Sonos is boosting the appeal of its wireless multiroom system with the arrival of a new affordable package, the £699 BU130, Designed for those wanting to add multiroom audio capability, PC music streaming and internet radio to an existing hi-fi or home cinema system, the package includes a line-only ZonePlayer for to plug into an amp or receiver, a remote ZonePlayer with built-in amplification, and the company's Controller 100.
The ZP80 unit has analogue and digital outputs, and an analogue input to take a feed from a tape output on a receiver or amplifier. It can also connect to a home network via Ethernet to stream music from a computer or internet radio services, and supports a wide range of compressed music formats including MP3, WMA,AAC (MPEG4), Ogg Vorbis, Audible (format 4), Apple Lossless, Flac (lossless) music files, as well as uncompressed WAV and AIFF files.
The ZP100 adds onboard digital amplification, delivering 50w per channel, and connects to other ZonePlayers and the Controller 100 via a dedicated 'mesh' network, which operates entirely independently of any existing home data network. The Controller 100 can direct different music to each 'zone' or room, and up to 32 ZonePlayers can be combined to fill even the largest home with music.
Extra ZP80 units cost £249 each, and additional ZP100s £349, meaning that the BU130 package represents a 20% saving on the cost of the components bought separately.
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