Looking for a Turntable that can work with Sonos

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Wyvern

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Topic # 183771 29-Oct-2015 18:19

So, I'm a complete newbie when it comes to turntables, but heres what I'm looking to do...

I want to by my wife a turntable for Christmas. Neither of use are audiophiles so we don't need serious quality. I'm thinking budget up to $300ish.

Ideally she would really like a retro style, but I'm open to anything that will fit the bill really.

The main thing is that we don't have any speakers or an amp at the moment and I have been wanting to get a Sonos Play 5 (when the new version of that comes out soon) and probably a Play Bar (as about to get an xbox one soon also - happy days eh).

So, the turntable needs to be able to hook into the Sonos setup.

Can anyone suggest any options and how I might do this with minimal mucking around as I have no idea what Im doing here :)

So far I have found these options, but none really stand out in terms of being "cool retro" that I know my wife would like...

http://www.stereotype.co.nz/audio-technica-lp60-usb-turntable.html

http://www.avworld.co.nz/shop/product/dual-cs410/overview

http://paulmoney.co.nz/product/denon-dp29f-automatic-turntable/

And I don't even know if any of these can actually hook into a Sonos speaker. I assume I need a Sonos Connect or Sonos Amp (whatever they are?) also maybe?

Thanks for any help you could offer me!

A.

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Reply # 1416308 29-Oct-2015 18:49

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Generally the retro styled ones are junk and will have a stylus on them that is pretty hard on the records. You are paying for silly wooden trim and sometimes lighting etc on them, not quality.

Anything with an inbuilt preamp should connect straight into the line in on the sonos.

Richard rich.ms

Wyvern

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Reply # 1416312 29-Oct-2015 18:55

Thanks for that Richard, yeah I had suspected that the retro ones looked cheap and nasty so nice that you confirm that.

An inbuilt preamp - thats good to know then. Sounds like thats a must for me. But connecting straight to the line on on the Sonos.... what specific Sonos component does that mean I need then? the Connect or the Connect:Amp? Hoping its the Connect being the cheaper of the two?

richms

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Reply # 1416316 29-Oct-2015 19:00

Ive only had a bit of a play with a sonos, and the friends one just had an input on the back of it which was a line in. It was a speaker one, not one of the standalone amplifiers. Simple RCA to 3.5mm cable was all we needed to get sound into it and it worked about as well as any small speaker does.

Richard rich.ms

jonathan18

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Reply # 1416332 29-Oct-2015 19:07

If you can't find a suitable turntable with a built-in preamp, one alternative is to purchase an external preamp for this purpose.

Given you've indicated you're not too obsessed about sound quality, perhaps a preamp from somewhere like eBay may do the trick in this instance? Eg ones showing on this search. Perhaps others here may be able to pass comment on whether such cheap boxes give acceptable results as I've had no experience with them myself; for my last foray into using a turntable many years ago I had a preamp with a built-in turntable preamp.

Dunnersfella

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Reply # 1416347 29-Oct-2015 19:24

The Denon is probably the best of the bunch, even then it's not great.
Project rule the budget turntable market, but they will most likely be above your budget.
You'll need to go for a Sonos Play 5 as a minimum and will require a twin RCA to 3.5mm cable to connect the turntable to the Sonos.

Still, you'll be getting 'mono / simulated stereo sound' from your Sonos, so as long as you're not expecting a 'like you were there' experience, you'll be fine.

Wyvern

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Reply # 1416384 29-Oct-2015 19:45

Dunnersfella: The Denon is probably the best of the bunch, even then it's not great.
Project rule the budget turntable market, but they will most likely be above your budget.
You'll need to go for a Sonos Play 5 as a minimum and will require a twin RCA to 3.5mm cable to connect the turntable to the Sonos.

Still, you'll be getting 'mono / simulated stereo sound' from your Sonos, so as long as you're not expecting a 'like you were there' experience, you'll be fine.

Maybe I do need to think about upping my budget then if even the best one is not that great. I'll research that "project" brands. thanks for that.

regarding the "mono" sound - that doesn't sound good does it! I guess although I'm no sound expert, I would want decent quality - how do I avoid this mono sound? :)

A.

Dunnersfella

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Reply # 1416393 29-Oct-2015 19:53

Mono = one speaker.
Many speakers like the Play 1 / 3 /5 from Sonos will attempt to simulate true stereo sound... with varying degrees of success. But mainly, it's only for listening to in a very casual manner (in the kitchen while cooking tea as a good example).
Sonos do allow you to connect two Sonos Play speakers together and create a true stereo setup.
But now do the math... 2 x Sonos Play 5's = $1540 at the lowest price I could Google.

jarledb

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Reply # 1416427 29-Oct-2015 20:19

Dunnersfella: But now do the math... 2 x Sonos Play 5's = $1540 at the lowest price I could Google.

