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So any decent alternatives to Sonos?

Posted on 11/17/14 at 9:12 pm
Posted by GFunk
Denham Springs
Member since Feb 2011
14966 posts
Posted on 11/17/14 at 9:12 pm
I get that they're the best. I just don't wanna drop a grand on a soundbar and sub. Are there any decent alternatives you audiophile types can point me towards?
Posted by Hopeful Doc
Member since Sep 2010
14941 posts
Posted on 11/17/14 at 9:25 pm to
quote:

decent alternatives to Sonos


For what purpose? Just a soundbar and sub?
Posted by GFunk
Denham Springs
Member since Feb 2011
14966 posts
Posted on 11/17/14 at 9:33 pm to
quote:

Hopeful Doc


quote:

For what purpose? Just a soundbar and sub?


We have a small garden home with an open concept so we don't need anything huge. I would like to be able to listen to iRadio through it using my AppleTV, and if we really wanted to talk lagniappe, being able to stream music from my iDevice or an app would be awesome.

But at the end of the day, I just want some quality sound for movies and sports.
This post was edited on 11/17/14 at 9:34 pm
Posted by Hopeful Doc
Member since Sep 2010
14941 posts
Posted on 11/17/14 at 9:49 pm to
quote:

I would like to be able to listen to iRadio through it using my AppleTV, and if we really wanted to talk lagniappe, being able to stream music from my iDevice or an app would be awesome.


Fortunately, given that you'd be using an AppleTV as your source, streaming from an iDevice is quite simple and already built in.

quote:

I just want some quality sound for movies and sports.


Now, you want this just for/with/around the TV and loud enough to reach a room...20-25ft long? Do you want a second, third, or fourth set of permanent speakers somewhere else in the house? What inputs/outputs (more important) does your TV have (or if you post the model, I'll look it up)? Are you open to bookshelf speakers, floor standing speakers, in-ceiling speakers, center-channel/soundbar only? Are you looking for simple mono/stereo setup, or would 5.1/7.1 etc be better?

You really can't give too many details when approaching a subject like this.
Posted by SG_Geaux
1 Post
Member since Aug 2004
77927 posts
Posted on 11/17/14 at 10:15 pm to
You sure in the hell don't have to buy Sonos.

Sonos is the new Bose IMO
Posted by Hopeful Doc
Member since Sep 2010
14941 posts
Posted on 11/17/14 at 10:21 pm to
quote:

Sonos is the new Bose IMO



It's got its place, but it's almost definitely not needed for what he's trying to do.
Posted by GFunk
Denham Springs
Member since Feb 2011
14966 posts
Posted on 11/17/14 at 11:01 pm to
Doc I'm posting on Memory Foam. I'll get a model number in the AM. However it's a 60" LG Plasma 1080p 3D Smart TV. I have HDMI, USB, and possibly more.

I have an Apple TV and a Cox Contour Box hooked into it. Thanks for the help!

Oh and as far as my interest, I would be okay with some smaller speakers in either corner of the room behind my couch, but I'm thinking those would be on stands and would need to be wireless so perhaps I'd prefer to put off paying for them unless they're more inexpensive than I may think?

Otherwise a sub and a soundbar.
Posted by Hopeful Doc
Member since Sep 2010
14941 posts
Posted on 11/18/14 at 2:13 am to
quote:

60" LG Plasma 1080p 3D Smart TV


Probably a 60PH6700. It has a single audio output that is optical. There are three general ways of going about your desired setup. I'll post my best solution for each with my opinion on what will work best.

1) Soundbar solution. Soundbars vary greatly in price and features. I'm unfortunately not very well versed "who makes the best one for the money" as they pose very little interest for me. According to a little Amazon search, there are a handful of options in the larger size range. You may or may not care about matching the length of the soundbar to the length of your TV aesthetically. The wider the bar is, the closer to stereo sound you'll be able to produce, but with a max of 5' wide, you're not going to get the best soundstage musically. As you can see, there are a variety of options that include subwoofers, and even satellite (surround) speakers for as little as ~$450. This will sound better than your TV. This will get louder than your TV and stay clearer at louder volumes. Check the number of HDMI inputs of any of the brands you are considering. You only have 2 devices now, but should you decide you want a blu-ray player or some other HDMI-connected device, you may wind up short on inputs. Many models have an optical audio in, so you can switch between the soundbar ports and the three tv ports to use all available inputs and it will work. It's up to you as to whether that's convenient or not.

