What’s wrong with stereos? Nothing, if the local FM stations or your old Edgar Winter vinyl is all you need. Oh, you’ve upgraded to CDs? Great. Can you still buy those things?
I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I only poke fun a these traditional music systems (my Electro-Voice speakers still take up most of the living room cabinets) to emphasize the advances introduced by Sonos in their ZonePlayer S5 wireless multi-room music system. Each of these devices looks something like a bookshelf loudspeaker. But behind the grill are 5 separate speakers. There are 2 tweeters, 2 mid-range drivers and 1 subwoofer, each with their own Class-D digital amplifiers. The rest of the electronics package is a wireless connection system that allows you to set as many of these as you want around the house and they’ll all play the same song or each can play something different.
What’s driving the music? Your electronic song collection on your computer. You can also tune-in Internet music services, such as Pandora, or choose from a huge selection of Internet radio stations. You simply connect one of the S5 units to your router with an Ethernet cable and the others will form a mesh network to get a wireless connection.
What’s even cooler is the iPhone app for Sonos. Your iPhone or iPod touch becomes a portable controller to select what music plays on which ZonePlayer. Sonos also sells a dedicated controller if you don’t have the necessary Apple gadgets. Or go without the controller and use your computer to run the show.
You’ll have a hard time believing just how different this system is without watching the video and reading through the descriptions. Take a few minutes and check out the amazing Sonos ZonePlayer Wireless Music System .
