The rest of you, think on your current Sonos speakers: are they good enough? No? Well, these ones are better. The focus groups they’ve been running must have gone something like “No, everything’s great, actually. I guess we could use a bit more power.” And that is how the Sonos S5 was born. Stereo tweeters and mid-range drivers, plus a sub in each unit.

Trouble is, these fancy magic speakers cost $400 each. Zounds! Of course, some would say they’re worth it. Personally, I just turn up my speakers loud enough that I can hear them in the shower or while cooking, but that’s not really the most sophisticated solution (though I must say it is elegant).

What we have here is the Sonos CR200 controller that was leaked a couple weeks back. By now, I’d imagine most of the CG audience is familiar with Sonos and what they’re all about, so I don’t really need to dive into that. All you really need to know about the CR200 is that it features a 3.5-inch capacitive VGA touch-screen and has a kickass keyboard. Just check out the video to see what it’s capable of. Available now for $350.

Sonos CR200 Datasheet US

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – July 28, 2009 – Sonos®, Inc., the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems, today launched a state of the art music Controller for the home, the Sonos Controller 200 (CR200). The new full-color Sonos Controller features an ultra-responsive touch screen display making it easy to quickly find and play all the music you want, in any room of the house, and all with the touch of a finger.

“Finding and playing music all over the house needs to be so easy that anyone who walks into a home can pick up the Controller and start playing DJ,” says John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. “Sonos has applied our seven years of experience designing wireless music systems for hundreds of thousands of customers in more than 60 countries to deliver the most innovative and intuitive way to find, play and control music anywhere in the home.”
The Sonos CR200 is 100% dedicated to providing a great music experience throughout your home so everything — from the hardware and industrial design to the software and user interface — works together to make controlling the Sonos system fast, easy and fun. The Sonos CR200 features a 3.5” full-color VGA display (640×480 pixels) and comes with a capacitive touch screen for accurate and responsive operation. The convenient touch screen keyboard enables rapid search of the world of music, including multi-million song jukeboxes (Napster® and Rhapsody®), more than 25,000 radio stations and podcasts, SIRIUS® Internet Radio, and of course, your own personal music library. It also makes the creation of custom radio stations from services like Last.fm and Pandora® incredibly easy. The quick intuitive interface provides rich graphics that display what music is playing and in what room all while making it a pleasure to view artist information, cover art and more. The CR00 is styled with an anodized precision machined extruded aluminum case and soft durable rubber backing that fits comfortably in your hand. The CR200 includes ships with the Sonos Charging Cradle 200 so it’s always easy to find and charge your Controller.

Other Sonos Controller 200 features include:

Easy set up – A few simple steps are all that’s needed to get Sonos up and running using the new Controller.
Instant on — Pick up the Controller or touch the screen and it’s instantly ready to play music.
Dedicated buttons — Mute, Volume and Zones buttons provide shortcuts to the most often used functions.
Quick, intuitive search — Instantly find the artist, song, radio station, or radio show you want to listen to by typing on the on-screen keyboard. Suggestions are provided as you type.
Superior wireless performance — The CR200 works on SonosNet (Sonos’ proprietary mesh network) ensuring that you get the best wireless performance of any wireless music product on the market with no interference.
Easy zone management — Take music with you as you move through the house by linking rooms with ease (and without interrupting music playback).
Multi-room volume control — Change the volume in a single room, or in several rooms, all from the same screen.
Great for using outdoors — The CR200 features a transflective screen, making it easy to use while listening to music outdoors on a sunny day.
Long-life and replaceable battery — Comes with a high capacity lithium ion battery that gets about five days of usage between charges and can easily be replaced.
Compatible — The CR200 is compatible with all existing and previously purchased Sonos Multi-Room Music System hardware.

Also today, Sonos Software 3.0, a one-button software update, was made available to all Sonos customers. Sonos 3.0 brings new music discovery tools to the Sonos multi-room music experience when using the Sonos CR200 or Sonos Controller for iPhone – Info View. This new feature provides one-touch access to rich music information, like artist bios, album reviews, concert listings, and lists of similar artists. Info View is available on Last.fm and Rhapsody and can be accessed using the Sonos CR200 or Sonos Controller for iPhone.
In addition to enabling the new features of the CR200, Sonos 3.0 allows the CR200 to work seamlessly with any existing Sonos Controllers, including the CR100, Sonos Controller for iPhone and Sonos Controller for Mac or PC. Sonos 3.0 also provides Controller support for the latest Operating Systems. Sonos now supports Mac OS 10.4 and above (including 10.6), Windows XP and above (including Windows 7) and iPhone OS 3.0. The new Sonos Controller for iPhone 3.0 is expected to be available via the iTunes App Store after receiving approval from Apple Computer.

Pricing & Availability

The Sonos Controller 200, which includes the Sonos Charging Cradle 200, has a suggested retail price of $349 in the United States and is available worldwide beginning today at authorized Sonos dealers and at www.sonos.com. Also, the CR200 is available today as part of the new Sonos Bundle 250 ($999 suggested retail) which also includes a Sonos ZonePlayer 90 and a Sonos ZonePlayer 120. The Sonos CR200 replaces the Sonos Controller 100, which has been discontinued.

Unless you’re down to hobble your own crazy homebrew set-up, tinkering with wireless audio systems is a damned expensive hobby. Everytime I read about these products, I imagine some rich old dude tango’ing himself around his mansion with a rose in his teeth and an air-partner in his arms.

Linksys’ just announced “Wireless Home Audio System” is an obvious attempt at a shot across Sonos‘ bow – we’ll have to wait until we get our hands on it to see if Sonos has any reason to be wary.

Here’s what makes up the system (Left to right in above image):

The Player: sends audio from the system to your already in-place home theater system by way of RCA cables. 300 bucks, model ID: DMP100

The Conductor: A “Self contained wireless music system”. Its got a seven inch touch screen for accessing your library, built-in speakers, and a CD player (you know, just in case.) Includes one remote. Pricing and availability not yet announced

The Director: Essentially a 100-watt amplifer access hub with an LCD display, and RCA output. Price: 450, Model ID: DMC250

Speakers: They make sounds. That’s about all that’s available about them thus far – outside of their inclusion in certain bundles and the standalone price, not much is being said about them. Price: $150

The Controller: Connects to the network by way of 802.11n, and is controlled by way of D-pad or touchscreen. This is how the old dancing rich guy would pick his next song. Price: $350, Model ID: DMWR1000

Also announced, though not pictured above, is an iPod dock (MCCI40) which you can nab for 80 ducats. Once it’s docked and on the network, you can access your iPod content as you would anything else on the system.

