Sonos s1 connect or sonos s2 connect

[web mail]

Hello,

 I would like to include a pair of old powered speakers in my wifi music network.

At the moment I have a brennan B2 wired to my hifi amp and a sonos one generation 2 via wifi. I can play whatever I wish to either the hifi or sonos. 

I have an idea that a sonos connect could essentially be used  convert the old speakers to wifi speakers and iclude them in the set up.

My question is whether the Brennan b2 would see the old sono connect s1 as a speaker or if it is necessary to have a sonos connect s2 as the sonos speaker aready linked is a geneartion 2 sonos one?

Has anyone experience of using a sonos connect with the brennan b2?

Thanks in advance.

Duncan

[JFBUK]

Hi Duncan,

would the powered speakers just be an alternative to your wired speakers and Sonos , i.e. you don't need to output to them and one of the others at the same time ?

Are the powered speaker Bluetooth enabled and physically are they close enough to your B2 to be in Bluetooth range ?

John

[Daniel Taylor]

I understand that the Connect has been discontinued.  After 2022, it will no longer be supported by Sonos.  It's replacement is the Port, which is more expensive.  You should investigate whether the Connect can communicate with the generation 2 Sonos speakers.

[web mail]

Hi John,  Thanks for your reply.  The hifi, sonos one and the powered speakers ( which are part of an old music system) are in separate rooms so the Brennan would output to only one of them at any time. The powered speakers don't have Bluetooth. The only input is via a hifi type cable hence my thought of attaching them to a sonos connect and that to the brennan 2b via wifi. 

[web mail]

Hi Daniel, Thanks for the reply. The Connect has indeed been discontinued but 2nd hand models are for sale on ebay. The Port is markedly more expensive and its gets some poor reviews for its musical qualities which have been criticised as poorer than the Connect which it replaced and the bottom line is that for the use I am planning to make of it I don't wish to pay as much as a new Port. Hence I have been wondering if an old Connect s1 (cheapest option) would be seen by the Brennan B2 as a sonos device or if I would need to obtain a Connect s2, more expensive 2nd hand but much cheaper than the Port.

Duncan

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi Duncan,

I am no expert but my understanding is that the B2 is NOT seeing speakers themselves BUT rather the speaker configuration and names as set up in the Sonos App. The B2 communicates with the Sonos App not the speakers themselves.

Thus if you can "do" a Sonos speaker in the Sonos App, you can output to it from the B2, if it is discontinued by Sonos so Sonos cant use it then the B2 will not be able to either.

Fred

[web mail]

Hi Fred,

That is actually very helpful as sonos has 2 apps. The sonos 1 app for the very old generation 1 speakers etc and a sonos 2 app, which is what my present sonos one speaker uses. So even if the Brennan can communicate with the sonos 1 app as well as the sonos 2 app it would make things clunky having to use 2 apps. If the Brennan only sommunicates with the sons 2 app then the older Sonos Connects are a definite no go.

Thanks

Duncan

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Duncan and Fred,

I recently attached two Sonos One SL (2nd Gen) speakers to my network and these are working very well with my B2s.  I'm not yet very familiar with the technical level workings but I'm on the learning curve.  So I thought that I would put a couple of points to think about here.

As far as I can see, the Sonos app is only required to perform the initial connection of the speakers to your home network.  The Sonos app registers the Sonos speakers on the network, gets IP addresses for the speakers and once the speakers are seen by the network the Sonos app can be closed down.  From then on,  the B2 communicates directly with the speakers.  So, in my case, I haven't used the Sonos app since I installed the speakers.

I don't have any Sonos Gen 1 kit, but if it works in the same way then there is a reasonable chance that the Sonos Gen 1 kit will work with the B2.

Brennan don't specify any particular model or generation of Sonos speaker so I would think that you should be able to use both on the B2.

Below is the link to the Brennan Sonos page which describes the workings and also the limitations, but no Generation limitations are given.

https://www.brennan.co.uk/itemcontent.php/content/NewSonos

Regards and good luck.

Peter.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi Duncan and Peter,

When speaking about the Sonos App, I think you need to think about this as a "system" running across the Sonos speakers once the have been 

Configured, rather than the Phone, PC or Tablet application interface which is used to interact with this speaker "system". In other words each speaker has its own computer system within it.

