Speakers /Sound System Recommendation

[Mark A]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend either speakers or a sound system which can connect to a MP3 player through either Bluetooth or 3.5mm AUX?

It must have good sound and be reasonably loud. I'm willing to pay up to £170 but could go a little bit higher if need be.

I'm not very well up on this, but I've seen these on the John Lewis site. Any thoughts?

Bose SoundDock
Sonos PLAY

Cheers,
Mark

 

[MMUK]

Yamaha CRX332. I paid over £200 for mine but they're on offer at the moment for £150

http://www.petertyson.co.uk/ebuttonz/eb ... tAodXRMAQA

 

[SBJ]

I can recommend the Sonos system. Not sure of the play 1, we have a play 5 in the kitchen and a connect in the lounge and it works brilliantly especially if you have a spotify account. We can all control it remotely with our phones or laptops, which can lead to Sonos wars occasionally .

 

[KevM]

I have a pair of sonos 1, great kit but no line in or similar. You do have the option to stream music from an Android device over wifi, presumably same for ios, but I've never tried this.

 

[Mark A]

Thanks for getting back to me guys.

MMUK - does the Yamaha CRX332 have speakers built in or would I need to buy a pair to go with it?

KevM - The music is stored on a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini smartphone, so I assume will be compatible with the Sonos 1. Is the sound rich and loud enough with just one?

Many thanks,
Mark

 

[RogerS]

Remember the saying...

"No Highs
No Lows
It must be Bose"

 

[devonwoody]

Bose had an advert yesterday Daily Mail, which offered a 30 day trial and return if not satisfied.

I use a hearing aid so never go high end sound systems, no point for me.

 

[MickCheese]

I have the Bose sound dock for iPhones and iPods and things but have to use a Bluetooth dongle for the iPad as it is not Bluetooth. Maybe the newer ones are.

It does have a line in.

The sound is amazing though.

Mick

 

[KevM]

Thanks for getting back to me guys.

MMUK - does the Yamaha CRX332 have speakers built in or would I need to buy a pair to go with it?

KevM - The music is stored on a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini smartphone, so I assume will be compatible with the Sonos 1. Is the sound rich and loud enough with just one?

Many thanks,
Mark

I find the Sonos 1 fine for my listening habits in the rooms I have them in - if that makes sense. One is in the kitchen, ~4m x 3m, the other is in an office of similar size. Both offer more than adequate volume for the size of room and my listening habits, I don't think I've ever listened above ~40% volume, of course if you wanted to fill a larger room or are a total bass hound you might want more. One other thing, unless you're connecting the Sonos to wired Ethernet you'll also need a Sonos bridge (~£30) which establishes a dedicated wifi network for the Sonos connected to your home network, they were giving them away free as part of a bundle when I bought.

My main reason for buying was that I live in an area with abysmal FM & DAB reception, this combined with the fact that the three DAB radios I have all introduce slightly different delays means that multi-room listening is a non-starter. I listen to most of my radio over the internet now, the Sonos incorporates the Tune.in service, which is very good for listening to all the BBC stations together with hundreds from around the world. Sonos also works with my Amazon music account, Spotify, Last.fm, Deezer, and some others I've never heard of. One problem with this, it only seems to acknowledge a single account for each service, I could see that in many households this could present a problem.

My main music collection is on an always on Network Attached Storage device, in my case a Tonidoplug with a 500GB internal drive, but you can equally attach the music library at any standard network shared location. Apparently there is an issue with Sonos indexing more than ~65k (I'm guessing this is 2^16, so they've used an INT value in their database structure - doubtless somebody, somewhere knows the answer to this) tracks from a single music library, it's not been an issue for me and I have a moderately large music collection, given an average of ~12 tracks per CD that would allow me to index ~5000 CDs. Apparently I can also set the two Sonos 1 up to act as a stereo pair if I want to in the future, not an immediate concern but maybe in the future.

Listen for yourself, with your own music in your own space if you possibly can. I'm pretty sure that if you buy from the Sonos website they offer a 30 day no quibbles return period, other vendors may offer the same deal. Cheers, K.

 

[devonwoody]

The other day I was playing my keyboard a Yamaha tyros4 and the wife came into my music/play room and said "the Christmas cards have fallen off the mantelpiece, your amplifier is really pumping it out"

It was only on around 50%.

 

[petermillard]

Apparently there is an issue with Sonos indexing more than ~65k... tracks from a single music library, it's not been an issue for me and I have a moderately large music collection, given an average of ~12 tracks per CD that would allow me to index ~5000 CDs.

Yes, I was on the verge of trying out a pair of Sonos Play 1s until I found this limit - kills it stone dead for me, sadly. That said, my sister has a Sonos system (play 3s and Play 5s) throughout her house and whilst it's a pretty elegant setup, I have to say it left me a bit underwhelmed in terms of the sound it produced.