Cisco Multi-Room Home Audio Solution Enhances and Extends
the Listening Experience for Consumers

Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio makes it easy to play music
from a variety of sources wirelessly throughout the home

Las Vegas – January 7, 2009 – Cisco® today announced the Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio system at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. From the world leaders in networking, the Wireless Home Audio system utilizes Wireless-N technology to deliver a rich audio experience to any room in the home. Users can create a party atmosphere with immaculate synchronization when listening to the same song throughout the entire home, or send different music to customized “zones”. The Wireless Home Audio solution also puts millions of songs at your fingertips through integrated Internet services such as Rhapsody, AudioLounge, and RadioTime. An optional Docking Station for iPod enables your content on Apple iPods™, including Podcasts, Audio Books, and purchased iTunes content, to be played through any Wireless Home Audio device on the network. Wireless Home Audio products also work great with the newly announced Linksys by Cisco Media Hub that gathers and presents the available media on a network.

Facts/Highlights:

Complete Solution
The Wireless Home Audio product family includes three available options for playback devices that allow consumers to bring wireless audio to any room – the all-in-one Conductor, the Director with powerful amplifier and the Player which is the ideal addition to existing sound systems. A Wireless-N Controller enhances the Wireless Home Audio experience by providing touchscreen access to all available audio from anywhere in the home. Consumers can easily unleash audio from their iPods by simply slipping it into the available Docking Station for instant access to all of the songs, playlists, and other audio content on the device. In addition, with millions of songs available from Rhapsody in the US and AudioLounge in Europe, Wireless Home Audio users can search for tracks, discover new artists, and create playlists to be sent to any room. A “Favorites” function gives one-touch access to any content from any source.

Great Audio Quality, Precise Synchronization
Cisco, the world’s leader in networking technology has applied its years of knowledge and expertise to develop an amazing lossless digital audio delivery solution that preserves the full depth and richness of the recording, as originally intended by the artist. Through distributed decoding technology, each Wireless Home Audio device receives unmodified audio source material without any trans-coding or compression. The audio is then reproduced and synchronized to within microseconds, virtually eliminating echo artefacts so often evident in other wireless audio systems.
Wireless Simplicity
With Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio, music can be unleashed from existing digital libraries that are stored on a PC or other device, integrated Internet services, or even an iPod, with no need to run new wires around the home, or undergoing complex home renovation to install the devices. As a complete wireless solution, Wireless Home Audio products enable consumers to fully equip their homes with a world of music that is at their fingertips.
Standards-Based Compatibility 
Following Cisco’s standards-based approach to networking, the Wireless Home Audio products utilize Wireless-N technology to provide greater value to the consumer by allowing each device to achieve its full potential as an extension of the solution rather than requiring that one of the devices be hard-wired to a router. Wireless Home Audio products have been built to utilize the DLNA 1.5 standard, extending the value of the solution by making it accessible to and from a broad variety of devices. The products are compatible with standards such as HomePlug, Wireless-G, and Ethernet to allow consumers to choose the mix of networking technologies that is right for them.

Products

Conductor DMC350 Wireless-N Digital Music Center
The Conductor is a complete, portable, self-contained wireless music system with integrated speakers that can be used to bring music to any room of the home. All it needs is a power outlet. It features a seven inch LCD touch screen for easy navigation through your music library and an integrated CD player to play those songs that you have not digitized yet. An individual IR Remote is included.

Director DMC250 Wireless-N Music Player with Integrated Amplifier
Features a 50-watt per channel integrated amplifier powerful enough to be placed in any room as a more permanent solution to access digital music, and includes a line in and out to connect to speakers. Its full color LCD display makes navigating through your music library simple. An individual IR Remote is included.

Player DMP100 Wireless-N Music Extender
Allows you to access digital music from existing stereo or surround sound systems in the home. Its compact design allows it to blend well with any décor making it an ideal option to extend music to any room in the home utilizing your existing audio equipment. An individual IR Remote is included.

Stereo Speaker Kit DSPK50 
designed to compliment the Director – Wireless-N Music Player. Pair them to create a complete, high-quality wireless sound system and experience your digital music all around your home, at your control.

Controller DMWR1000 Wireless-N Touchscreen Remote
Designed to control the complete Wireless Home Audio system wirelessly. It features a large, color touchscreen, thumbwheel, and engaging interface designed to let you easily control any one or every one of your Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio devices, including a docked iPod, from anywhere in your home, even when they’re out of sight.

Docking Station for iPod MCCI40
Allows consumers to extend their available Wireless Home Audio library to include all of the content on their iPod, including Podcasts, Audio Books, and purchased iTunes content.

IR Remote DMRIR500
Comes standard with the Conductor, Director, and Player. Its simple button layout and slim form factor allows you to easily control your audio devices when you do not have a Controller nearby.

To simplify the purchasing process, three Wireless Home Audio kits are available:

Premier Kit:
A two-room starter kit that includes Director and IR Remote, Player and IR Remote, and Wireless-N Controller.

Trio Kit:
A kit for consumers looking to add the power Wireless Home Audio to their existing audio systems, the Trio Kit includes 2 Players, 2 IR Remotes, and a Wireless-N Controller.

Executive Kit:
An easy way to add a Wireless Home Audio capabilities to any room, the Executive Kit includes a Director, IR Remote and matching speakers.

Supporting Quotes:

Greg Memo, vice president and general manager, products, Cisco Consumer Business Group.
“After years of research and testing, we are answering the consumer’s call for a wireless home audio system that seamlessly consolidates music content from all of their sources into one solution with incredible audio quality. By both expanding the amount of accessible music and simplifying the experience, we have developed a family of products that work together to greatly enhance the experience of enjoying digital music throughout the home.”

