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Does Sonos do this? If not, what does?!

15 posts & 12 voices | Started 9 hours ago by handyman153 | Latest reply from flyingpotatoes

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handyman153 - Member

Evening STW.

Wondering if you can help me out, as I'm not sure what to look for, or if it even exists!

We are wanting a wireless speaker system for the house (Like Sonos). Looking to put 2 or 3 speakers into the lounge, 1 in the study and 1 in the bedroom.
From this description, I think Sonos would be the best..

However, we have a large CD collection, and want to be able to play CD's through this system.
We want the CD player to be in the lounge, which is on our top floor.
But, what we would like is to be able to control the CD player via an app, for things like Pause/Repeat/Skip.

I do realise the best option might be to rip all CD's to a HDD system, and access it over the network. But the other half finds comfort in picking out a CD, reading the cover and then playing it. And I'm not going to argue with her!

Does anybody have any recommendations? No idea on budget, as I don't know what will be needed. But I'm not adverse to spending money on good quality that will last.

It would also be nice to have the ability to plug in the TV&PS4 for better sound in the lounge. But that may be asking too much!

Thanks all!
J

Posted 9 hours ago #
mikewsmith - Member

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1091/~/using-line-in-on-sonos
Line in yes, control the device will be a device specific control, neat way would be to select the CD, and use the app to play the online content that you can then control easily and do all the radio stuff from

Posted 9 hours ago #
allthegear - Member

Well, I would say the Linn Kinect multiroom system would do a fine job of that but it’s gonna hurt. A lot...

Rachel

Posted 9 hours ago #
handyman153 - Member

mikewsmith - Thats my thinking at the moment. I would just then need a wifi/app controlled CD player.. Sounds easy!!

Rachel - I've seen Linn kit before, its amazing stuff! I will have a bit more of a read into it.

Thanks both!

Posted 9 hours ago #
chickenman - Member

I looked at Bluetooth speakers for listening to downloaded music, am glad I went to a store to listen to the quality of the sound first though; I thought the quality was really poor on the £180 Sonos one and fairly poor on the £400 one. In the end settled on a £7 lead that lets me plug the laptop into the hifi amp; Whilst not quite CD quality, the sound was quite acceptable.

Posted 9 hours ago #
dmorts - Member

I made a line-in to Sonos using a RaspberryPi. Essentially the RPi acts as an Internet radio server which broadcasts the output of the CD Player as an Internet radio station.

Sonos then picks up the radio station. Would work with any system that can receive Internet radio though

Posted 9 hours ago #
muppetWrangler - Member

A fully integrated system would be the least trouble to use, but I'm not sure that there's too many suitable systems available anymore as most have gone all in for streaming.

If you treat it as two problems then it gets simpler to solve but with a bit of compromise. The audio distribution bit can be handled by sonos or any number of other systems. The CD control will require some sort of bluetooth to IR bridging tool. Something like this.

The downside of treating it as two separate problems is that you'll have two apps, one that replaces the CD player remote and a separate app to control the streaming aspects like room controls and volume levels. This might be a faff too far.

Have a look at Bluesound as an alternative to sonos. Like chickenman I dont rate the sound quality of Sonos, you might think differently but try and make sure you get a chance to listen properly to a system before you make a purchase.

Posted 8 hours ago #
funkmasterp - Member

I used to have Sonos and now have a couple of Audio Pro Addon speakers instead. Much better sound quality in my opinion and have more inputs and outputs. You can plug a CD player, turntable etc straight in. You can even buy the cheaper Bluetooth speakers and a C5 or C10 will make them wireless enabled.

If you’re wanting better sound quality the Blue Sound range pretty much mirrors Sonos but costs more. Naim also do two wireless multi room speakers, but you’re looking at a couple of grand to get a few rooms up and running.

Posted 7 hours ago #

mikewsmith - Member

Sat here listening to a pair of 3's in the cafe I'm in, we have the same in the office, sound quality is good enough for me but I did work in a lot of high noise environments in my youth.

Posted 7 hours ago #
joshvegas - Member

You get ir remote repeaters.

Peel remote app would the controlling bit

Posted 1 hour ago #
Mr Woppit - Member

NAIM, but like the caveat about Linn, you'll need a comfortable bank balance. ..

Posted 1 hour ago #
captmorgan - Member

The Sonos bit has been covered and will work fine not going over that.
Going by memory it’s only the 5, and the connect and connect:amp that have the line in.

If you already have the cd player or struggling to find one with an app, look at the harmony remote control system, some of the range have a option for app control and can be found on the bay for reasonable prices.

Posted 34 minutes ago #
flyingpotatoes - Member

As mikewsmith has said, best bet is the line in if you really want sonos and must use a CD player.

If you’re curious about the sound from a sonos speaker, try and borrow one from someone to try the sound quality out before you buy as it looks like you want quite a few speakers and it could get costly.

I have a play 5 and think the sound is fantastic when the volume is cranked up. And I believe the new sonos one works with Alexa so you can just tell it what track or album you want to listen to.
I’ve ripped my cd’s to my nas drive and just play them from there.

Posted 27 minutes ago #
Rockhopper - Member

Sonos Play 1's are currently £134 but don't have line in - keep your CD collection, go through the motions of picking one you want to play then stream it from Spotify etc - works out much cheaper than adding CD players etc to Sonos.

Posted 16 minutes ago #
flyingpotatoes - Member

Oh, and if you want Spotify, get the family account where you get 6 user accounts for £15 per month.
Then get friends and family to share the cost or even STW forumites.
I’ve done this with friends and they all give me £30 for a years use of Spotify premium.

Posted 5 minutes ago #

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Does Sonos do this? If not, what does?!

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