Kitchen/Living Room Speakers

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I understand your point of view that it's a "silly" gimmick, but as an owner of one I can assure you the effect is real and it does lead to an enjoyable listening experience.

They play with phasing to trick your ears, and introduce uneven frequency response (due to phase cancellation) and distortion in the process. It's not high-fi audio. It overcomes a limitation of those type of units, which is high directionality and beaming, that you don't have to deal with using a proper pair of speakers placed a few or more feet apart. So I agree it definitely helps, but it's really only to overcome the limitations inherent in the device, not to enhance the actual sound reproduction.

We have to agree to disagree on this, and we should try and steer clear of an audiophile-grade discussion; nothing good comes of those. I understand why they implement the technology, and I choose a different approach to dealing with that (which is to not deal with it, because I can often hear the phasing and it drives me batty)

[sclitheroe]

Worth noting in all of this discussion as well, that we really are blessed with some great compact speaker systems these days - the sound projection they are getting out of small speaker cones these days is tremendous. You can't really go wrong with many of the suggested units in this thread (but I'll stand by my recommendation haha)

[Kavvy]

Thank you all for your replies, haven't bought anything yet, any other ideas keep them coming!

Thanks again

[oilyfan]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

That's true, as long as you aren't interested in streaming audio from iTunes Match, Google Music, YouTube, Plex, etc. And if you're ok with never allowing a guest to stream music from their own device. And if you're good with always using Sonos hardware for playback. And you never want the option of streaming video wirelessly with your setup.

Mick, Itunes match is taken care of with it being able to stream from your iphone.

All the others require the addition of an Airport to one of the inputs on the Sonos and voila it is an Airplay device. Yes it adds another $100 to the cost.

[IGGYRULES]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Worth noting in all of this discussion as well, that we really are blessed with some great compact speaker systems these days - the sound projection they are getting out of small speaker cones these days is tremendous. You can't really go wrong with many of the suggested units in this thread (but I'll stand by my recommendation haha)

Should be noted that with an airport express you're at the mercy of Apple and it's ecosystem or finding workarounds to control it with other devices.

I just purchased some Sonos components and love them. They do sound really great especially if you have a pair and put them in stereo mode. I'd do a pair of play 5's if you are not doing the sub. If you are doing a sub get a couple Play 3's instead of the 5's. The subwoofer is expensive but fantastic!!

The Sonos don't have the fake "bass" that Bose type systems typically have. I have a bose and moved to my office and it's perfect for there as I won't be blaring the tunes there.

My favorite thing is being able to pick use any i device, android device, or computer and control the system. If I'm using the computer I control from there, near my phone use that etc.....

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by oilyfan

Mick, Itunes match is taken care of with it being able to stream from your iphone.

All the others require the addition of an Airport to one of the inputs on the Sonos and voila it is an Airplay device. Yes it adds another $100 to the cost.

But you're still stuck paying $450 per speaker to use the Sonos system and some of the arrangements people are talking about (two Play:5 speakers or two Play:3s and a sub for decent stereo separation) are over $1000 per room. Integrating the delivery of the media and the speaker makes very little sense to me in anything but portable applications, especially at that price.

When you can get a pair of Audioengine A2s or A5s for $200-400 and an Airport Express for $99 it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to go for a less flexible option like the Sonos. And if someone comes out with a better or more flexible streaming option in a few years you ditch the $99 Airport Express and get the new thing while keeping the good speakers. If you want to move on from Sonos you're basically starting over from scratch. And that doesn't even get into the fact that you can connect an Airport Express to anything really. Short of buying a $400 Sonos Connect add on, I wouldn't be able to use Sonos to stream music to my tube HiFi amp or a home theater system.

The Sonos does have its strengths in terms of controlling multi-room audio from a variety of devices, but it's a pretty steep price to pay and comes with its own sets of limitations.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by oilyfan

Mick, Itunes match is taken care of with it being able to stream from your iphone.

Nice. I did not know you could do this.

Originally Posted by oilyfan

All the others require the addition of an Airport to one of the inputs on the Sonos and voila it is an Airplay device. Yes it adds another $100 to the cost.

I'm sure that adding an AirPlay device to a Sonos speaker isn't really an option. If you're going AirPlay I can't see a reason you'd ever use the Sonos streaming.