Mike Wolf, director, Digital Home, ABI Research
“We believe that today’s home usage paradigm for digital music will transition from being PC-centric to one that is networked and accessible throughout the home. Cisco’s products allow consumers to enjoy their digital music collections over the network and point to where we believe this market is going.”

Worldwide Market Trends:
In a recent IDC survey, 46% of home network owners and 27% of non home network owners were interested in streaming music from their computer or the Internet to their stereo. (IDC, June 2008)

ABI forecasts total worldwide networked audio shipments will grow from 6.4 million to 38 million with a CAGR of 68%. (ABI, 2007)

Nearly a fourth — 22% — of US households have at least one iPod. That’s nearly 25 million households that currently have an iPod. Thirty percent of them have more than one iPod. (Forrester 2008)

Pricing and availability:
The Wireless Home Audio products are available in the United States from authorized Linksys by Cisco retailers, authorized resellers, and VAR partners. Cisco anticipates availability in stores in Denmark and The Netherlands during the first quarter of 2009. The Conductor will be available in the first quarter of 2009.

Estimated street prices are as follows:

Premier Kit – $999.99/ €999.99
Trio Kit – $849.99/ €849.99
Executive Kit – $549.99/ €549.99
Conductor – Pricing available at launch
Director – $449.99/ €449.99
Player – $299.99/ €299.99
Stereo Speaker Kit – $149.99/ €149.99
Controller – $349.99/ €349.99
iPod Dock – $79.99/ €79.99
IR Remote – $29.99/ €29.99

We’ve reviewed a lot of home audio solutions, and they all offer different benefits and drawbacks. The big trend is “music everywhere”, whether through powerline networking or wirelessly. Most of these products require a specific music source to feed into the system. Sonos brings something rather more complete to the goal of “music everywhere”. Read on for the complete review of the Sonos solution.

I’ve been testing the Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers combined with a Sonos ZoneBridge, and I have to say that this is an absolutely kick-ass product. The Sonos selling point is the idea of “zones” (read: rooms) each of which is capable of playing music from independent sources, all managed with a full-color handheld wireless controller. You can play the same music in every room, or give each room its own soundtrack.

Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers
The Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers is a complete solution for pumping music into two rooms. It includes the ZonePlayer 120 and the ZonePlayer 90, along with a Sonos Controller and a pair of bookshelf speakers. The ZonePlayer 120 provides power to the bookshelf speakers (or your own speakers), while the ZonePlayer 90 connects to your home theater or stereo equipment for output.

Both of the ZonePlayer units have RCA inputs, so you can feed it music from an existing audio source. They also both have a 2-port Ethernet switch, so you can connect one of them to a broadband router to access a variety of network-based music sources (Last.fm, Rhapsody, Pandora, Napster, or your own music collection on a Windows share). You can use the two-port switch to squeeze these devices into an already-full switch, which is a helpful addition for folks with way too many network-connected devices.

There is no interface on any of the ZonePlayers other than simple volume controls. You use the Sonos Controller to manage everything. You can also use the Desktop Controller software to manage your zones from your PC or Mac, or you can use the free iPhone application to control everything.

The Controller is a hefty handheld device. You can plug it directly into AC power to charge the battery, which takes about 2 hours, or you can use the Charging Cradle, which I strongly recommend — especially since it’s currently being included for free with any bundle purchase. It has an accelerometer inside that detects movement, so it usually comes to life as soon as you pick it up. That’s a really nice touch. If you leave it lying around it’ll eventually go into a power-saving mode, requiring you to press one of the buttons to wake it up. Wake up time take a couple of seconds, but not so long as to be really annoying. The battery life of the controller is great: I’ve left it out of the dock for about a week now, using it at least a couple times a day, and the battery has just now depleted.

Sonos ZoneBridge

The ZoneBridge provides no audio output. It has two Ethernet jacks and that’s it. You use the ZoneBridge to connect to your Ethernet network. If you don’t have an Ethernet switch, you can place the ZoneBridge between your broadband router and your PC; or you can plug it into a port on your switch. The ZoneBridge then brokers all the Internet access required by the other devices in your Sonos setup, since presumably your audio equipment isn’t likely to be located in the same room as your networking gear.

Setup
Set up is extremely easy, and the Quick Setup Guide is surprisingly helpful. You can use the supplied software to set everything up, or you can do it all directly from the Sonos Controller. I chose the latter. Plug everything in — there are no power buttons on any of the devices — and then turn on the controller. It discovers the devices nearby, and asks you to press both the mute button and the volume up button on any of them. This puts the device in “configure” mode, and then you use the Controller to give it a name. Repeat this process for each device in your Sonos network. Since the controller is wireless, you can easily walk from room to room configuring your setup in a couple of minutes.

You can register your setup with Sonos directly from the Controller after setup, which I found extremely handy. Once registered, the system can automatically download software updates. Sonos has put a lot of effort into making this thing “just work”, and I think they’ve succeeded admirably.

I was able to easily connect to a share on my home server. The music was indexed, and ready for me to play within a couple of minutes. All the ID3 tags on my mp3s were read, allowing me to navigate my music collection by artist, album, genre, composer, track title or folder. It also provides a search function.

I have a pretty boring collection of music, so I next added last.fm. After keying in my account name and password, I was able to play my neighborhood, or manually key in tags or artists. I’ve found myself streaming a lot of last.fm into my living room since I hooked up the Sonos.

Usage
You can group your zones together, so that they all play the same music at the exact same time. Even without setting up specific groups, you can activate “All Zones Party Mode” to play the same music through all of your Sonos gear.

Each zone can have its own queue of music, which you can control. You can add new music — single tracks, whole albums, or all the music in your catalog — to the end of an existing queue, or you can replace the current queue with your selection. You can set up and manage specific playlists within Sonos, as well as feed it playlists you might have created in .PLS, .M3U or .WPL files.

You can listen to broadcast radio, which surprised me somewhat at first. You’re certainly not going to buy this thing just to listen to your local radio station, but it’s a nice feature to have handy.