2) Home Theatre in a Box. These typically come in 5.1 setups, but you can find other varieties around, namely 7.1. They're fairly cheap. It's unusual to see them like the top of the list there. It comes with a regular run-of-the-mill home receiver with HDMI and standard audio outputs. More frequently, you'll see setups with a receiver that's got proprietary outputs with variable power ratings, so you very likely won't be able to upgrade the speakers without buying a whole new system. They're typically limited on the number of HDMI inputs as well, but many of them nowadays come with a built-in Blu Ray player and bluetooth receiver as well as many network-streaming apps (netflix, pandora, etc). They're definitely a "research before you buy," though. Like a soundbar, it's going to sound better than your TV speakers. It'll get moderately louder than it, too, without sounding bad. The downside is that there are more wires to run than there would be with a soundbar. Many of these will include wireless satellite (surround) speakers as well, but your L/R mains and Center channels are usually wired. I'm not sure whether 7.1 systems usually wire the wide L/R channels or if they have 2 pairs of wireless speakers. I like wires and better sounding stuff, though.

3) Standard AV receiver with pieced together parts. Your basic 5.1 receiver with HDMI starts in the $150-200 range. Closer to the $150 if you deal with manufacturer refurbished goods. Closer to $200 is you prefer new stuff. Heck, for just $200 you can grab a Denon refurb that would give you 2 sub outputs, bluetooth connectivity (if you have an AppleTV and use either iTunes or any other iDevice, you're really not adding much here, but it's in the ballpark of other receivers in its price range).

Almost all receivers are going to have an unpowered subwoofer output, so you need to buy a powered sub (there are some exceptions, but that's the general and overwhelmingly true rule). That's if you decide to buy a sub at all. If you go with the right set of towers, you could get away without a sub and still get pretty good low-end response. They won't necessarily shake the ground like a good sub will. And if you go with any sort of bookshelf speaker, you almost definitely need a sub for good low-end. I'm a big fan of just 2.0 sound. I have big tower speakers in my living room and bedroom. They're great for 1-2 people who sit directly head-on to the TV and watch that way. If you watch from any other angle or have more people than that, you start to lose the "center ghosting" effect that can be quite good with good speakers. This is where a center-channel becomes huge: it anchors all the on-screen dialog to the middle of the set. No matter where in the room you are, you'll hear it coming from the center. When you "ghost" a center with L/R mains, they play equally as loud. So as you shade to one side, it sounds like whatever is on screen is on that side. Again, not terribly important if you're a 2-person audience sitting dead-center. More than that, a center is nice to have. Now, frequently audio on screen is "panned" from L<--->R. For this reason, it's recommended that you "match" your mains with your center, should you decide you want any odd-number setup (5.x, 7.x, etc). It's less important for your satellites to match the 3 up front, but it is, of course, recommended they match each other.

So what do I recommend speaker-wise? This is a "the least I would spend for something decent sounding" list:
5.0 setup: Dayton Audio. Comes with wires and mounting brackets. Leaves you free to choose your own sub. Dayton Audio is a very well-respected company. Want to spend a bit more and have it easy? The Energy Take Classic 5.1 consistently ranks among the top of the 5.1 systems. Oddly enough, if you're falling somewhere right in the middle on prices, Monoprice's 5.1 offering is fairly decent.

Individual channels to eventually be ramped up to 5/7 speaker combo: I would have to go with the Pioneer Andruw Jones. You've got the option of floor-standing vs bookshelf mains. This fellow thinks you should take his review of the sub with a grain of salt, but that you should probably go with there 2.0, 3.0, or 5.0 offering and find your own sub.

2.0 standalone- Sony SSF-7000 are decent at the price you'll find them. They've got a pair of 8" woofers, and they have about as deep a bass as you'll find at their price level without a sub. They're a much better home theatre speaker than a home audio speaker, but they have pretty decent sound. You can find them on sale around $250. At around $300, it's tough to find better full range of sound without a sub. For a better audio speaker, there are some Boston Acoustics and Polk Audio offerings in that range, as well as the Andrew Jones Pioneers that should be pretty decent.