Or to put it another way, you could probably get a nice 2 x speaker + amplifier setup for the money you have to spend on the Sonos :)

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hyperman

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Reply # 1416434 29-Oct-2015 20:29

Wyvern:
Dunnersfella: The Denon is probably the best of the bunch, even then it's not great.
Project rule the budget turntable market, but they will most likely be above your budget.
You'll need to go for a Sonos Play 5 as a minimum and will require a twin RCA to 3.5mm cable to connect the turntable to the Sonos.

Still, you'll be getting 'mono / simulated stereo sound' from your Sonos, so as long as you're not expecting a 'like you were there' experience, you'll be fine.

Maybe I do need to think about upping my budget then if even the best one is not that great. I'll research that "project" brands. thanks for that.

regarding the "mono" sound - that doesn't sound good does it! I guess although I'm no sound expert, I would want decent quality - how do I avoid this mono sound? :)

A.

you may want to check that ...

the play 5 is a stereo speaker albeit it dose simulate it's stereo width, but no different to any sound bar

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer

richms

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Reply # 1416440 29-Oct-2015 20:36

How well do the wireless on the sonos sync up? The LG multiroom I got is pretty terrible. Not measured the delay yet but having 2 on makes it sound like one of those aweful effects that were popular on early surround recievers to make something come out the rear with a delay.

Richard rich.ms

hyperman

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Reply # 1416463 29-Oct-2015 20:54

richms: How well do the wireless on the sonos sync up? The LG multiroom I got is pretty terrible. Not measured the delay yet but having 2 on makes it sound like one of those aweful effects that were popular on early surround recievers to make something come out the rear with a delay.

really well !
I have them on a display at work running wireless I can run 2* play1, 2*play3, a play 5, a playbar and a sub all on the same network in a VERY crowded wireless environment with no issues

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer

Dunnersfella

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Reply # 1416823 30-Oct-2015 11:00

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hyperman:
Wyvern:
Dunnersfella: The Denon is probably the best of the bunch, even then it's not great.
Project rule the budget turntable market, but they will most likely be above your budget.
You'll need to go for a Sonos Play 5 as a minimum and will require a twin RCA to 3.5mm cable to connect the turntable to the Sonos.

Still, you'll be getting 'mono / simulated stereo sound' from your Sonos, so as long as you're not expecting a 'like you were there' experience, you'll be fine.

Maybe I do need to think about upping my budget then if even the best one is not that great. I'll research that "project" brands. thanks for that.

regarding the "mono" sound - that doesn't sound good does it! I guess although I'm no sound expert, I would want decent quality - how do I avoid this mono sound? :)

A.

you may want to check that ...

the play 5 is a stereo speaker albeit it dose simulate it's stereo width, but no different to any sound bar

If you consider something under 30cm wide as being able to provide 'stereo sound', then the bar may be set very low in regards to quality.
The question to ask... is if you go and listen to a band play, do they cram all the instruments into a space under 30cm?
It's a design aimed at convenience, not sound quality. While many speaker dock companies pretend otherwise, calling their little plastic speakers 'stereo' is simply fluff from the marketing department.

Basically, listening to vinyl is the domain of 'sitting back and really listening to music for the love of it'... it's certainly not a convenience thing that sounds good through plastic speaker boxes...
If the OP listens to a nice set of stand mounts and an amp then a Sonos - it will be an easy decision really.

Dunnersfella

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Reply # 1417598 31-Oct-2015 11:03

Multi-room speakers with an RCA input that can connect to a turntable etc.

http://soundgroup.co.nz/content/yamaha-nx-n500

It would be interesting to put the Play 5's side-by-side with the Yamaha's and listen to the two.

jarledb

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Reply # 1417757 31-Oct-2015 17:15

Interesting, Sonos does not list frequency response of the Sonos 5. For a "hi-fi" system, that is really strange. Thought I would be able to at least compare that between Sonos and the Yamahas.

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richms

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Reply # 1417770 31-Oct-2015 17:57

jarledb: Interesting, Sonos does not list frequency response of the Sonos 5. For a "hi-fi" system, that is really strange. Thought I would be able to at least compare that between Sonos and the Yamahas.

Nothing about power consumption or amplifier power, efficiancy, or even what spl it can achieve.

Also

Works on your home WiFi network with any 802.11b/g, 2.4GHz broadcast capable router.

is quite worrying, no 5GHz and doesnt even mention 802.11n.

Richard rich.ms

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