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Sonos Amp

I hesitated to ask about the new Sonos Amp here assuming that in general Sonos is not considered hi-fi.

However, I have some Sonos speakers around my home that is primarily for my wife. She enjoys the simplicity and she is fine with the SQ as she is not an audiophile. In each room they are paired and play in stereo. I do not find the SQ to be objectionable for casual listening. None of this is tied into my primary system.

Now I have an opportunity to get a very nice pair of speakers for free or cheap. They would be great in our living room where they would also be used mostly for casual listening but sometimes serious listening, but again, would be separate from my main system which is in a different room.

I would like to tie these new speakers into the Sonos system. And I'd like to do this for cheap if possible.

It seems like the options are: A small discrete integrated amp plus the Sonos Port. That would be $450 for the Port plus the price of whichever integrated I paired it with. Plus it would be two components when I'm trying to keep this as small and invisible as possible (to keep my wife happy and the decor uncluttered). OR the Sonos Amp. It puts out 125wpc and gets good reviews.........but not necessarily from audiophiles, I could not find any hi-fi reviews. It would be $650 with no other expenses as well as small and discrete


All of which is to explain why I'm looking at the Sonos Amp in the first place.
Does anyone have experience with one? Does it sound like it would meet my mid-fi, multi-room needs while allowing me to take advantage of a nice pair of free speakers?


Any help appreciated,
George

n80
audiojedi
225 posts
 
What speakers?  I can tell you that the Sonos amp sounds pretty good and way better than the Connect Amp which was a bit mushy sounding in comparison.

If the speakers are reasonably efficient you're good if they're power hungry you might want to go with a Port and a separate integrated amp.

For example I heard the Sonos amp to a pair of Totems (tribe towers maybe?) and it didn't sound good at all but your middle of the road KEF, Monitor Audio etc around 90db efficiency it'll drive quite well and it really sounds quite good especially considering everything it does.
n80 OP
2,100 posts
 
I hesitated to mention which speakers because the Sonos Amp will not be equal to them in quality. It is a pair of Aerial Acoustics 6Ts and/or a pair of 5Ts.
This is an estate/inheritance issue. It is not clear if I will have an option to get these but it is distinctly possible.
However, it looks like their are several nice amps that I might have access to as well as a Sonos Connect. If I can get one of the amps I could use it with the Sonos Connect's line out (I'm assuming).
None of this may come to pass, which is perfectly fine, but I want to have a plan if these speakers/components become available.
Thanks for the input.
audiojedi
225 posts
 
Looks like the 6T are 90db efficient so you should be fine with the Sonos amp and although they are 4 ohms it sounds like Sonos are saying work with them no problem.

You'll likely be surprised at how well it does but I'm sure you can easily buy with a 30 day return policy just in case you have a real mismatch on your hands.
n80 OP
2,100 posts
 
@audiojedi Thanks. That is good to know. Had not even looked at the specs on the 6T and didn't realize they were 4 ohms.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Currently it is am estate/probate issue (not a contentious one fortunately) but all the courts are closed due to the pandemic so no telling when this will get resolved.
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