sonos,speaker points,hi-end sound quality

[Enthusiast]

I know that the sonos thing has been hashed and rehashed on this forum but here goes. I obviously have sonos. I'm having a really hard time letting it go. The convenience offered to me by control 4 as a one stop shop for control is great. I have played with the music integration for control4 and lackluster comes to mind. Sonos is faster, more flexible and it doesn't crap out. Just for reference I am using the music feature of control4 on an hc300. Has anyone been successful in making a driver for sonos? If so how much did it cost? Also I don't see how you could have discrete volume control through control4 if you have a highend audio setup. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. The lack of marriage between these two products is disheartening to say the least.:/

[wappinghigh]

Hi. You are incredibly welcome on this forum!

I've been beating the drum on this one for nearly 12 months now! So much so they are sick of me

Don't ditch Sonos. Keep it. Whilst we wait for a driver and proper integration..

1/ Run the 2 platforms independantly and bring the control together onto an iphone/itouch....whilst waiting to:

2/ Do the same on a mac/pc (when someone writes a C4 software/IP controller)...whilst waiting for:

3/ Can I be bold enough to add the "codeman" has promised to look into writing a C4 driver for Sonos when the more flexible version 2.0 of C4 is released. ...

He is a really good and helpful guy. Maybee if enough of us "rattled the tin" (there are a few Sonos fans lerking on this forum), it would really happen.

I'd be happy to paypal someone a starter of say $500 to get the ball rolling , with the fallback that if they couldn't get it to eventuate, I'd buy some second hand C4 gear off them at a later date....

I know the interum "solutions" are makeshift and not ideal...but as you already point out, if you love multiroom audio, and you have used sonos...everything else seems a retrograde step..I mean I agree. Sonos is that good. A decent C4 driver is really that important. The two platforms are a marriage made in heaven. :cool:

[jberger]

Sonos doesn't want to be 3rd party integrated. I've been over this issue with them countless times, even during the release of the original bundles at CES 2004.

Most recently I had yet another converstation, that turned out a bit heated, with them at Expo 2 weeks ago.

I think they have a great product, but the lack of 3rd party control integration is going to kill them.

I've offered to loan out hardware for someone to write a driver, I'm not well versed enough in LUA to attempt it myself. Don't blame Control4, blame Sonos, and if you are a Sonos client, write the company and let them know you want integration to happen, NOW.

[wappinghigh]

I'm not blaming Control4 Don't worry, I've also bitched about it to Sonos..On the Sonos forum and .I've even spoken to them directly several times!

...till I'm black and blue :/ I totally agree that their continual lack of 3rd party integration will kill them eventually....

Geez..some of them even bullied me off their forum a while back because they wouldn't listen to this sort of "point of view"...

We've got a saying in my part of this world..."even a drovers dog knows it would be the right thing to do"

I dont know what else I can do either..other than drive everyone completely mad on forums like these :lol:

I'd probably even hire myself a lear jet right now and fly the 15,000 odd km across the other side of the planet just to tell the Sonos CEO what I really thought if I had the chance to meet him in person!:mad: It's just I also agree the message seems to be "falling on deaf ears"...!

Thanks for the recent expo "discussion"...would have loved to been there as well

It's going to take someone like the codeman to break out and show them the light....just like straight out of "The Blues Brothers". Someones got to write the darn driver!

And yes, in Sonosland, once that day comes, the sun WILL still come up in the morning AND "the people will rejoice" AND they will go forth and buy more SONOS gear!!!!

Can you do me a favor and add a Sonos driver request on Codemans "driver" poll

[thecodeman]

This Sonos thing had better make me breakfast in the morning too.

[ILoveC4]

Yeah, no kidding. Can I verbally tell it what I want to listen to, and have it auto adjust the volume based on ambient noise?

I just don't get the SONOS rave...

[wappinghigh]

Yep. Actually, You got it. Sonos is that good.

...You know with voice recognition and Audyssey in all new receivers these days, this isn't THAT far fetched from future possibilities! Now ya talkin'...He he he :lol:

[wappinghigh]

Sonos is faster, more flexible and it doesn't crap out.

Not to mention....

handles lossless and many other higher bit rate files

zone players can be put anywhere and feed pretty much any gear

snappy waterproof controllers and snappy iphone app

can burn a cd albumn or buy an itunes track and have it up and playing on sonos within minutes

can even see and sync your itunes playlists

Can control it all 2 way on controllers and computers similtaneously

Can have as many different sources as you like including internet radio playing in every zone all at the same time all instantly reflected on every controller

Can plug and play and move controllers around with ease

Is already in hundreds of thousands of households

Has sold to just as many hifi buffs: all who are most likely hi net worth individuals and are already interested in multiroom control and distribution...

[jberger]

The local radio integration is top notch and damn thing works so well it's scary.

I put them in anytime someone just wants music and no automation. I have yet to have anyone not call back after a week or so and thank me for selling them one. It's like you become a cult member or something. . .

[Enthusiast]

I knew this post would start something. Because of sonos I have ultimately lost respect for the music integration in control4. Had I have never had sonos I might have been smiling when my control4 dealer attempted to impress me there version of music. Sonos' biggest problem is its lack of a large on screen interface. Sooloos comes to mind. I agree that in the end if sonos doesn't decide to play with others, death.

[wappinghigh]

The local radio integration is top notch and damn thing works so well it's scary.

I put them in anytime someone just wants music and no automation. I have yet to have anyone not call back after a week or so and thank me for selling them one. It's like you become a cult member or something. . .

I new I forgot to add something to the list..(Didn't want to "upset" all the dealers out there)...to instal Sonos, you don't actually need an "installer"/dealer. It's DIY.

I actually bought my initial zone setup from a HIFI shop. Been adding zones and upgrading all by myself ever since. Now have 8 zones. All self installed. Firmware all self upgraded etc. It's how I actually got into all this crazy Home Auto stuff in the first place

But this is NOT a negative for C4/Sonos integration...and dealers "onselling" a C4 install. It's actually a positive. Why?

Because there are literally tens of thousands of DIY Sonos customers out there. A fairly well educated, but largely an untapped market. They may have never had a Home Auto installer/dealer relationship...yet by installing and using Sonos, they fully understand what this sort of technology is all about..

Get the C4 driver sorted. Then we blast it all over the Sonos forums.. :cool: ..A couple of us (non dealers) say how wonderful it all is .and you guy's reap the rewards. .....:D:D !!!

It's a win/win

[BriPink]

I think it's kinda funny to hear dealers complaining about a company's lack of desire to work with you. You see, that's exactly my experience with Control4.

From a hacker's point of view, the two systems are just the same. They're mostly closed, but they expose just enough of the system through the network that I can build systems to futz with them. The Sonos stuff is built on UPnP (with a small variant or two) and it's pretty easy to hack. There's even a 3rd-party web controller that works really well. The Control4 system is similarly easy to hack via the network.

The main difference? One I can buy myself and set up, the other I can't!