
Will that work or is the proprietary Sonos WLAN connection mandatory?

Helmut Weiss, 2010-09-09

Yes, that will work. Most of my ZonePlayers are wired.

Volker Weber, 2010-09-09

John, no, we cannot. But for those in the UK, here is a recording.

Volker Weber, 2010-09-09

@thomas aha ich habs gelesen: versand in die schweiz!!!!! Meine naechste bestellung kriegst also du und ich darf mich am superguenstigen wechselkurs und der mwst differenz freuen!!!

Chris frei, 2010-09-09

Chris, da (wenn ich mich recht entsinne) ich Dich auf vowe.net gebracht habe, beanspruche ich hiermit einen Teil der Einsparung :-)

Ragnar Schierholz, 2010-09-09

Ragnar, wenn ich keine Kommission nehme, dann Du sowieso nicht.

Volker Weber, 2010-09-09

nich streiten Jungs. ganz ruhig bleiben. Ragnar, Du hast mich zu Vowe gebracht? wusst ich gar nicht...

Chris Frei, 2010-09-09

I went to the SONOS booth at the IFA with my father in tow, because I knew that it was something right up his alley. I guess I'll have to hook him up in the next couple of weeks.

Does the "vowe is a good mother" code at your friend's site still work? :)

Marc Beckersjuergen, 2010-09-09

Yes, it does.

Volker Weber, 2010-09-09

Old vowe.net archive pages

I explain difficult concepts in simple ways. For free, and for money. Clue procurement and bullshit detection.

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