Sorry...another Sonos/Heos related question.

[rea]

So I'm trying to figure out an audio situation and would appreciate some guidance. I have distributed audio in my house for 6 zones that are all tied into a Control4 8 zone matrix amp. All inputted music is currently coming from my EA5 via the connected services or my own connected drive. I have a couple of rooms in the house that don't have speaker wiring to them that I would like to throw some speakers in and, of course, I'd like to integrate them into my whole home system.  I figure either the Sonos or Heos route is the easiest way to go to do this. I have a Sonos Playbar integrated with one of my TVs and really like the audio quality. I also have a Denon AVR with built-in Heos (haven't used Heos yet). So I have a foot in the door of each ecosystem already but don't have tons of equipment tying me to either. 

I haven't had any issues with the new driver using my Sonos Playbar but I use it almost exclusively for TV audio. From what I've read on here, the new driver is pretty bad for integrating Sonos speakers as music zones. I really want to be able to control the music in these rooms through the Control4 app and be able to add/remove them as zones as seamlessly as possible. The wife really likes things easy and if she has to "app-hop" between Sonos and Control4 to make these zones work, it's a deal breaker.

Would a Sonos Connect hooked into my EA5 and matrix amp allow me to send music to the Sonos speakers in these non-wired zones through Control4's native music options (my music, Shairbridge, Deezer, etc.)?  Not having access to all of the services in Sonos (or Heos, for that matter) is not really an issue for me. It does sound like Heos integrates really well and would do everything I want, I'm just not as familiar with their stand-alone speakers and haven't heard as much direct praise for them as I have for the Sonos speakers.  

 

 

  

[BraydonH]

I really only use a few Audio Solutions these days.

Apple Airport Express - For AirPlay - I find it much more reliable than shairbridge. I use a No Control Driver with a nice icon.

Google Chromecast Audio - For Casting from Android - Works great, I like it better than AirPlay. I use a No Control Driver.

Built in TIDAL and Deezer (We dont have Pandora in Canada, never tried Napster/Rhapsody) I don't have a preference between Tidal or Deezer they are both great.

That pretty much does the trick for anything. As far as built in Spotify just give it up and Cast it using the Spotify app. You will be much happier.

I have given up on Sonos and Heos other than their awesome Sound Bars. And the drivers works great to control the Sound Bars if you want.

[rea]

On 8/16/2017 at 4:52 PM, C4junkie said:

they have dug there own grave in the eyes of HA custom installers that company Sonos. Good riddance as far as I am concerned

That sounds like a vote against Sonos, haha.

I don't currently have a Spotify subscription, but like the service. Have been paying for Deezer since I got Control4 for the native integration and have been happy with it so far but am not tied to it for any reason. I'm not in a huge rush to do this project so maybe by the time I get around to it, Spotify will be native to Control4 (CEDIA 2017 maybe???). If I was able to select the Heos wireless speakers AND my built-in Control4 speaker zones through Spotify connect, that would actually be pretty easy and solve the "one app" issue I'm trying to accomplish with my wife. 

Braydon, I do have the Sonos Playbar and think it's great. Integration seems to be solid with it that's what made me consider going Sonos. I use Airplay a lot (via Shairbridge) and haven't had any issues with it so far. I suppose just some Airplay speakers are an option too.