If you're really interested in good sound quality, check out a Best Buy with a Magnolia Center. They have pretty mid-high end stuff there and you can kind of "test drive" it.
This post was edited on 11/18/14 at 2:18 am
Posted by Pettifogger
Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
Member since Feb 2012
79104 posts
Posted on 11/18/14 at 8:47 am to
quote:

Sonos is the new Bose IMO



Naw. Bose says they're audiophile quality when they're not. Sonos is openly not-audiophile quality, you're paying for simplicity and strong but not elite SQ.

Sonos is more like apple. It can be beat for the money, but it looks good, is high quality and just works.
Posted by NOLAGT
Over there
Member since Dec 2012
13500 posts
Posted on 11/18/14 at 9:29 am to
quote:

Sonos is more like apple. It can be beat for the money, but it looks good, is high quality and just works


I agree with this.

I am heavily invested in sonos...becasue it works real well for what I want. I can get music going pretty easy and grouping rooms is just as easy. I can also group whats on my TV since I have a playbar setup (2 actually). So if I am watching the news in the bedroom I can listen to it in the bathroom too if I dont feel like firing up the tv in there. I have 8 sonos connect amps, one connect and 2 playbars with subs with one being hooked to a connect amp for a 5.1 setup in my bedroom and one extra sub linked to the speakers in my kitchen ( I have it laid on its side on top one of the cabinets). Costly...yes...works well and sounds good doing it...yes again.

One thing that is a drawback to there playbar and its mainly becasue of TVs OR sonos lacks of other inputs....most optical outs on tvs do not pass 5.1 DD. Some sonys do, not sure who else. Mine does not so I have to take the audio direct from the DRTV box. It sounds better when you can feed it a DD single even if you dont have a 5.1 setup. It doesn't sound bad with out but just better if it is. If I had other things like apple TV or BR player I would have to use a a switch of some sort. I plan to eventually use a matrix switch in the closet and take the DD audio from the HDMI before going into the TV so I can have a automatic work around but for now its not too convenient.
Posted by Hawkeye95
Member since Dec 2013
20293 posts
Posted on 11/18/14 at 10:15 am to
I couldn't stomach paying for sonos, so I just used speaker wire under my rug plus airplay speakers for the other rooms. works great.

probably sounds better than sonos.
Posted by Hopeful Doc
Member since Sep 2010
14941 posts
Posted on 11/18/14 at 10:54 am to
quote:

I couldn't stomach paying for sonos, so I just used speaker wire under my rug plus airplay speakers for the other rooms. works great.



My naive non-homeowner self tells me that once I buy a house, I'm wiring it with Cat6 and wall-rated speaker cable to communicate with something like this multi-zone audio distributor amp and those fancy wall-plates.
Posted by GFunk
Denham Springs
Member since Feb 2011
14966 posts
Posted on 11/18/14 at 2:15 pm to
Man I have a lot to digest. Let me clarify a few things:

1.) I was looking for wireless speaker alternatives to Sonos. I can put two speakers in each corner of my living area but I would rave to run speaker wire down inside the wall to them which makes it a time/expense I'd rather look to wireless options to avoid.

2.) I cannot run wires across my floor. They're made of concrete so I can't do anything there.

So does anyone have a suggestion on a relatively inexpensive choice compared to Sonos in terms of wireless streaming surround sound?
Posted by Hopeful Doc
Member since Sep 2010
14941 posts
Posted on 11/18/14 at 3:11 pm to
quote:

relatively inexpensive choice compared to Sonos in terms of wireless streaming surround sound?


The Vizio in the first Amazon link has 5.1 sound with wireless rears.
Posted by GFunk
Denham Springs
Member since Feb 2011
14966 posts
Posted on 11/18/14 at 5:34 pm to
Oh cool. I appreciate the advice again. BTW-I had them pull Cat 6 through the entire house. My sub charged me no different than 5/5e.
Posted by TigerTaco
Baton Rouge
Member since Jan 2011
373 posts
Posted on 11/19/14 at 1:35 pm to
Spotify recently sent me an email with a link to this new product gramofon I don't know anything about it. I do use a Sonos Connect with no complaints.
This post was edited on 11/19/14 at 1:37 pm
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