Another nice feature is the alarm mode, which lets you specify what music you want to play in which zone(s). Multi-zone alarm clocks: cool! You can wake up to one music source, and you can wake the rest of the house up with another music source. The Controller allows you to snooze for 9 minutes, just like a normal alarm clock.

As for input:

Support for compressed MP3, WMA (including purchased Windows Media downloads), AAC (MPEG4), Ogg Vorbis, Audible (format 4), Apple Lossless, Flac (lossless) music files, as well as uncompressed WAV and AIFF files.

Native support for 44.1kHz sample rates. Additional support for 48kHz, 32kHz, 24kHz, 22kHz, 16kHz, 11kHz, and 8kHz sample rates.

Wireless
Each Sonos device will get an IP address in your network. They speak to one another over “SonosNet, a secure AES encrypted, peer-to-peer wireless mesh network.” For giggles, I pointed nmap at each of them. The only open port it found was 1400/tcp, which was reported as cadkey-tablet. nmap reported that they’re each running Linux 2.4.18.

Curious, I ran wireshark for awhile as I used the Sonos, to see what sort of traffic I might see. The only thing it collected was lots and lots of Spanning Tree Protocol packets, presumably for the mesh networking. I got bored after that, and went back to listening to music.

Shortcomings
In a word: price. These things are expensive. The Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers is $1149.00. You can shave off $150 and just get the Sonos Bundle 150 if you already have speakers to use with the ZonePlayer 120. The ZoneBridge is $99. A spare controller is $400, and the Controller dock is $40. You’re getting an awful lot of functionality for the money, but it might be too high a price for some folks to stomach.

The other notable shortcoming is that these things don’t speak iTunes. It’s not an AirPort Express, but rather a whole lot more. Still, I’m somewhat surprised that you can’t stream iTunes to the Sonos. Similarly, you can’t play Apple FairPlay songs. Nor can it play WMA Lossless files.

UPDATE: I just got a call from the folks at Sonos, and they wanted to make it clear that while the Sonos gear won’t speak the DAAP protocol used by iTunes, it will play non-DRM media in your iTunes library if you make it available via an SMB share.

A minor nuisance is the scrollwheel on the controller. It works, but it can be a bit laborious to enter text using this thing. In fact, the interface on the controller is a little awkward in general. You have the scrollwheel, shortcut buttons for “Zones” and “Music” along with a “Back” button above the wheel, and simple music controls for “back”, “play/pause” and “forward” buttons beneath the wheel. Along the left are mute and volume. Then under the screen are three context-sensitive buttons. It’s these buttons that I found annoying: you need to actually look at the screen to find out what they do, and they sometimes do what you would expect the center button on the wheel to do. It’s not a deal breaker, by any stretch, but it would be nice to see a slightly more elegant interface in such an expensive product.

The bottom line: if you can afford it, I think Sonos offers the best multi-room wireless audio solution we’ve reviewed yet. Robust support for local and Internet audio sources, an extremely functional wireless handheld controller to manage all your zones, and a plethora of extra features make this a complete package.

Those of you with Sonos equipment already filling your abode with the sweet tunes of your music library and an iPhone or iPod Touch should promptly hit up Apple’s App Store and download their free app now. It may or may not be available right this second, but it should make its way to the App Store sometime today. There are two other Sonos apps currently available but they want you to pay $15 for each.

Having seen the app in person I can say that it’s very intuitive and easy to use. You will also be prompted to update your Sonos’ firmware to 2.7 today so that it is compatible with the software. So if you bought Sonos equipment in 2005 and you own an iPhone then you’re sittin’ pretty. A demo of the app in action and other screen shots are available after the jump.

But that’s not the only announcement Sonos has for today.

Sonos 2.7 unleashes 15,000 Internet radio stations from across the globe and free access to Last.fm and Pandora (everything syncs on the fly with both Last.fm and Pandora to your accounts online).

Other new features of Sonos System Software 2.7 include:
• Updated Rhapsody support with improved sound quality. Rhapsody now streams at 192 MP3 (versus 128 kbps WMA previously).
• Support for RTSP streaming protocol which allows for expanded Internet Radio coverage.
• Dutch and Swedish languages are now supported in the Sonos system software. Sonos already supports English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
• For more information about the features of Sonos Software 2.7, please visit: http://www.sonos.com/support/software_update.aspx.

I think what they’re trying to say in this video is that the new Sonos CR100 remote is completely water proof which means you can can leave it by the pool next to that bottle of Jack Daniels without worrying that your “house guests” might drop it into the deep end. Note: you can probably stop watching this at about the 2 minute mark.

Sonos just announced smaller receivers and players. The ZP120 – with amp – is 43 percent smaller and the ZP50 – without amp – is a standard receiver. Both use MIMO for increased range and link quality. If you’re familiar with the current Sonos line-up you’ll be doubly impressed by the size of these little buggers.

The entire kit, along with the LCD-based remote, connects to PCs and Macs and can stream audio to multiple rooms or zones. The real draw of the Sonos system is the zone system which allows you to play different music in different rooms. For example, my living room could be the drum and bass room while the basement could be the chill out room. The bathroom could be full of whale-song.

Pricing is still unannounced for the U.S.

UPDATE – All of the releases appear below.

SONOS INTRODUCES THE SONOS ZONEPLAYER 120 AND SONOS ZONEPLAYER 90

Wireless Range and Amplifier Design Innovations Deliver State of the Art Multi-Room Music Experience

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – August 5, 2008 – Sonos®, Inc., the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the home, today introduced two new ZonePlayers to deliver a state-of-the-art multi-room music experience. With innovations in both wireless technology and amplifier design, the Sonos ZonePlayer 120 (ZP120) and the Sonos ZonePlayer 90 (ZP90) make Sonos the ideal system for music lovers who want to enjoy all the music they love, all over the house. The new ZonePlayers are available starting today at all Sonos authorized retailers and at www.sonos.com.

The two new Sonos ZonePlayers give music lovers the ability to add music to absolutely any room. Connect speakers to the amplified ZP120 and place in the bedroom or the backyard. The non-amplified ZP90 can be connected to a home theater or stereo, allowing customers to make use of the audio equipment they already own.

