Re: Multiroom amp advice

[Peter + Jane <pandj.munnoch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I (we) are 100% Sonos fans. Love it, especially=20
after 3 years living in a caravan with almost no=20
music while we built the house.
I guess it depends what your priorities are. If=20
you have really good speakers and a really good=20
ear for fidelity, maybe Sonos is a bit lacking,=20
but if you want music and other radio to be=20
integrated into your life, Sonos works.We have=20
friends with a recently installed "integrator"=20
supplied system with wall controls. Their amps=20
and speakers are doubtless much more expensive=20
than ours (they can afford it, and good luck to=20
them). We wouldn't swop, as sitting down with a=20
wireless controller or iPad is perfect. Link=20
zones, different sources in different zones. It=20
is flexible. Funnily enough these friends gave us=20
there old system. We never used it. The Sonos=20
offer is just too easy to live with.
So my advice (FWIW ie not a lot!) is think about=20
how you would like your system to work for you.=20
Going the wrong way for a piece of bargain kit wouldn't convince me
HTH
Peter
PS Squeeze box is also good (daughter has it..sort of "nearly
Sonos")
PPS No involvement, links etc, just a delighted user.

At 21:43 01/11/2010, you wrote:
>
>
>I was wondering if anyone can provide me with a=20
>bit of advice regarding multi-room amps.
>
>I was originally looking at spending around the=20
>=A3500-=A3600 mark for a standard amplifier. While I=20
>was looking around a local specialist hi-fi shop=20
>I saw that they had an ex-display multi room amplifier for sale.
>
>It's an old Niles ZR amp (eight-source,=20
>six-zone). It comes with two in-wall keypads=20
>(one touch-screen keypad and one hard buttoned=20
>keypad). They're asking for just under =A31200. I=20
>would need at least another two keypads though so the price would rise.
>
>Currently I've got a central standard amp which=20
>feeds into a 5 way speaker switch which then=20
>feeds off to speakers in five rooms (there are=20
>volume controls in each room). I've also got=20
>Cat5 cable feeding to every room so I was=20
>thinking that a multi room amp would slot right in.
>
>So, finally, my questions are:
>Is this a good price for this amp? I've googled=20
>for Niles ZR amps but didn't have much joy.=20
>Also, are there any multi-room alternatives I=20
>should be considering in this price range? I=20
>know the amp is quite an old amp so how would it=20
>compare to something like Sonos?
>
>Just in case anyone's wondering, the reason I=20
>went from considering spending =A3500-600 to=20
>considering spending =A31200 is that for true=20
>multi-room functionality I'm prepared to spend=20
>more. Saying that, I consider myself to be at=20
>the budget end of the HA spectrum. So, while I=20
>can afford this amount, I wouldn't really consider spending any more
than =
this.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Dave
>
>


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