In its five years of existence, Sonos has acquired an enthusiastic following of music lovers, keen on the idea of streaming their PC-based music collections to Sonos units set up throughout the house.
But such a system has never been cheap. To set up Sonos in just two rooms costs $1,149, including one set of speakers.
The Sonos ZonePlayer S5, available later this month, is a remedy to that problem: This all-in-one device receives PC and Internet music wirelessly and is controlled with an iPhone or iPod Touch.
Each unit costs $399.
The S5 is like an iPod sound dock on steroids; rather than sticking the iPhone on the unit as you would an iPod, you use it to control the various S5 units in your home. And that’s a smart idea, because a dock is probably the last place you want to leave your cellphone.
Years ago, multiroom audio was the stuff of champagne wishes and caviar dreams. And even until recently, it was still an expensive proposition. Breaking the $1,000 barrier is a welcome development. Eric A. Taub