When therefore say Sonos App in my previous contribution, I am referring to this Sonos "system".

I know, because I have used it, that the B2 will communicate with a Sonos "system" set up using the Sonos  1 application / user interface and I have also switched to using the Sonos 2 application / user interface and this works too.

What I do not know is what the B2 would do if a LAN had both systems present .... A question for Paul (PMB) I think 😁

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Daniel Taylor]

What is not clear to me is whether the Connect is an Input device to the system, or an Output device.  

As an Input device, the Connect would receive a signal from a souce component plugged into it, and the Connect would play that music into the system to be received by the Sonos speakers.

As an Output device, the system would see the Connect in much the same way it sees a speaker.  The music sent to the Connect would then be played on speakers wired directly to the Connect.  Which brings up the question of whether the Connect has an internal amplifier for passive speakers, or whether the connected speakers can be, or must be powered.

Or can the Connect be either Input or Output?  No matter how much I read from Sonos, they don't really make it clear.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Guys,

I'm just trying to understand how the Sonos 1 (1st generation) system works.

My second generation Sonos One SL speakers just connect to my home network directly through a wireless connection to my router.  Each speaker has its own IP address.

Do the Sonos 1 speakers need an interim device i.e. the Sonos Connect device in order to get connected?  Or can they connect directly to the home network just like the 2nd generation speakers?

Regards,

Peter.

[web mail]

Hi Daniel,

As far as I understand it the Sonos Connect devices stream music from spotify etc, and also local streamers - the Brennan B2 now, and they output the wifi streamed music to speakers or through a hifi system that does not have the ability to connect to wifi. So there are Sonos Connect streamers which need powered speakers and Sonos Connect amps which can stream and can drive old non powered speakers.

Hope this clarifies. I am grateful for this discussion as it makes clearer what I need to do.

Thanks

Duncan

On Sunday, 30 January 2022 at 18:22:29 UTC Daniel Taylor wrote:

[web mail]

Hi Peter,

As far as I know the difference between Sonos 1 (1st generation) and Sonos 2 (2nd generation) is that the OS has been upgraded when Sonos gen2 was introduced and so the sonos 1 app won't work with sonos 2 OS devices. The purpose of the devices has remained the same as far as connects and ports which is to link sonos systems to other non wifi sound systems for streaming.

Cheers

Duncan

[John Grimoldy]

Hi Daniel,

Your Sonos Connect is BOTH an input and an output device.  I have a home filled with a dozen Sonos devices, so I've got some experience here.  Let's make one thing clear, the Connect will not let you directly connect passive speakers.  The connect is designed to be connected to an amplifier of some type, offering only low-level output RCA connectors.  If you want to avoid the need for an amplifier, you'd want to use the "Connect Amp".  It's a different product and more expensive.  I have two Connect Amps and one Connect.  Do an Amazon search for Sonos Connect and then for Sonos Connect Amp.  Look at the photos of the backs of them.  The Connect Amp has spring-loaded terminals to attach speakers.

I hope this helps.  And, yes, Sonos can be a bit confusing.   

[Daniel Taylor]

Hi jgri...

Hey, that was just what I wanted to know.  Thanks a bunch!

[Daniel Taylor]

Prior to receiving the succinct and to the point response from jgri..., I had posed the same question to Sonos.  This is the response I received:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello,
Thanks for contacting Sonos!
Hope you are doing great today.
Please let me know if you are looking for an all in one's speaker or architectural speaker.
I'll be glad to help
Have a nice day.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Not a word about my question or the Connect device.  Why does anybody bother with that company? <rhetorical question>

[John Grimoldy]

'Totally understand the frustration.  For whole-home systems, Sonos really has it nailed though.  I've tried other Play-Fi and 900 MHz systems and nothing compares.  Sonos are expensive, but I just got off the phone with Sonos support, and they're going to do an advance-ship replacement for one of my S2 Connect Amps that's giving hardware errors.  I'm not an employee of theirs or a stockholder.  Just a customer.  'Pretty impressed.  You might have gotten a faster answer by calling them  - they actually (get this) have their support number posted on their website.