At home I have a variety of 'active' speakers (speakers with built-in amps) that do me quite nicely - although these are often sold as 'computer' or 'multimedia' speakers, Acoustic Energy AEGO 2.1 M is a nice setup, and the Harmon Kardon Soundsticks 3 will pump out a decent sound, albeit with a few non-sound related niggles. I also have an ancient, cheap Logitech 2.1 system which is surprisingly listenable. As KevinM says above, ideally you need to listen to your music in your home on these speakers before you make a final decision - we all hear sound differently; good to find that Sonos have a 30-day returns facility - another option would be to buy through Amazon and use their 30 day no-quibble policy if you're not happy.

HTH Pete

 

[KevM]

Just checked this morning at http://www.sonos.com/shop/ Sonos are offering the 'free' bridge with all of their systems, so Play1 + bridge is £169 inc delivery - with a 60 day return period. I've not tried their returns process, so can't speak for any complications that might arise - but taken at face value it seems pretty straightforward.

http://www.sonos.com/support/policies/#return_right
60 DAY RETURN RIGHT If you are not completely satisfied with your Sonos product at any time during the 60 day period following the original shipment date, please contact Sonos Support. Our customer support personnel are available during support hours to make sure you have every opportunity to enjoy the benefits of the Sonos Digital Music System. If, however, you are dissatisfied for any reason with your purchase, please follow the steps below for a refund of your purchase price.The 60 day return policy applies only to Sonos Products that are purchased directly from Sonos (either via phone or the online store).Please note that only products in the original packaging with all materials and in new or as-new condition are eligible for the 60 Day refund.

 

[bugbear]

Bose had an advert yesterday Daily Mail, which offered a 30 day trial and return if not satisfied.

I bet you had to contact Bose to get an actual price, unelss they've really changed their advertising/marketing policy.

BugBear

 

[KevM]

That said, my sister has a Sonos system (play 3s and Play 5s) throughout her house and whilst it's a pretty elegant setup, I have to say it left me a bit underwhelmed in terms of the sound it produced.

Pete, what source material was your sister using? I rip all my CDs to lossless FLAC*, and they sound fine to me. I do find that some of the streaming services use very low bit rates together with dynamic compression to the point that they're almost unlistenable. In truth I do very little 'pure listening' these days, the music and radio is just on as a background to daily living, as such convenience with 'fit for purpose' sound were my main criteria.

*In spite of my far from lossless hearing...

 

[KevM]

Bose had an advert yesterday Daily Mail, which offered a 30 day trial and return if not satisfied.

I bet you had to contact Bose to get an actual price, unelss they've really changed their advertising/marketing policy.

BugBear

I have to say, Bose's lack of transparency with pricing has always alienated me* - it feels like they're trying to sucker me into something. There appears to be very little discounting on Sonos kit, but at least they're upfront with their prices.

*I take it back, their UK website now has pricing for on-line purchases.

 

[MMUK]

MMUK - does the Yamaha CRX332 have speakers built in or would I need to buy a pair to go with it?

It should do, mine did. The full spec is on the Yamaha site :mrgreen:

 

[KevM]

Can anyone recommend either speakers or a sound system which can connect to a MP3 player through either Bluetooth or 3.5mm AUX?

Hmm, it could be that you should be considering a simple active speaker set-up as suggested by Pete Millard, a 3.5mm cable and you're all set. Your Android device will give you access to all of the various online streaming services if they're important to you. A couple of years back I bought a very inexpensive (<£10) Bluetooth iPod adapter that allowed me to stream any music via Bluetooth to any device with an iPod dock - there's any number of devices out there with iPod docks.

Of course, if your priority is a future multi-room setup that will lead you down a different path.

 

[Mark A]

Hmm, it could be that you should be considering a simple active speaker set-up as suggested by Pete Millard, a 3.5mm cable and you're all set. Your Android device will give you access to all of the various online streaming services if they're important to you. A couple of years back I bought a very inexpensive (<£10) Bluetooth iPod adapter that allowed me to stream any music via Bluetooth to any device with an iPod dock - there's any number of devices out there with iPod docks.

I'm after something compact with good rich sound. Apart from that I don't mind what it is. Right now I'm using a pair of £20 computer speakers connected to my phone with a 3.5mm cable which works well, though the sound is as poor as you would expect.

Active speakers / multimedia speakers would do, and since I don't have an iPod I'd rather not pay extra for a feature I'll never use (unless the sound quality justifies it)

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll continue to read about it all.

Mark

 

[MMUK]

If you need any advice try speaking to someone at Richer Sounds. If you can speak to Julian, the founder and a mate of mine, you won't go far wrong with anything he recommends.

 

[KevM]

If you need any advice try speaking to someone at Richer Sounds. If you can speak to Julian, the founder and a mate of mine, you won't go far wrong with anything he recommends.

+1 for Richer Sounds
In my experience with Richer Sounds I've found them very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful - but don't go in on a busy Saturday just before Christmas and expect to get their undivided attention! They don't seem as anxious to up-sell you to the highest of high end as some of the more 'boutique' establishments, and their staff are significantly better informed than most of the high street types.