Considering Sonos System

[sooty]

Not exactly related to the Sonos plug-in but I thought it would be a good place to ask.

I have been pondering what to do about whole house audio and HS for some time and my main requirement is to get HS speech integrated.

Currently my HA gear is distributed around the house and my HS PC is connected to a set of good quality wired speakers located centrally in the house and this is used soley for HS speech. I have recently created a new office / study and I intend to move all my HA gear into a purpose built cabinet in that room so I can simplify the installation. This means that my HS PC will be moved from it's current central location into the cabinet.

I could use a long audio cable from the HS PC and leave the speakers where they are but I thought it would be an opportune time to get whole house audio working.

So onto my question. I have searched various Sonos info but I was unable to clarify what I need.

I understand that the best way to integrate HS speech into Sonos is to use the line in method and use the line out of the HS PC. If this is the case then can a Sonos Connect (ZP90) be used in my HA cabinet as a line in for HS and also act as a bridge?

I know I can use a Play5 as a line in / bridge but as the HS PC is inside a cabinet and I have nowhere to mount the Play5 outise the cabinet, it seems a bit of a waste.

So what I am asking is: can I use a Connect (ZP90) and 2 Play5's to create a working system?

Thanks in advance.

Paul..

[upstatemike]

I am pretty much doing exactly that. I have a ZP90 in the basement with my Hometroller pluggen into line in. The ZP90 is hardwired to to a network switch. I don't have a Bridge in my Sonos setup.

[sooty]

Thanks. That answers my question.

I assume you are using the Sonos plug-in for HS. Do you find that it performs OK with regard to HS speech? I'm sure I read somewhere that the first part of a spoken phrase can get chopped off.

Paul..

[dcorsus]

I understand that the best way to integrate HS speech into Sonos is to use the line in method and use the line out of the HS PC.

Paul, actually in my opinion, this is not the best way. This was the first way I implemented it a long time ago but since then I added a better way. The plugin now captures the speech into a file and then instruct a single player or a combination of players to play the file synchronously.

So there is no need for any wires what so ever. You can put a ZP120 somewhere near your speakers or somewhere where the current wires are and do all the rest wireless.

When the S5 came out, I bought 2 and dropped them into my office, used them as a stereo pair. When I have visitors, I grab one and put it in the formal dining room. I have a ZP90 wired to a "retired" av-receiver in the bedroom, a pair of ZP120 drive speakers for the kitchen and patio. I have announcements when the garage door opens or when the (z-wave) locks on the garage side-door or kitchen door unlocks. Some announcement like the garage door being opened go to all speakers in the house, other like the kitchen door only to the bedroom. It uses different audio settings to avoid that I get a coronary when one of sons in the middle of the night decides to go outside, so the bedroom announcements are set pretty low

Dirk

[sooty]

Thanks Dirk for taking the time to post.

The main reason I was thinking about a ZP90 was so that I could get the line in from my HS PC which will be hidden inside a cabinet in a room where I don't want a player, but if you say that the speak to file method is the best way then I could install a bridge in the HA cabinet which is also where my router is and get a couple of Play5's to start with.

I currently know very little about the Sonos devices. Do the Play's go to sleep when not used and if so do they wake up pretty quickly if HS speaks? The reason I ask is that I have got used to very fast reaction times for speech with my current setup.

Paul..

[Rupp]

So with the Sonos plugin and a bridge can you also stream your music collection to the play5s? The bridge is so much more affordable than the connect.

[jbbtex]

I have six Sonos zones and a bridge. I do announcements for driveway detect, door bell, incoming phone calls, morning "off-to-school," morning weather forecast and Today's calendar. Our weekday alarm clock is music, Radio Disney for the kids and XM Classic Rewind for us.

I originally used the line-in on one ZP90, but changed to the file option. All with Dirk's plugin.

Works great and WAF is high.

[dcorsus]

So with the Sonos plugin and a bridge can you also stream your music collection to the play5s? The bridge is so much more affordable than the connect.

Hi Rupp,

the bridge is just what it says it is, a wireless bridge; it is not a player. The only devices that actually play are the S3, S5, ZP80/90/100/120 now known as Connect and Connect:Amp (the latter having an amplifier).

The Sonos devices, I believe have dual 802.11 devices in them, one regular that communicates with any standard 802.11 network and another which only works between Sonos devices but from postings appears to have better characteristics. The Bridge device seems to perform better when further away.

Dirk

[dcorsus]

Do the Play's go to sleep when not used and if so do they wake up pretty quickly if HS speaks? The reason I ask is that I have got used to very fast reaction times for speech with my current setup.

As far as I can tell, they don't have a "sleep" or "power down" mode, they don't use a lot of power when not playing but some users will disagree and actually some use z-wave appliances to power them down. If you do power them down, it does take a while before they are up and running.

Not sure what your expectation of "very fast reaction" is. Most of the time is lost in grouping the players so that the announcement is played synchronously over a number of players. Some time is lost, saving all state info from the player so that the player can resume what it was doing after the announcement.

Reaction will be between 1sec best case to 4~5 sec worse case.

Dirk

[sooty]

Thanks again Dirk.

I suppose my current system of speakers connected directly to the HS PC and the amp always on is as fast as its going to get.

I appreciate that some time will be needed to sort the players out and I can live with a couple of seconds delay.

My HS PC is dedicated to HS so it is not bogged down with other clutter therefore the plug-in should have room to breathe so to speak.

I have just ordered a bridge and a Play5 so I can do some experimenting over the holidays.

Paul..

[dcorsus]

I suppose my current system of speakers connected directly to the HS PC and the amp always on is as fast as its going to get.

It doesn't get any faster than that!

I have just ordered a bridge and a Play5 so I can do some experimenting over the holidays.

Sounds like you have some fun coming. You'll love the Sonos gear!

[sooty]

I researched various whole house audio systems and the Sonos seemed to get good reviews. Of course there is the HS integration via your plug-in which was also a deciding factor.

We live in an old house (1870) that we initially refurbished about 15 years ago well before Homseer and HA gadgets were installed. If I were doing the re-furb today, I would probably install a hard wired system of some kind but I'm not prepared to start tearing the fabric of the hosue apart right now.

Today I have been pulling my hair out. I'm moving some HA gear from various locations into my new purpose built cabinet and I seem to be creating more problems and no doubt expense than I need

Oh well, tomorow's another day....

Paul..

[dcorsus]

So just to make sure I understand. A bridge and one speaker (ie Play5) is all one would need to stream music from your HS pc to the speaker? So there must be a software part to load on your server but the web site doesn't make this very clear.

You don't even need a bridge. The play5 will discover music, whether stored on your PC, very recently they added iTunes or any NAS. The controller SW is free and comes for Windows, Android, iPad/iPhone or MAC

Dirk

[Rupp]

You don't even need a bridge. The play5 will discover music, whether stored on your PC, very recently they added iTunes or any NAS. The controller SW is free and comes for Windows, Android, iPad/iPhone or MAC

Dirk

Ok, thanks. So what does the bridge do then?

[dcorsus]

Today I have been pulling my hair out. I'm moving some HA gear from various locations into my new purpose built cabinet and I seem to be creating more problems and no doubt expense than I need

Are you using Z-Wave? While back I kinda did the same, moved the HS PC (with Z-wave stick) from one side of the house to the other. O boy was that a mistake. Although Z-wave is supposed to route and forward, maybe my gear is old because it wouldn't do anything. I ended up moving the Z-wave stick (USB type controller) to the middle of the house, using an USBoEthernet special device.

So if you do use Z-wave, re-discover and do a few optimizations because all routing tables are now completely wrong.

Dirk