“Sonos’ mission is to fill every house—and every room—with music,” said Phil Abram, President & Chief Operating Officer, Sonos, Inc. ”These new products continue Sonos’ heritage of blending the latest technology, software and user experience to create an unmatched music experience in the home.”

The new ZonePlayers incorporate SonosNet™ 2.0, our latest wireless mesh network technology, which doubles the wireless range of the Sonos Multi-Room Music System. SonosNet 2.0 uses Sonos’ mesh network combined with state of the art MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) wireless technology which uses 3 antennas to send and receive music. SonosNet 2.0 helps assure the music gets to all the right rooms, near or far, at the right time – creating perfect synchronization of music without all the wires. The extended range works between any mix of ZP120s and ZP90s and is compatible with all previous generations of Sonos ZonePlayers, Controllers and ZoneBridges.

Sonos ZonePlayer 120

Advances in power supply design, digital amplifier engineering, industrial design, and mechanical engineering make this the smallest, lightest, most powerful amplified Sonos ZonePlayer ever. The incredibly efficient amplifier and power supply, combined with the fan-less design of the aluminum case, allows the ZP120 to operate silently. The ZP120 delivers 2×55 watts per channel RMS at 8 Ohms. With measurements of THD+N < 0.02%, 20Hz-20kHz, the ZP120 delivers powerful low distortion audiophile quality sound to every room of the house. The ZP120 can be connected to speakers and discreetly placed on a bookshelf, under furniture or beds, or hidden in cabinets with connections to in-wall speakers.

The ZP120 will retail for $499 individually. It is also included as part of the Sonos Bundle 150 (see accompanying press release) for $999.

Sonos ZonePlayer 120 Technical Specifications

· Class-D Amplifier: Great sounding amplifier that is lightweight, small and very energy efficient
· Output: 2x55W RMS (55W power into 8 ohms, TDN+N<0.02%)*
· Speaker connections: Spring binding posts
· Line In: Auto-detecting RCA allows any external audio source to be played by all ZonePlayers in the system
· Subwoofer out: Auto-detecting RCA, 80 Hz crossover
· Wireless connectivity: SonosNet™ 2.0, a secure AES encrypted, MIMO peer-to-peer wireless mesh network
· Network bridging: 2-port switch (10/100Mbps, auto MDI/MDIX) allows Ethernet devices to connect through SonosNet
· Power Supply: AC 120/240V, 50-60Hz, user-switchable
· Dimensions: W 7.3 inch x H 3.5 inch x D 8.15 inch (W 185mm x H 89mm x D 207mm)
· Weight: 5.1 lb (2.3 kg)
· Product finish: Anodized precision machined extrusion aluminum case. Aluminum casing also facilitates passive cooling.

*Both channels driven, minimum continuous average power, 22Hz-20KHZ-AES17 measurement bandwidth

Sonos ZonePlayer 90

The Sonos ZonePlayer 90 allows music lovers to play all the music they want, all over their house, on all of their favorite audio equipment—a home theater system, powered speakers, a premium table top radio such as a Bose Wave® Radio, and more. It is the easiest way to integrate existing audio equipment into a multi-room music system.

The ZP90 will retail for $349 individually. It is also included as part of the Sonos Bundle 150 (see accompanying press release) for $999.

Sonos ZonePlayer 90 Technical Specifications

· Sound quality: THD+N < 0.009%, 20Hz-20KHz
· Line-out: Analog (RCA), digital (optical and coaxial)
· Line-in: Analog (RCA), auto-detecting
· Wireless connectivity: SonosNet™ 2.0, a secure AES encrypted, MIMO peer-to-peer wireless mesh network
· Network bridging: The 2-port switch (10/100Mbps, auto MDI/MDIX) allows Ethernet devices to connect through SonosNet™
· Power Supply: AC 100-240V, 50-60Hz
· Dimensions: W 5.5 inch x H 5.4 inch x D 2.9 inch (W 139.7mm x H 136mm x D 74mm)
· Weight: 1.5 lbs (0.69 kg)
· Product finish: Light gray, high quality PC

Sonos System Technical Specifications

· Audio formats supported: MP3, WMA (including Windows Media DRM), AAC (MPEG4), Ogg Vorbis, Audible (format 4), Apple Lossless, Flac (lossless) music files, as well as uncompressed WAV and AIFF files. Native support for 44.1kHz sample rates. Additional support for 48kHz, 32kHz, 24kHz, 22kHz, 16kHz, 11kHz, and 8kHz sample rates.
· Music services supported: Best Buy™ Digital Music Store, Napster®, Pandora®, Rhapsody® 3.0+, SIRIUS® Internet Radio, and downloads from any service offering DRM-free tracks, including Amazon MP3™, eMusic® and more.
· Operating systems (for stored files): Windows® XP SP2 or higher, Windows Vista™ Mac OS X v10.4 and v10.5 NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices supporting CIFS.
· Internet radio supported: Streaming MP3, WMA
· Album art supported: JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF
· Playlists supported: Rhapsody, iTunes®, WinAmp®, Windows Media Player®, and MusicMatch™ (.m3u, .pls, .wpl)

In conjunction with today’s ZP120 and ZP90 announcement, Sonos also introduced Sonos Software 2.6 to all Sonos customers. The new feature update includes more than $200 in DRM-free music offers, support for music collections with up to 65,000 tracks, and more (see accompanying press release.)

Sonos is the first wireless, multi-room music system that lets you play all the music you want all over your house — and control it all from the palm of your hand. To learn more about Sonos, to place an order or to locate an authorized Sonos dealer, please visit www.sonos.com or call 877.80.SONOS.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SONOS GIVES MUSIC LOVERS A STATE OF THE ART MULTI-ROOM MUSIC EXPERIENCE

New Sonos Bundle 150 Brings Music to Every Room

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – August 5, 2008 – Sonos®, Inc., the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the home, today introduced a new state-of-the-art multi-room music system. Now music lovers can play all of their favorite music in every room—from the bedroom to the backyard—without breaking through walls or rewiring the house. With Sonos ZonePlayers spread throughout the house, music fans can play the same song in different rooms, or different songs in different rooms. And with the wireless Sonos Controller in hand, choosing what to play and where to play it couldn’t be easier. Simply pick a room, pick a song and hit play. The Controller provides instant access to millions of songs and radio stations — including music files stored on a computer, free Internet radio stations, and the most popular online music services.

