Sonos S5 ZonePlayer Wireless Multi-Room Music System

Purchased the S5 for our kitchen, our fourth zone. Overall, we love our entire Sonos system --- the ease of installation is unbeatable, as is the ease of use. The sound quality of the S5, though, is marginal at best. While we are hardly audiophiles, and didn't expect a lot from this all-in-one combo, we've been quite disappointed with the sound. Its tone is quite 'muddy' at the low end and almost non-existent at the high end, both of which are only partially improved by tweaking the Sonos system's bass/treble settings.

** Update 2-20-2010

The good news is that I've managed to resolve virtually all of the issues I described below and I am very glad I made the effort. The Sonos support staff has been extremely helpful, even reaching out to me after I posted my initial review. I was able to get my iTunes library playing nicely - I needed to move my library onto my Time Capsule hard drive (it was originally on my MacBook which was wirelessly connected to my network). Once I did that, everything worked fine. The support team sent me via email instructions that walked me through the process - it took about 10 minutes to do that.

Even though I'm still not able to access Sirius from my MacBook, I am able to do it from my iPhone, which is great. I didn't realize that the issue was just with the computer version of their software - it does work fine with the iPhone and I noticed they updated the support site with this information.

I am very impressed with the overall system and will now look to get one for my vacation home! Even more impressive is the support - my observation is that this company and its employees are really invested in pleasing their customers; most unusual in this day and age.

The sound on the system is very good - I've pushed it up one star to a four-star sound quality; for what it is, it produces very good sound.

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Having spent quite a bit of time looking at wireless systems, it seemed clear that the best option on the market in terms of simplicity and quality was the Sonos solution. As such, I purchased the S5 along with a Zone Bridge so that I could link my router in my upstairs office with the S5, which I am planning to use downstairs in my kitchen. When I received the items and began the setup, I was extremely disappointed.

First, I followed the instructions to the letter and had great difficulty in linking my MacBook to the Zone Bridge. (I am using a Apple Time Capsule router, BTW). Even though initially I was having problems, the software directed me seamlessly to the Sonos support site, where I attempted to follow the directions related to router and firewall setup for a Mac (I am running the out-of-the-box Apple firewall). Unfortunately, the support document was not updated with the correct steps for the current version (Leopard) of OS X. Nevertheless, I tinkered for the better part of the hour and was about to give up, but unplugged everything, rebooted, and finally my Zone Bridge was discovered.

Next step was to set up the S5 itself. This was not a problem at all. Next difficulty arose when I attempted to link my online Sirius internet service with Sonos. I could not get it to work. In communicating with support (which has been very helpful and quick to respond, to be fair), they tell me that there was a recent Apple security patch that "is blocking communication with Sirius." I am not sure how this will be addressed, but it would have been nice to know before I purchased the product. A text search of Sirius on the Sonos support site shows no mention of this problem in any support documents.

Finally, in trying to play my iTunes library, the music drops out repeatedly. It works fine with Pandora and internet radio. I am still in discussions with support about this problem.

From what I could tell listening to the music I was able to get to play, the sound seemed good - not fantasic, but in line with what I was expecting for a single box. The iPhone app seemed to work nicely and was very responsive. I need to hear my own preferred music coming from it to give a good assessment of the overall sound.

I am hoping that I will be able to come back and update this review with a more positive ending. It clearly works well for many people based on all of the press and reviews; unfortunately it doesn't seem to play nice with Apple products - at least newer Apple products. More to come, but thus far, very disappointing based on all I read about how simple it was to set up and how it "just works."

I originally looked at the older Sonos system but didn't like it as you had to hookup each remote to it's own speaker/stereo system. So, I decided to go with Airport Expresses instead. But, after a few years of having the airports, which are good but buggy when trying to use throughout the entire house I looked for a new solution. I was excited to find the sonos s5's. I love the fact that everything is built into a single box. A great sounding speaker system, amp, and iphone software/desktop software. I currently have 6 of these systems with 3 of them in my bedroom to create a kinda surround sound.

Currently I have 1 in my living room, 1 in my kitchen, 1 in my guest bedroom, 3 in my master bedroom, 1 in my master bathroom. I have my living room unit and bedroom unit hooked up to each rooms tivo's so I can stream the audio from either room to the sonos's depending on where I am.


WHAT I LOVE:
The iphone software is really really well done. I love fact that I can be anywhere in my house and with my iphone control the system. I love the fact that they offer mac desktop software !!! Also offer pc as well. I love that each unit has an input jack so I can add my living room tv audio to the living room unit or my bedroom tb audio to my bedroom unit and access these inputs from anywhere and play them everywhere. I love that each unit has a mute and volume up and down so if I am in a room and want to manually control the volume or turn it off without pulling out my iphone i can quickly!

I also love the fact that when I needed to call sonos technical support I got an american representative.. Big Plus in my book. They have a feature in the desktop controller that sends the entire network stats and setup info to them so they can see exactly what's going on. Which saves everyone a lot of time. AGAIN REALLY REALLY SMART!!!!


WHAT I WISH FOR:I believe everything I wish the system could do, can actually be accomplished since its just software features. The units themselves are WELL thought out.

1. I wish that I could listen to my XM radio account. This isn't an issue with Sonos but an issue with XM. Currently you can only use your Sirius premium account. Since I have xm radio in my car it would require me to setup an entirely seperate account for sirius to be heard on my sonos. AGAIN, a Sirius XM issue not Sonos...

2. I wish I could stream my computer's audio through the sonos. I know you can do the audio in, but would be nice to just be able to stream an audio source from a computer wirelessly that has the sonos controller software running on it.

3. The sonos has an output jack which would allow you to connect speakers to it. But currently when you connect something to the output jack it turns off the speakers. Which makes sense if you're using headphones but I wanted to try and setup 3 speakers in my bedroom without having to use 3 units. But when I connect it, it turns off the speakers in the s5.

4. I wish they offered a $99.00 type airport express like unit that would allow me to connect an audio input to the sonos network without having to purchase an entire S5. Again, in my example of my bedroom, I wanted to be able to have speakers on either side of my bed and then sound from the front which could come from the tv. If I was able to purchase like a 99.00 unit that just allowed me to have an input jack to connect that audio i'd buy it.


AGAIN.. These are my wishlist items...lol.

THIS SYSTEM iS AMAZING!!!!!! It is the most well thought out wireless audio speaker system on the market BAR NONE!!!! Buy one and give it a try. You will fall in love with them as well!

After spending a good deal of time researching between a Bose Soundock and the Sonos S5, I finally took the plunge and went with the Sonos. I got it today and it absolutely amazing. Super simple to set-up. The software is a breeze. I already have an iPhone and it's just the perfect compliment. I also love that I can get my Sirius Satellite on it - and the free trials of Napster and Rhapsody are fun. The sound quality is amazing. I had a fist generation soundock and this is as good, if not better. There's also a huge wow factor when showing it to people or just using it yourself. It's some cool technology. The controls on the iPhone are pretty detailed too - including an equalizer (no presets thought) and an alarm you can set to wake you with a specific song, radio station, or whatever. I love it so much, i was moved to write this at 2 am. Very happy with my purchase, totally worth the money and I love that I can upgrade it later on (I just have this one unit hardwired to my router in my bedroom).

I bought the S5 as a second zone to my existing system. It took just minutes to set it up and add it to my existing setup. The sound quality is quite surprising for its size, quite comparable to a Bose Wave system. It certainly won't replace my stereo but it is a great addition to my home office and it gets a lot more use than my stereo.