Sonos BU130 Digital Music System Bundle
by Sonos
(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: SonosBrand: Sonos
Edition: Electronics
Model: BU130
Color: Matte aluminum
Publisher: Sonos
Studio: Sonos
Music Label: Sonos
Product features:
- Includes two Sonos ZonePlayers and one Sonos Controller
- Lets you enjoy the music files on your PC or networked hard drive anywhere in your house
- Hassle-free wireless networking capability
- Controller offers a 3.5" color LCD and a clickwheel control the provide easy browsing of your PC music library and independent control of each ZonePlayer in your system
- Multi-zone synchronous playback (same music plays in multiple zones simultaneously) or multi-stream playback (each ZonePlayer plays individually selected music)
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sonos BU130 Digital Music System Bundle
Customer Review: Spectacular way to fill home with iTunes, radio, etc.
Summary: 5 Stars
Please know that Amazon had an amazing deal on Sonos in which it offered the BU130 bundle for $999 but also threw in a charging cradle (model CC100) and a pair of Polk Audio R150 Two-Way Bookshelf Loudspeakers at no additional cost. I bought 2 of those bundles because it was a great deal, but only bought two because we hadn't used Sonos yet. Now, I wish I had bought more. We love Sonos.
It was easy to setup the software to find my iTunes collection, which is stored on an external drive connected to a Mac mini. It found all the MP3s and lossless encoded songs. However, Sonos is not able to play the purchased iTunes songs with DRM protection. (Apple now sells some songs without DRM and some with DRM). From what I've read, nothing other than iTunes can play those songs. Some people have found work arounds, but 99% of my music was ripped into a lossless or MP3 format directly from CD, so that limitation is minor to me. People with large collections of DRM protected songs might see this as a deal breaker though.
The physical setup was very easy, too. To get things started, I connected the ZP80 from the bundle (1) to my home theater stereo and (2) to my router / computer. That allowed the software setup described above. Already, that unit could play my iTunes collection and the Internet radios via the Sonos remote control. Then, I plugged the ZP100 into a power outlet in a different room and connected some speakers to it. After telling the software package to add the ZP100 and giving it a name I had to press and hold some flashing lights for a few seconds. It took less than one minute to add the second zone. Then, I could listen to my music collection in that room, too.
I've since purchased a few extra ZP100's and have seven zones in the home. We can play the same song in all seven zones (perfectly synchronized between rooms) or we can send different songs to different rooms.
The remote control is very easy and intuitive. It operates A LOT like an iPod, but with a bigger screen and some extra buttons that come in handy. Although, after playing with some friends' iPhones, we look forward to a day when the Sonos controller is just a touch screen... Still, it's very easy to use and very powerful allowing the user to send whatever music to whatever location at the same or varying volume levels. Linking / unlinking two or more zones is easy.
Sound quality is audiophile grade and perform very well through our Dynaudio speakers.
The free music trials are an unexpected benefit. Rhapsody was great and give instant access to 2,000,000 on demand songs for less than the cost of one CD per month. Napster was much less impressive.
A few other feature are nice, too. (1) Each zone can also transmit an extra audio source to all the other zones. For example, I'll connect a turntable to one of them, then share the LP sounds throughout the entire house. (2) The ZP100's and ZP80 can be either hardwired with ethernet cable or they connect wirelessly, automatically as described above. I noticed that the ZP100 actually works as a router allowing it to share a single internet connection with several other devices you might have in that room. (3) These devices are reasonably small and can be hidden. (4) Album art is displayed on the controller, and the controller has "power scroll" is a nice way to move quickly through large music collections. Just zip down to artists starting with "X", then scroll to Xavier Rudd. (5) ZP100 has an separate subwoofer connection and automatically detects is a subwoofer cable is connected. That's an easy way to make small, less expensive speakers sound better, like the free R150's Amazon gave me.
Description of Sonos BU130 Digital Music System Bundle
Sonos BU130Digital Cameras and Photo Categories