Sonos or not Sonos?

I work for a company that retails Sono's equipment so they have put this offer on.

Thanks for all the input so far! So I am now considering, If i should go the connect/connect:amp route or the play:5 route.

The setup choices I think have become something like this:

Play:5 + Bridge + Sonos Dock/Nas drive (300 pounds)

Connect:amp + Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 + Sonos Dock / NAs Drive (400 pounds)

I was browsing around the What HiFi site and I saw these Wharfedale speakers have a great review and you can pick them up for pretty cheap at the moment. I assume the Connect:amp would be a better buy than the Connect due to the discount I can get, which means I can get non powered speakers saving me money on that front.

I am still undecided but I like the idea of possibly having a stereo pair of speakers rather than just an all in one system. I am making a big assumption that the Connect:amp + speakers would be better than a single Play:5 and also these that I have picked would work together.

However I like the simpliciy of the Play:5, one thing I am considering is buying that package now with the possiblity of buying another Play:5 at a later date to run a stereo pair, although total cost for this system would be quite high as the other play:5 would need to be bought at full price, making that 350 and the system then is very expensive in total cost and I am not sure if that would be good value in terms of the quality it would give (650 pounds total cost). The added bonus of an extra Sono's Play:5 though is portabilty, as I could then move this around the house if I needed as a seperate speaker at a later date, although these are quite large, so it's almost as if a set of play:3's would be better?

I am also considering adding a NAS drive to my network, holding my iTunes library on there and getting the Sono's to use that as a source rather than my iPod vs the Dock.

My router is not that far away from where the Sono's system is going to be so maybe I could run a large ethernet cable under the carpet if I go the Connect route to where it is going to be, so I don't have to buy a bridge.

As a note I revisited the Play:5 demo unit in store and I noticed that the Play:5 seemed a little unstable where it was mounted to the display. I noticed sound quality improvement when I pressed the unit down harder onto the surface, which seemed a lot better.

So much to decide!!

Any of these options will suit well. Play:5 offers portability while connect:amp + speakers will have better stereo image & superior sound. Get both! 

Also, please note House rule no: 10

10. Manufacturers, retailers, service providers and their staff are required to identify themselves as such in their signature. ‘Trade’ members of the forum failing to meet these conditions will be removed, as will those the moderators suspect to be trade members posting under an alias.

http://www.whathifi.com/house-rules

No, that isn't a big assumption at all, the Connect:amp and speakers is always going to outperform the Play:5, particularly with something like the Wharfdales.

Yeah they'll be fine.

That's a lot more flexible, once you go multi-room, with the dock you can only play one stream at any time (because the iPod can't output multiple streams), with a NAS you can have as many as you like. Of course that may not be of any use to you.

That's correct but the Bridge is only £39 and can be useful for extending coverage, it doesn't just have to be used wired to the router.

Thanks for the information. I do not work for Sonos or am I affiliated with a company that will lead me to recommend any particular equipment/retailer to anyone. However where I work has strict policies about me mentioning where I work on Forums or Social networking, my employer does not allow me to disclose this information as they do not want any discussions/thoughts etc to be connected to the company. This is a sackable offence and the company actively enforces it by searching out such posts. I hope this doesn't break any rules here. As of the moment this thread is the only one I will likely participate in and that is simply for advice.

You can even say something as vague as "I work for a retail company dealing with Sonos products" without mentioning any names. 

I work for a computer repair centre that is owned by a parent company that retails Consumer electronic items including Sono's.

Haha ;P

Signature created accordingly - Mods.

Sorry to gatecrash your post ChildofChaos but I wonder if your respondees might be able to help me too - along similar lines?

We’ve just refurbished a room and we’re looking at the possibility of changing our hifi arrangements.  Currently a very good Sony system – amplifier, CD deck and radio with Bose speakers and bass but all a bit bulky.

We’ve been looking at the Sonos as a possibility.  We want to keep the Bose speakers and bass and, possibly the amplifier.  That leads us to the Sonos Connect version.  However, it needs a bridge for the Sonos to be connected to the wifi router.  No big deal in itself except that the Sony Centre is suggesting the bridge should not be more than 20 feet from the Sonos Connect which also means the wifi router cannot be far away.  To help to optimise bandwidth (in an area that doesn’t have good bandwidth), we actually have the wifi router in the loft which is the nearest point to the external BT cable – it means it has the first call on data coming in and going out of the house without the possibility of “interference” from any telephone extensions. That being the case, the Sony Centre is suggesting a series of bridges extending downwards from the loft to the Sonos Connect – as many as it might take to provide the link.

 Now that all seems a bit daft to me.

 Any thoughts? 

Each Sonos component has a range similar to wifi range. So if your wifi signal reaches that room, even Sonos should. Generally, the maximum range of Sonos components is 50-100 feet.

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/309/~/music-drops-out...

Yup, if your router range reaches around the house, the Sonos range will reach as well.

Certainly my iPad and Windows phone pick up the wifi signal in that room.  Thanks.

My Sonos network signal is much better than my router. 

Has anyone tried Powerline adaptors?

I've got Powerline adapters connecting my router to my Synology NAS drive in the next room (not with Sonos though). All my songs are stored in the NAS drive. No problems encountered so far.

I had a S5 (aka PLAY 5) in the kitchen which sounded plain awful so I sold it. Yet I've got a PLAY 3 in one of the bedrooms and it is noticeably better. Really nice. 

They do seem to vary quite a bit depending on placement and room dynamics. 

I've  come to the conclusion that my kitchen is best left an equipment free zone. As my living room is next to the kitchen I just crank that one up, sounds better to me. 

So what I'm saying is the demo set up could have been poor and you need to test it in situ. If you decide to sell the PLAY 5 on you will make a profit. I just got £250 for my 18 month old S5 

Bearing that in mind did you think to try the Play:5 somewhere else? Could you describe the problem with the sound in a bit more detail? Presumably whoever bought it from you wasn't disappointed?