sonos system install

chiefwiggum

hey there,im looking to install a sonos system into my new build but am wondering how to go about it myself,ie how to wire and exactley what components i need,i,ve been to a couple of so called professional installers who are all talk untill it comes to getting a quote and then disappear so i think i'll do it myself.i think i'll start with one zone to start with and expand with time,i know i'll need speakers(probably ceiling ones) a controller but do i need two zone controllers?one for the computer and one for the room im going to do first,thanks for any help you can give .i know someone will set me straight i hope?i need to know pretty fast as this is a last minute thing and rks will be finished first fixing by the end of the week ,thanks again

MediaTank

Sonos is a wireless system other than one ZonePlayer or ZoneBridge that needs to be wired in to your internet router. That's the only cabling you need (other than a cable to the PC/NAS from the router too where the music is). You only need one controller by the sounds of things as the Sonos PC software is another controller.

MT

Rew

As MediaTank says it is wireless but if you can wire it do as most houses have alot of wireless going on these days and the Zones can lost contact with each other.

If its a new build you can easily run all the required cables. If your wiring some or all of the zones decide where each ZonePlayer is going to be positioned and where all your speakers are going to be positioned. Pick one centrail location in your house where you will run all your network cables to.

Network cable is Cat 5e, you can get 300m of it for about 50 euro. run at least two lengths of thios from every ZonePlayer location to your central point. Get some decent speaker wire and run this from each ZonePlayer location to the assocated speakers for that zone. Even if ypour only stating with one zone running all thsi cable now makes things alot neater.

If it were me I would run network cable to other locations as well as you can use it to split your broadband around the house and phone lines as well. My brother has about 6 Zones and he had problems with being compleatly wireless as he was using wireless broadband, wireless media players (Linksys Kiss Players) and wireless bridges. Luckily he had run plenty of Cat 5e and we repalced as many of the wireless llinks with wires as we could and its all fine now.

Nows the time to be thinking about other cables you may need such as satlite coax for Sky or free view. You should also consider puting some ducting in the walls where thinks like TV's will be so that you can hide cables in to the walls etc.

chiefwiggum

thanks lads.yeah zew i have cat 5 being dropped into most rooms in the house for future stuff if i need it just to be on the safe side, and sparks is running speaker wire through the house for add ons at a later date.all coax and other stuff such as scarts and hdmi's are being put through ducting too. i really appreciate the posts lads so thanks zew and mediatank

Rew

Another good buy to go with Sonas is a NAS box that supports UPnP. That means you don't have to leave a PC on all the time and you can serve all your media off it to any other devices you may have. My bro uses the Internet radio statiuons that come pre programed 95% of the time though, there very good.

aaf

Rew wrote: »

Network cable is Cat 5e, you can get 300m of it for about 50 euro. run at least two lengths of thios from every ZonePlayer location to your central point. Get some decent speaker wire and run this from each ZonePlayer location to the assocated speakers for that zone. Even if ypour only stating with one zone running all thsi cable now makes things alot neater.

Max cable run with Cat 5e can only be 100m.

Rew

aaf wrote: »

Max cable run with Cat 5e can only be 100m.

Yup but it comes in boxes of 300m for €50 like I said above

Also you can run it longer the 100m but preformance drops off the longer you go.

chiefwiggum

thats sounds like a good idea rew as i thought about leaving my old laptop on all the time to run it,also what about using cat6 drops,a mate of mine has some and says it would work brilliant with it?

chiefwiggum

i have a western digital 1tb hard drive ,could i connect the sonos to that with out the use for a laptop?

Rew

For what your doing Cat 6 or Cat 5e is the same. Your better with Cat 6 but I wouldn't lose sleep over it either way. Have a look at Thecus NAs boxes you can get them with out drives and you could fit your 1TB but I would get a matching WD 1TB drive and put it in RAID1. Over the life time of this system a failed drive is very lickly and you would lose everything.

chiefwiggum

THEcus nas looks good Rew what model would be suitable if i was to get one without a drive?

Rew

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=341194

There is a more expensive AV edition which is more future proof but just for use with Sonas that one is fine.

MediaTank

Rew wrote: »

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=341194

There is a more expensive AV edition which is more future proof but just for use with Sonas that one is fine.

Agree, Sonos doesn't need the fancy AV features just SMB or NFS so that it can see the drive on the network.

chiefwiggum

would that THEcuss n299 be compatable with my wd 1tb drive as it has only usb 2.0 connection,so could i just simply plug that into the n299
thanks lads for helpin me out.this info is brilliant

Rew

The N299 has 2 internal bays that you put the disks in. It will accept your USB disk but its not the ideal way to set it up. What you really want to 2 drives in the Thecus setup for RAID1. You could open your WD USB drive and put the drive in to the Thecus (assuming its an SATA drive) or buy two new ones. In RAID1 if one of the hardrives dies then you dont loase any data because there is an exact copy/mirror on the other drive.

MediaTank

You'll also need to consider which Sonos zone players to get. As it's a new build and you probably don't have spare amplifiers lying around then the ZP100 boxes are the ones to go for. Sonos also supply matching speakers which may be useful.

chiefwiggum

yeah thanks mediatank,im gonna go for the sonos 150 bundle with a zone bridge thrown in to go into the router

Rew

Have you looked at Squeezebox as a chepaer alternitive?

chiefwiggum

i havn't rew but will do now,thanks for the tip

chiefwiggum

im now going to buy a new 5.1 system for the sitting room and want to connect my sonos zone player to it what do i need to have on the 5.1 system and how do i connect the zone player to it,i presume i could then play my digital music library through the 5.1 system?

MediaTank

You have a choice, either use the RCA phono jacks for analogue stereo out to the AV receiver, or use either a coax or optical (SPDIF) cable to connect the ZonePlayer to the AV reciever. I use the phono jacks as the DAC in the ZonePlayer is way better then the one in my AV receiver.

MT

steve-hosting36

Just a note, the Sonos speakers are nice, but not the best out there, to get the best results, pair the Zoneplayer (aplified) with a decent 2.1 system (two speakers and a subwoofer). I use sets from www.orbaudio.com - highly recommended.