[antney79]


I am building a new construction house and now its time for me to wire the house for speaker system.

 

I am trying to zone the house in this way

 

Zone 1- Kitchen/Dining Room/Living Room- there will be a total of 3 to 4 speakers in this zone

Zone 2- Great Room- ties in with my home theater system speaker system 

Zone 3- Front and Rear Patios

 

Questions

 

1- Can I in zone 1 above be able to just have the speakers in the kitchen area on while having the dinning room and living room off?  Is that control by Sonos Ipad/phone?

2- How many speakers can one connect amp handle?  Looking at the data sheets, seems to be 4 total

3- Is there another system similiar to this that I can control the audio system with ipad/iphone and have the capabilities of turning off different speakers in one zone?

 

Thanks!

 

[jht3]


sounds like you need a multi-channel amp, independent of the internal Sonos amp.  The ability to switch on/off zones or control volume via smartphone is going to cost you however.  The old school way is to wire in volume control knobs in each zone so you can do what you ask, shut off the dining and living while leaving the kitchen playing. since this is new construction, running wires is easy.  Or buy more Sonos units for each zone you want independent volume on, but that's also going to cost you as well.  Now if you want to be able to play different sources, you'll need another Sonos anyways.

 

[fcwilt]

Assuming you are installing pairs of speakers (for stereo) in each location run the wiring for each pair to a central location - I have a section of a utility room set aside for whole house wiring, electronics, etc.


By doing this you can configure the system as you desire.


I prefer having control over each area - someone might be working in the Kitchen while someone is reading in the Living Room and you might want to be able to shutoff the music in the Living Room.


In-wall volume controls are usually not controllable via your tablet, cell phone, etc so you have to get up and move from room to room to set them.



In my home I went with Sonos and have a Connect:Amp for each location.


Thus I can control each location from my tablet, cell phone, etc through out the house - so if the kids leave the music blaring somewhere I can turn it down or shut it off from where ever I happen to be.


Sonos was not my first system. My first system was an older, more traditional system with in-wall control pads - but the more I used the system and the more I thought about how Sonos would work the more dissatisfied I became - and eventually sold the other system and installed Sonos.



There is also CasaTunes ( http://www.casatunes.com/multi-room-audio/index.php/product-tour/ ) which is similar in price but doesn't use the simple Sonos approach of individual units per location.


There are other significant differences as well.


One of the things I like about the Sonos approach is that you can add to it incrementally - you can start with just one Connect:Amp (or even the little Play:1) and add one more unit of any kind at time.

 

[antney79]


if I go with the Sonos then, I would still need volume controls for each pair of speakers, is that correct?  If that is the case then I can just change it that room if I want it off, I was hoping Sonos had the option of which speakers/rooms would go on or off.

 

[fcwilt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by antney79  /t/1525802/sonos-or-something-else#post_24568241


if I go with the Sonos then, I would still need volume controls for each pair of speakers, is that correct?  If that is the case then I can just change it that room if I want it off, I was hoping Sonos had the option of which speakers/rooms would go on or off.

With Sonos it is typical to just install one Connect:Amp per pair of speakers thus giving you control over the volume for each set of speakers.


Having to get up and go to the wall to adjust the volume for each pair of speakers tends to conflict with being able to control the Sonos from your tablet, cell phone, etc.


What you can do is start small and use one Connect:Amp to drive multiple pairs of speakers (with the correct wiring in the utility area) and live with NOT being able to control the volume from each pair separately.


Then as budget allows you add additional Connect:Amps until you have one Connect:Amp per pair of speakers and eventually you have "remote" control of each pair of speakers.


I have 13 Connect:Amps in my home and everyone is happy as can be with the system - it gets used every day by someone in the home.

 

[zonecoaster1]


You can have one connect:amp power four speakers (i.e. control two zones).  They will be controlled together, so if you turn up the volume using the Sonos app it will go up on all four speakers.  If you also have a wall-mounted volume control in a zones, though, you can also use that.  This is how I have my rooms set up for the time-being.

