Sonos BU130 Digital Music System Bundle

I've owned lots of audio, video, and computer equipment over the years. I've never encountered a product that is so simple to install and intuitive to use and provides so much flexibility. I was thrilled to yank my 400 disc jukebox out of my audio cabinet and replace it with the little Sonos box! This seems a bit pricey, but it is worth every penny! Buy it now!

During a recent remodeling project, we installed speakers in the walls and ceilings of most of the rooms. We had planned to install a high-end wired system, but the cost was a bit staggering, and it required us to make some unchangeable decisions about where to locate audio equipment. Then I heard about the Sonos system. I did a bit of research and liked what I read, so we went ahead with it. I especially liked that I could get the whole Sonos system installed and connected to the speakers for far less than just the speaker wiring was going to cost!

The Sonos system consists mainly of small units called Zone Players. Each is a combination of a wireless router and an audio amplifier. You attach one (hard-wired) to your network router, and you place one in each room in which you have speakers. You attach each pair of speakers to a Zone Player exactly as you would to a normal audio receiver or amp. The Zone Players communicate with each other in what is called a "mesh network." The system can use audio from a variety of sources: (1) your digital music library, (2) any audio source patched into a Zone Player, (3) Sirius internet radio, or (4) the Rhapsody music service. Using a small wireless remote control panel you can direct music from any source to any Zone Player. You can have multiple sources playing in different rooms at the same time, or you can group rooms together. One side benefit is that each Zone Player can serve as an access point to your wireless home network as well.

The Sonos system installed easily and works flawlessly. The UI is excellent. In addition to the aforementioned wireless controllers, you can also operate your system from your desktop or laptop. Our system uses the Zone Player 100, since the speakers it drives do not have their own amplification. If some or all of the speakers you have are already attached to amplifiers, you can use the Zone Player 80, which is basically a router without a built-in amplifier.

I am completely satisfied with the Sonos system. I can recommend it without reservations to anyone who wants to be able to distribute audio flexibly and wirelessly to multiple rooms.

This is the absolute best digital jukebox out there, period. As an added bonus, it's flexible, scalable, multizone, wireless... and systems costing twenty times as much do not even come close the ease of use: Sonos currently has the highest Wife Acceptance Factor of any techno-gadget out there, only equaled by TiVo.

Although some amount of technical savvy is required for the initial setup, anybody can pick up the beautiful remote and immediately figure out how to use it (it's a bit like an iPod).

This bundle contains the wireless controller and its charger (but no charging cradle, more on this later), a ZP80 and a ZP100. The main difference between the two zone players is the ZP100 has a built-in amplifier so you can hook up speakers directly to it, whereas the ZP80 doesn't but it offers digital output (coax and optical) which the ZP100 lacks. Both zone players feature an analog input (you could use it for a TV or a satellite radio receiver, for instance) as well as analog line output. It's the perfect starter kit for a two-zone system; you can always add more controllers and zone players later as needed, and seamlessly integrate them into your system.

Sonos has been relentlessly adding features since its initial release: Rhapsody, Pandora, Napster, Sirius Satellite Radio (no antenna needed, you get the feed over the internet). Reliability has been exemplary.

The price may seem a little steep for a music system, but the nearest competitor (Logitech Squeezebox Duet Network Music System) is nowhere near as fully featured (no amplifier, no audio input, no Sirius) and doesn't cost much less for a two zone system. It also seems to be a lot more complicated to setup and use, but I must admit not having any first-hand experience with it.

The only blemish on the Sonos is that they sell the charging cradle separately for a ridiculous amount of money (it's just a dumb piece of plastic) when it's an indispensable part of the system. Considering the fairly high price of the system, I fail to see the rationale behind excluding it from the bundle... It must be the brainchild of some marketing moron. Other than this minor but irritating point... This is just the most enjoyable, reliable, easiest to use system out there.

This NAS box is a perfect complement to your Sonos system and will host the music files so you can turn off your computer and keep the music going: D-Link DNS-323 2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure

The infamous cradle (don't forget to order it): Sonos CC100 Charging Cradle for Sonos CR100 Controller

Edit: the Logitech Squeezebox Duet now supports Sirius.

[Edit August 2008] Sonos released new ZonePlayers, ZP90 and ZP120, part of the new BU150 bundle which replaces the BU130. Don't buy the now obsolete BU130 bundle unless you can get it at a significant discount over the BU150.

I spent a lot of time researching before making this major purchase. Thankfully, it has lived up to expectations. I have an extensive music collection: it took me nearly a year to rip it all to flac, a lossless digital compression system. I loaded much of it onto a 1 tb Buffalo Linkstation server (purchased from Amazon for about $350) and linked the Sonos to it. Now I can scroll through the entire collection and select and play albums or tracks in seconds (and no more hours putting away dozens of CDs after they are played).

I researched both Sonos and the Logictech Squeezebox, which does the same thing: stream music from a hard drive to a device connected to your receiver. The Squeezebox is cheaper and may very well be a great product. I decided on the Sonos because it seemed likely to be more stable and easier to connect. If you review the Squeezebox website, you will see the latest software and products have been released, but still are undergoing development. The Duet, the most comparable product, is very new. I am not a computer geek and am easily frustrated when technical problems develop. Again, I cannot speak to whether Squeezebox would have caused any problems, but Sonos was very easy to connect and has worked perfectly.

Perhaps the best example I can give of how simple this is to use is that my wife uses it. She found switching on the CD player, loading discs, and switching the receiver to CD too frustrating to bother with. But she figured out the Sonos controller on her own and has started playing music.

As with any technology, I have my fingers crossed, but one month into this system, I have to say that for anyone who spends a lot of time listening to music, you cannot live without this system!

I purchased the Sonos BU 130 Digital Music System Bundle, along with an additional Sonos ZP 100 player and two sets of Sonos speakers. Set-up was amazingly simple and I was soon playing my music library all over the house. The controller is one of the more amazing products I have ever owned - - allowing you to add and drop rooms, pick any artist, track or album to play, create playlists, adjust volume, play internet radio,podcasts,Sirius (I enjoy blasting Howard Stern throughout the house) and search music services. I am using the free trial of Rhapsody and it is an service and so easy to use on my Sonos controller. Rhapsody is amazing to have millions songs at your fingertips at a low monthly fee, and the ability to play those songs in any room almost instantly (bye bye Itunes). My only challenge was accessing music on a second computer, but the Sonos tech support had this resolved for me in 5 minutes. (This was actually a file share setting on my second computer that I had to make). I am so happy with the $2,000 investment I have made to put digital music all over my home. The "fun" factor of the Sonos system puts this product near my Infiniti M35 as my all-time favorite purchase. Viva La Sonos!!