The new Sonos Bundle 150 (BU150) is the most convenient and cost effective way to experience the excitement of wireless multi-room music. The bundle includes two Sonos ZonePlayers (amplified and non-amplified) and a Sonos Controller so music lovers can get started playing music in two rooms of the house. Enjoying more rooms of music, more control or both, is as easy as adding ZonePlayers and Controllers. The new bundle retails for $999 and is available starting today at Sonos authorized retailer or at www.sonos.com.

In one convenient package, the BU150 includes:

· A Sonos ZonePlayer 90* (ZP90) which can be connected to an existing stereo or home theater receiver to instantly make it part of a multi-room music system.
· A Sonos ZonePlayer 120* (ZP120) which has a powerful audiophile quality amplifier which can be connected to speakers and placed in any room; from the bedroom to the backyard.
· A Sonos Controller 100 (CR100) which enables users to find and play the music they want from anywhere in the house all from the palm of their hand.

*See accompanying press release with details and specs of new ZP90 and ZP120

“The new Sonos products provide the best wireless range and a powerful digital amplifier and make it easier than ever to get great sounding music to the most distant corners of the home,” said John MacFarlane, Chief Executive Officer, Sonos, Inc. “Innovations like these reinforce our position as the leader in wireless multi-room music and our commitment to bring the joy of music to every room of the house.”

The BU150 is the most cost effective way to start a multi-room music system. The $999 pricing represents a 20% discount off of the sum of the individual Sonos products. Sonos is also offering a Sonos Bundle 150 with Loudspeakers for customers who also want a pair of Sonos speakers to attach to their ZP120. The BU150 with Loudspeakers will retail for $1149.

In conjunction with today’s BU150 announcement, Sonos also introduced Sonos Software 2.6 to all Sonos customers. The new feature update includes more than $200 in DRM-free music offers, support for music collections with up to 65,000 tracks, and more. See accompanying press release.

Sonos is the first wireless, multi-room music system that lets you play all the music you want all over your house — and control it all from the palm of your hand. To learn more about Sonos, to place an order or to locate an authorized Sonos dealer, please visit www.sonos.com or call 877.80.SONOS.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW SOFTWARE FROM SONOS GIVES CUSTOMERS EVEN MORE MUSIC TO ENJOY

Feature Update Includes More Than $200 in DRM-Free Music from Classical.com, eMusic and LiveDownloads.com

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – August 5, 2008 – Sonos®, Inc., the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the home, today released Sonos System Software 2.6. Sonos 2.6 gives Sonos customers access to free music downloads valued at more than $200, when they register their new or upgrade their existing Sonos Multi-Room Music System. The free one-button software update is available to all Sonos customers and is available now for download.

The Sonos Multi-Room Music System is unique among consumer electronics products because it keeps getting better over time. Sonos’ software updates provide new and existing customers with new features, free trials to music services, free downloads to expand their digital music library, and more.

After customers register or upgrade their system with Sonos 2.6, they will receive more than $200 worth of DRM-free music offers from world-class music partners Classical.com™, eMusic® and LiveDownloads.com. These offers provide customers with an extensive choice of albums, tracks and concerts. Here is a snapshot of what every registered Sonos customer will receive:

· 3 DRM-free albums (1 classical, 1 jazz and 1 world) from Classical.com. Classical.com is a digital music service with a library dedicated to the latest and greatest classical, jazz, & blues and world music. Browse by composer, genre or country and explore new music with the Classical.com playlists.
· 50 DRM-free music downloads and 1 free audio book from eMusic. eMusic is the world’s largest retailer of independent music, offering more than 3.5 million tracks from thousands of the world’s top independent labels spanning every genre of music.
· 10 full, DRM-free concerts (MP3) from LiveDownloads.com. LiveDownloads is the ultimate download source for live concert recordings. Download last night’s show from hundreds of artists and browse the catalog of more than 100,000 exclusive live tracks.

“We want to connect our customers with the music they love, so they can enjoy it all over the house,” said Phil Abram, President & COO, Sonos, Inc. “By providing free feature updates, their experience continues to get better even after they buy Sonos. Today that means helping our customers build their local music collection with offers from world-class music partners.”

Other new features of Sonos System Software 2.6 include:

· Support for SonosNet™ 2.0 and MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) wireless technology
· Support for larger music collections with up to 65,000 tracks stored on a local music collection stored on a PC, Mac or Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices
· Support for NasBasic firmware which allows more than 15 different brands of NAS devices to serve as a local music source
· Support for Apple® Computer operating system Mac OS X Leopard

For more information about the features of Sonos Software 2.6, please visit: http://www.sonos.com/support/software_updates/.

In conjunction with today’s software update, Sonos also introduced the new Sonos Bundle 150 and new Sonos ZonePlayers 120 and 90. See accompanying press releases.

Sonos is the first wireless, multi-room music system that lets you play all the music you want all over your house — and control it all from the palm of your hand. To learn more about Sonos, to place an order or to locate an authorized Sonos dealer, please visit www.sonos.com or call 877.80.SONOS.

Sonos, makers of everybody’s favorite way to stream music throughout your house, has announced a partnership with Sirius. The deal: Beginning today, if you’ve got Sonos’ Zoneplayer hardware, you can download software that lets you stream 80 channels of the satellite stuff–including Howard Stern and the NFL. It’ll be free for 30 days, after which point it’ll ring up to $12.95 per month for new Sirius customers, or $2.99 if you’re already a subscriber.

Of course, Sonos already streams content from Rhapsody and Pandora, meaning that this is just one more step in their every-increasing web of alliances that could make them the daddy of streaming services. Not bad for a company that doesn’t even approach the name recognition or size of the CE giants. And still no telling what effect, if any, an XM-Sirius merger would have on this deal.