 

-Kitchen & Den = zone 1 (connect:amp #1)

-Bedroom = zone 2 (connect:amp #2)

-Patio = zone 3 (connect:amp #3) (once we actually install the speakers out there)

 

There is a wall-mounted volume control for each area.  The only ones that we use are the Kitchen and Den since they're on the same amp.  This allows us to shut off the music in the Den when I'm working in there, but still listen in the  kitchen.  We could have gotten another amp for the den, but there's really no need.

 

[ezlotogura]

You could get a 12 channel/6 zone amp with 3 inputs available. Something like http://www.audiosource.net/products/electronics/amplifiers/amp-1200/gallery/


Then get anywhere from 1-3 Sonos Connects (not the Connect Amp) and hook them up to the Audio Source Amp. Depending on how many connects you buy, you can get that many different sources playing at once. Buy 2 connects and you can listen to two sources, buy 3 and you can listen to a source in each room. Plus the Amp gives you ability to add more zones in the future (though not more inputs).


The Connect is $150 less than the Connect Amp - buy 3 connects, save $450 and put towards a better, stand alone multi channel amp - just a thought.


I have something kind of like this with my set up, but I have a 4 Channel amp, a 16x16 audio matrix, so I got the amps powering the speakers and the connects plugged into the matrix. This allows me to have 16 inputs going to 16 outputs (right now just 4 outputs through the amp but I have expansion plans to add more aps). And along with 2 sonos connects I also have my cable box audio, dvd player audio and other sources going into the matrix. I wanted more than 3 inputs, which is why I got two pieces of hardware (amp and matrix separates).

 

[fcwilt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ezlotogura  /t/1525802/sonos-or-something-else#post_24572482


,,,I also have my cable box audio, dvd player audio and other sources going into the matrix...

Hi,


Under what circumstances do you listen to just the audio coming from your cable box or dvd player?

 

[ezlotogura]



Quote:
Originally Posted by fcwilt  /t/1525802/sonos-or-something-else#post_24572796


Hi,


Under what circumstances do you listen to just the audio coming from your cable box or dvd player?

My amp/matrix in the AV Closet is powering speakers in my kitchen, dining room and outdoor patio. My living room/main TV area has its own receiver with nicer speakers, its own Sonos Connect, etc.


Cable box:

1) great example was super bowl - we had a party with about 20 people. The main tv in living room had the game on, but we had food set up in the kitchen (no TV) and food set up plus seats in the dining room (no TV). I was able to pipe in the cable box audio so the game was playing over the speakers in both of those rooms so if you left the room for food, you could hear the game around the house

2) this summer I can see being outside and listening to a baseball game on my speakers outside - I am a yankees fan, their radio team is awful (for those that know about John and Susie) so I'd rather listen to the TV broadcast.

3) Have not used it this way yet but my cable tv service has about 90 channels of music (Commercial free) so I can pipe that into various rooms as well.


DVD Player:

1) I have a lot of concert DVDs, so great to put one on and listen around my house as I am doing chores around the house (nice break from Pandora or Sirius XM)

2) though old school, I may have a CD I want to listen to, or someone brings a CD over, I could use this as a CD Player and play in any room

 

[fcwilt]

Thanks for that information.


Our home is a open floor plan - the kitchen, dining area, family room are different sections of one large space - so one TV serves.


I didn't know music came in DVD format. All of my music in CD format gets ripped to my "music" NAS to be played over the Sonos system.


Thanks again.

 

[ezlotogura]

A DVD player can play a regular music cd. My music is on my NAS and hooked into sonos too. Like I said it would be random to use it as a CD player but option is there. Concert DVDs are films of live concerts, most bands release them. This way I can listen around the house and not be tied to a room. Some music albums comes in DVD-A format but the format never really took off.


I don't use these options often but they are nice to have. My matrix also has an iPod Dock in case someone brings over an iPod. I will be putting my record player on it soon too. So 16 inputs are nice for flexibility.