Sonos Controllers ? Wireless control of your Sonos Multi-Room Music System
by Sonos
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List Price: Our Price: $289.99 You Save: $109.01 (27%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $87.00 (click here) Category: Receiver or Amplifier See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sonos Controllers ? Wireless control of your Sonos Multi-Room Music System
Customer Review: Solid Sound System
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought 4 controllers and ZP100's 3 months ago. They come with great instructions and I plugged them into my wired switched network (1000mbs/24) Port network. Well, in short order, my entire network came down due to a network storm with my network bogged down in traffic. This apparently is a well known issue with Sonos's and you can find this on their site FAQ's. I unplugged them from my wired network and allowed them to connect wirelessly over WiFi. Works great now. The Sonos site has a list of switches/routers that are not compatible with Sonos.
I have a medium sized library of 1500 CD's/14,000 songs and the interface on the controller makes it easy to skip forward/back to my selection. Playlists work well. My version does not support WMA Lossless which is what I had been using for my music server. Consequently, I used iTunes to re-encode everything to 320kbs and it sounds great.
Other than the issue with the network storm (details at the Sonos site), the Sonos system works great.
Customer Review: Works well, could be better
Summary: 4 Stars
This remote works well and does a lot. I have 3 boxes and 2 remotes, and they all work together quite well - a pretty amazing feat, I think. You can play songs off your hard drive, off rhapsody, can make and retrieve play lists, etc. The remote is a bit large, but when you figure its basically a small computer and which establishes a wireless connection to the other Sonos boxes, you can understand that it must hard to cram all that hardware in a smaller package - this also explains the price.
On the negative side, the remote does take 10 - 20 secs to boot up, which can be annoying. Also, about once a week you have to reboot the controller, which is easy enough (hold down two buttons on the controller), but also annoying. Finally, I wish there were an easier way to search for artists on rhapsody, which I do all the time.
Overall, its a nice piece of hardware in a nice system.
Customer Review: Sonos CR 100
Summary: 4 Stars
The price of the contoller is my only concern. The unit does it's job very well, and allows fine tuning of all SONOS function in all zones. I couldn't ask for more. I can't think of anything that is lacking. Yet, the price, at nearly $400 for the controller alone is more than a bit steep. You pretty much have to have the docking station to keep the unit charged in a convenient way, so why not bundle the controller and docking station together?
If this unit were priced at $150 it would be a good deal. I figure that the SONOS folks know how essential the remote is for the convenience of the overall system, and have priced to gouge, as you have to have at least one controller to get the most from your system. I am very happy with SONOS overall, but feel a bit gouged on the controller.
Bottom line: buy what you need and cry all the way to control of your system.
Customer Review: Poorly Designed Remote
Summary: 2 Stars
For an otherwise flawless system, the Sonos Controller is very poorly made. The product is large, bulky, awkward, and a bit heavy, but without the "substantial and well-constructed" feeling that heavier items should provide. While the large screen is a plus, the scroll wheel is almost painful to use. Compared to the iPod's scroll wheel, the Sonos wheel almost seems like a couple of vertical and horizontal motional detectors packaged as a circle. The unit often freezes, and only guesswork with random key strokes or a lengthy wait will cure the problem. Battery life is average, and expect to keep it docked (or plugged in) when not in use. I do not recommend this product, especially for its ridiculously high price, but it seems that there is no choice if you want the Sonos system.
The Sonos Zoneplayer system, as evident in my reviews of the ZP100 and ZP80 bundles, is excellent.
Customer Review: Sonos Rocks!
Summary: 5 Stars
This hand-held controller is much better than simply using the computer desktop interface and larger than the iPhone interface. It was much less expensive buying pre-owned from Amazon users that purchase bundled packages and have a controller left over to sell. Although the outer package was not from the factory, all products inside were individually in factory sealed wrapping. If you're tired of listening to the same CDs in your collection and you either have digital music on your computer or especially high-speed Internet, Sonos is for you. I highly recommend Sonos and buy it all from Amazon resellers, if available. The unit arrived in a timely manner as well.