People dig Sonos - they're obviously doing something right. I just haven't seen even a moderately compelling argument for it being superior to a pair of A2s and an Airport Express.

[IGGYRULES]

Good review on the differences and pros/cons of Sonos and Airplay.


http://www.creativebloq.com/hardware...sonos-12121441

[woob]

Hey all - bumping a good thread with good information to ask another question pertaining to an AirPlay setup. In rooms where I have TVs, would having just an AppleTV in that room be sufficient to AirPlay music to, or do I also need to have an AirPort express?

Also, if I have HDMI plugged into the AppleTV can I also have powered speakers plugged into it using the 3.5mm jack or Optical? By having external speakers added, will it then route all audio from my AppleTV viewing through to those speakers, or will it just route AirPlay audio to them?

Thanks!

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by woob

Hey all - bumping a good thread with good information to ask another question pertaining to an AirPlay setup. In rooms where I have TVs, would having just an AppleTV in that room be sufficient to AirPlay music to, or do I also need to have an AirPort express?

Also, if I have HDMI plugged into the AppleTV can I also have powered speakers plugged into it using the 3.5mm jack or Optical? By having external speakers added, will it then route all audio from my AppleTV viewing through to those speakers, or will it just route AirPlay audio to them?

Thanks!

In answer to your first question, the answer is yes and no. An AppleTV is enough to output audio digitally but there's no amplified analog output. You can choose HDMI or optical output in the settings, and feed that to your receiver.

To answer your second question, there's no 3.5mm jack - only digital audio via HDMI or optical. There's only one output audio stream on an AppleTV - it doesn't differentiate between AirPlay audio and anything else when outputting audio.

[woob]

Thanks, Mick. So if I understand this correctly, when watching TV using the AppleTV, the sound would be coming out the powered speakers which are attached to the AppleTV.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by woob

Thanks, Mick. So if I understand this correctly, when watching TV using the AppleTV, the sound would be coming out the powered speakers which are attached to the AppleTV.

Yes - but the thing to note is that the speakers can't be connected directly to the AppleTV, unless your speakers can be connected via optical and have a built-in amp. Otherwise, the AppleTV has to be connected to an audio receiver of some type via HDMI or optical, then to the speakers.

As an example, I've got one AppleTV connected via HDMI to my TV, then my TV's powered audio output goes to my speakers. I've got another AppleTV connected to an HDMI-switching home theater receiver, then to my surround system speakers.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by opendoor

Integrating the delivery of the media and the speaker makes very little sense to me in anything but portable applications, especially at that price.

Could not have written this better. Good speakers will last...I dunno..they just keep going, and generally get better with age, not worse. Why you'd tie anything other than amplification into them (for bookshelf type setups), with the pace of technology in the streaming space, is absolutely beyond me.

[woob]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Yes - but the thing to note is that the speakers can't be connected directly to the AppleTV, unless your speakers can be connected via optical and have a built-in amp. Otherwise, the AppleTV has to be connected to an audio receiver of some type via HDMI or optical, then to the speakers.

As an example, I've got one AppleTV connected via HDMI to my TV, then my TV's powered audio output goes to my speakers. I've got another AppleTV connected to an HDMI-switching home theater receiver, then to my surround system speakers.

Oh for sure. Well aware of that. The speakers I'm looking at have optical and amplification

[woob]

Would it be wise to switch my primary router to an Airport Extreme if I'm considering implementing an Airport Express audio build? Currently I run a Linksys with dd-wrt on it.

[Hack&Lube]

How small can your condo be? If you have a TV, you have room for a sound bar which can sit in front of or sit on top of your TV with a bracket.

Get a soundbar with a modestly sized subwoofer and use that for both your TV viewing and music needs as you can have multiple inputs and a remote on a soundbar. Soundbars can also take USB devices if you want to do something like plug in a USB stick with Mp3s on it, etc.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by woob

Would it be wise to switch my primary router to an Airport Extreme if I'm considering implementing an Airport Express audio build? Currently I run a Linksys with dd-wrt on it.

The Airport Express can be set to simply be another wireless device on the network (join a network, as opposed to create or extend a network, in the settings utility), so it'll play nice with anything you've got currently.