On the same note: Sirius is set to announce a bunch of new recievers later today, so stay tuned for what’s in store.
[via BusinessWeek]

This week: Computers, set-top boxes (like AppleTV), and AV
receivers are battling to be your household hub, streaming music and
movies back and forth across your pad until you become sterile and
glow in the dark. All this gear is versatile, but it’s hard to know
which one to pick — especially when hefty sums of money are involved.
Sonos and now Denon seem to have the most promising solutions, but
life is passing their equipment by while gadgets like the iPhone and
Archos’s 605 WiFi threaten to swoop in and take all.

If I can get my digital music from any place to any other place with
no wires in between and control it easily, I’m a happy audio geek.
But assuming you have a reasonably sized budget, how do you choose
among dedicated streaming hardware (Sonos, Squeezebox, etc.), Media
Center-type PCs, straight-up networking gear (AirPort Express,
Sondigo), and networked home stereo components?

At a press event the other day, Denon introduced some very cool
networked stereo gear that has a lot of potential, thanks to a TV-
screen interface that functions as your command center. But it’s
going to have a tough time competing with some of the stuff already
out there, not to mention what’s just on the horizon.

What’s new
Denon turned over its entire line of AV receivers for the first time
in 10 years, but the most noteworthy changes came at the top end:
Denon’s 5308CI ($5200) and 4308CI ($2500) both have built-in WiFi and
USB inputs for hard drives and some portable players. The WiFi is for
things like remote maintenance, multizone music distribution (similar
to Sonos), and Internet radio, and streaming music from an iPod (via
an optional $129 dock).

Of course, these aren’t the first WiFi receivers and won’t be the
last, but it does show that the big boys like Denon and Sony are
trying to retain the living room control they’d had in the pre-
wireless era. And other WiFi-capable stereo components are garnering
attention, like Olive’s line of high-end CD players, which can stream
music from anywhere on your network — or as I accidentally found out
back in my days in PC Magazine Labs, it can take down a swath of a
corporate network).

The hottest thing Denon introduced the other day, though, was an iPod
dock that also turns any stereo component into a wireless music
system. You just hook it up to your receiver and/or TV, and it can
access files from anywhere on your home network using your TV screen
as a navigation interface.

Impressive, but even with their reliance on handheld remotes, all of
these tether to your TV screen for browsing and controlling your music.

Best of what’s around
Sonos’s wireless digital music system and handheld controller (with a
big LCD and iPod-like scroll wheel) seems to hold the most promise in
terms of convenience, and the entry point there is $1000. It’s hard
to beat taking your music around with you and wirelessly controlling
it in every room in your home. But honestly, that controller is
pretty ridiculous to lug around while you’re hosting a party, and the
other remotes on my living room couch are scared of it.

Sonos is on the right track, but the controller could just as easily
be a bitchin’ WiFi music player (iPhone? 6G iPod?), not a big brick
with only a few more features than a paperweight. The current iPhone
could easily be rigged up to transmit signals to WiFi-capable gear
with a simple firmware upgrade — in fact, someone should do an
infrared transmitter attachment so you could use it to turn on your
TV! (Might as well… no one really talks on the iPhone
anyway, do they?)

What’s next
I remember being amazed 7 or 8 years ago when I saw a buddy of mine
take out his PDA and turn it into a fully customizable remote for the
TV set — it was brilliant! Where did this idea go? Hopefully into next-
gen music players from companies like Apple, Archos, iRiver, and
even Microsoft.

If you’re wondering whether you should make a big investment in a
wireless streaming audio setup, consider that in the next year or so,
the iPhone/iPod/Zune combined with something along the lines of
Apple’s AirPort Express or Denon’s new WiFi gear could be what keeps your digital music — and
probably video — pumping to every nook and cranny of your house.

The image above was created by Leah Perrotta, a Brooklyn-based artist and all-around lovely gal. Check out her stuff every week right here on the AudioFile, and Flickr.

The Sonos BU130 is available today in more than 440 stores and will be featured in more than 600 stores by the end of 2007. It will be showcased with a live, interactive multi-zone display.

Depressingly, however, the wider availability does not signal a price drop for the excellent, but expensive, device — it will maintain its $999 price tag. Nevertheless, the greater visibility afforded by a prominent Best Buy display is certain to augment Sonos’ sales greatly and increase awareness of the company.

Sonos
Best Buy

The move could signal a significant strengthening of the core for Sonos, who, to date, has released superb products, but only managed to cater to a mostly niche market. As of now, however, it remains unclear what sort of impact this hire will have on the company. We’ll continue to monitor the goings-on at Camp Sonos and keep you all posted on whatever gels.

Users can also opt to include a Loudspeaker 100, bringing the package total to $1,149. Previous bundles will be discontinued. Sonos’ complete new pricing scheme follows the drop.

Sonos also announced today that a 30-day trial of Pandora would be included with all new devices. How much effect this will have on either company is uncertain, but it is, at least, good for users.

* Sonos Bundle 130 – $999.00
* Sonos Bundle 130 w/ Loudspeaker 100 – $1149.00
* Sonos ZonePlayer 80 – $349.00
* Sonos ZonePlayer 100 – $499.00
* Sonos Controller 100 – $399.00
* Sonos Charging Cradle 100 – $39.99
* Sonos Loudspeaker 100 – $179.00

Sonos

TC has most of the HOT SCOOPZ, but Pandora for Sprint will stream radio stations to Sprint handsets for $3/month after a 30 day trial. Pandora for Sonos lets you grab the goodies through the Sonos music system, which is definitely a plus for fans of that amazing service/technology.

TechCrunch is also reporting:

Pandora has also redesigned its website to better integrate the listening and community features. The company says they now have 6.9 million registered listeners who have played 4.7 billion songs and voted up or down half a billion times. They play 94% of their entire catalog every day, so they are dipping far into the long tail of music.

Read more at TechCrunch…

The word “audiophile” gets bandied about so much that it seems in danger of losing its true meaning as a descriptor for a grade of products that is of such high quality that most of us can’t hope to afford then. But this year saw quite a few items blurring the line between audiophile and consumer audio, as higher-end components are finding their ways into almost-affordable products. The eight deliciously designed audio toys below are my favorites of 2006, and while they’re not exactly cheap, you don’t have to be Paris Hilton to get one in your holiday stocking this year.

