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What is it?
Sonos is a Californian based multi room audio system that can be controlled from your iPhone or Android mobile, tablet or PC/MAC.
It enables you to stream music to different rooms around your home, lets you play a different song in each room or the same song all over your house.
What do I need to use it?
Not a lot, as long as you have a working broadband connection with at least 2Mbps speed you’re good to go.
Sonos has TuneIn radio built into the app, so you can stream over 100,000 free radio stations from all over the globe.
If you want to uses one of the many streaming services available such as Tidal, Spotify or Apple Music these can be setup from within the ultra-slick Sonos app.
It’s worth noting that if you use Spotify you will need to have the Premium subscription.
Product Range
The Sonos line up consists of 8 different products in total consisting of the following.
Play 1, Play 3, Play 5: Plug and play speakers that can be used on their own or in pairs for stereo sound.
Connect Amplifier: A just add speakers amplifier for a sleek minimalist HiFi set up, or ideal for use with in ceiling speakers.
Connect: a device that will turn your existing HiFi into a wireless music system.
Playbar: Seriously good sound bar that you can wirelessly stream music to, add a pair of Play speakers as rear surround or use the wireless sub for even more bass.
Subwoofer: This wireless sub can be used with any of the above products (excluding the connect) to add more bottom end.
Boost: Used to boost the wireless signal in larger homes.
What can it do?
With Sonos you can wirelessly stream music all over your home, playing different songs in each room, or the same song all over the house. Access free radio stations from all over the world and control the whole system from just one app.
The Playbar is slightly different, while it can be used to stream music it is mainly intended to be used as a sound bar to improve the sound from your TV.
You can use the Playbar on its own, with two of the same Play speakers acting as wireless rear surrounds and even add the wireless subwoofer to give a complete 5.1 experience.
You will need a working broadband connection, music stored on a device or access to a supported streaming service.
Sonos is mainly controlled by the free app, but also has play / pause and volume buttons on the majority of the range.
You can create up to 32 independent “zones” throughout your home.
Points of Note:
Rock solid, class leading wireless performance
The largest selection of streaming services available for any product of its type.
Warm, detailed and punchy sound.
Play speakers can be paired to create a stereo pair.
Slick easy to use app
Sonos products supported with updates for at least 10 years. (We still have products from 2005 receiving software updates)
The best tech support in the business, oh and did we mention it’s FREE for life?
Things to Consider:
Only Spotify premium subscriptions will work, no freebies here I’m afraid.
If you’re a fan of Bluetooth the Sonos system is Wi-Fi / broadband only. There are work arounds if you really must use Bluetooth, however, for the best experience we would recommend sticking with the Wi-Fi / broadband options.
While Sonos is a wireless system you will still need to connect each product to power using the supplied cable.
Related posts
Sonos is one of the best music systems out there, wireless or not. Hard to believe it’s been around for nearly 15 years. Lots of attention is paid to the Play series of speakers but the Sonos Connect:amp is a great sounding amplifier that you can pair with your own speakers.