Wireless Audio: Audiophile Goes Digital

Now that audiophiles have given the thumbs up to going digital, thanks partly to lossless compression, they can take it to the next level: wireless. The Sonos ZonePlayer ZP80 consists of two small boxes (each with digital outputs) and a nifty LCD controller stream audio files from your PC to your stereo via a WiFi mesh network, and you can control multiple simultaneous streams independently for up to 32 rooms. Sonos also has a partnership with Real for a month of unlimited streaming access to the 2.5 million track Rhapsody catalog.

If you want to leave your PC out of the equation, The Olive Opus is a killer digital music server, complete with premium components like four 24-bit/192kHz Burr-Brown DACs, a linear power supply, and a high-end CD player/burner. The super-quiet hard drive comes in 400GB, 500GB, or 750GB capacities, so you can store tons of CDs in WAV, FLAC, or MP3 format and send them to your receiver via digital outputs. An integrated networking module lets you create an ad hoc network or connect to an existing network via 802.11g wireless or wired Ethernet so you can access Internet radio or your iTunes music collection. You can even connect your iPod directly.

Speakers: Less Is More

Speakers are getting smaller, but their sound seems to be getting bigger thanks to better DSPs. I was shocked when I heard the Klipsch RT-12d digital subwoofer in a recent demo. It doesn’t look huge, but the front-firing 12-inch subwoofer and two passive rear-firing 12-inch radiators (hooked up to an 800-watt on-board amp) pump out such tight, punchy, and powerful bass that you’ll think you’re in a club. The three-sided design lets it fit snugly in the corner of a room, taking advantage of room acoustics to give you an extra boost at the low end. The integrated DSP is controllable via a top-mounted LCD to digitally tailor the sound for your room.

I’m generally not a fan of all-in-one audio systems, but Geneva Lab is really onto something with its Model L (100 watts) and Model LX (600 watts). They combine a CD player, an FM tuner, an iPod dock, and an excellent pair of speakers in a single cabinet (aluminum stand is optional). The glossy finishes (black, red, or white) look ultra-chic, and the red LEDs behind the speaker grille are a nice touch. But what impresses me most is the surprisingly wide sweet spot and crystal-clear sound.

Purists and hard-core gamers may scoff at virtual surround, but Bose’s new Companion 5 2.1-channel speaker system for PCs does a great job at making you think sound is coming from where it isn’t. The two satellites and compact Acoustimass are very compact and attractive in their graphite-colored case. The handy control pod lets you adjust volume (or mute) as well as connect headphones and a secondary audio source. Of course, you’ll pay for the name as well as the quality, but these are my new fave 2.1-channel PC speakers.

DAW: A Princely Workstation

When I saw the Open Labs MiKo Portable Media Workcenter in action for myself, I drooled a bit. Prince uses one of these bad boys on stage, which is a good enough recommendation for me. The base configuration combines a single- or dual-core 2-GHz AMD Athlon 64-bit processor, 80GB hard drive (pre-loaded with Windows XP), 512MB of RAM, three-octave musical keyboard, QWERTY keyboard, dual-layer DVD burner, 4-in/6-out soundcard, MIDI controllers, tons of I/O options, a full set of DJ controls, and a 15-inch touchscreen LCD. Talk about taking it all with you.

Headphones: Ultimate Three-Ways

The headphone buzzword this year is triple-driver, and these two are tops in my book, but for different reasons. Shure’s triple-driver E500PTH in-ear headphones cram three tiny speakers in each ear bud, plus they come with a Push-To-Hear module that can be inserted inline between the headphones and your portable audio player so you can hear what’s going on around you at the flick of a switch. Yes, the headphones sound great too, with seriously beefy bass and very impressive detail.

I heart the UE triple.fi 10 Pro’s unbelievably expansive sound just as much as I love the tighter sound of the Shures—maybe even more. They use the same high-frequency driver as the one in UE’s top-of-the-line custom personal monitors used on stage by just about every major act you’ve ever heard of. They’re cheaper and more comfy than the Shures, but you don’t get the fancy PTH module.

What does all this audiophile goodness mean for you, the consumer? It means you don’t have to sell your first-born for a pair of Krell speakers just to get sound quality that’ll blow you away. If you can shell out the bucks for any of the items above, your ears will thank you over and over again—just promise me you won’t use any of them to listen to your illegally downloaded 128Kbps Britney Spears MP3s.

By combining Sansa and Rhapsody, SanDisk and Real are trying to make sure their customers get a complete “experience” to rival the iPod/iTunes “experience”. This is a similar tactic that Microsoft is taking with its Zune players, making it not play protected music. At first we thought the Zune’s non-support for PlaysForSure was a typo, but they are most likely going to bundle their Zunes only with their Zune Marketplace music content, ensuring the 1-to-1 relationship that iPod and iTunes has.

In addition, Rhapsody has also partnered with Sonos, allowing them to provide an integrated music solution for the living room as well.

We’ll see if RealNetwork’s reversal of their old tactic of universal playability will have any effect on the iPod + iTunes tsunami.

IPod, TheyPod: Rivals Imitate Apple’s Success [WSJ]

Sonos is one company that’s been putting out products that work in this new frontier. Their ZonePlayer series music boxes take audio from your PC (or Mac, or Linux whatevs) and plays it via your stereo or home theater system, all via WiFi. And with their Controller, you have a high-tech wireless interface right in your hands.

So what could make these easy-to-use products even better? Real Networks. Yes, that Real Networks. Sonos and Real have struck an agreement that now allows Sonos devices to work with the Rhapsody music service. So, for $10 a month, you’ve got access to pretty much any music you want from their collection of over 2 million songs and over 100 radio stations. While the subscription idea for digital music isn’t a hit for portable devices, it makes sense for home audio.

If you decide to grab yourself a Sonos device, you’ll get your first 30 days of Rhapsody for free. It’s not a bad offer, and it’ll be interesting to see how popular it becomes. With this increased competition from Rhapsody and Zune, I’m wondering if Apple with throw iTunes into the subscription-based fray.

The Sexy Sonos-Rhapsody Love Child [Tech Crunch]