Have we all lost our way..
 

A friend was extolling the Virtues of his new Sonus whatever it was, but to
me it sounds like aa small speaker in a box with artificially enhanced bass
all on one note.
It cost a packet too, but has some kind of convoluted distribution system
via wifi.
I do wonder if, Imprressive and different is the currency today, rather
than accurate in any way. Brian

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Have we all lost our way..
 

On 20/09/2017 16:26, Brian Gaff wrote:
A friend was extolling the Virtues of his new Sonus whatever it was, but to
me it sounds like aa small speaker in a box with artificially enhanced bass
all on one note.
It cost a packet too, but has some kind of convoluted distribution system
via wifi.
I do wonder if, Imprressive and different is the currency today, rather
than accurate in any way. Brian


I visited the new J-L at home at Chichester recently and there was a
Sonus rep giving 'advice' to shoppers.

firstly he rubbished blutooth. Well, sort of OK but the aptX version
is better.

He then demonstrated how the output could be switched all around the
house (assuming you had one in every room).

I then aked him the price, which was £180. I responded 'well that
means £360 because you need 2 to get a stereo image'.

His response was ' there are two speakers in each unit'.
Yeah, really. One tweeter and one base driver. Stereo
image with 1 Sonus Play 1, my arse.

Have we all lost our way..
 

Yes exactly what I was thinking, and Google Amazon and apple speakers seem
to have a similar claim. In at least one case they seem to have speakers in
them facing sidewards and phased weirdly, This is the old idea we used to
see in those Ghetto blasters to 'enhance' the image. It is certainly
ambient, but stereo in the correct sense of the word, no its a compromise
due to size and the fact the speakers are together.
Funny old world.
They also do a sound bar for tellies, and this actually sounds OK but once
again its not really hi fi, but impressive compared to the crap speakers in
the tv of course, mind you the one I saw cost the same as the whole tv did.

BLimey, and people say they are strapped for cash.
Bose seem to have gone down the same route.
Brian

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"Andrew" wrote in message
...
On 20/09/2017 16:26, Brian Gaff wrote:
A friend was extolling the Virtues of his new Sonus whatever it was, but
to
me it sounds like aa small speaker in a box with artificially enhanced
bass
all on one note.
It cost a packet too, but has some kind of convoluted distribution
system
via wifi.
I do wonder if, Imprressive and different is the currency today, rather
than accurate in any way. Brian


I visited the new J-L at home at Chichester recently and there was a
Sonus rep giving 'advice' to shoppers.

firstly he rubbished blutooth. Well, sort of OK but the aptX version
is better.

He then demonstrated how the output could be switched all around the
house (assuming you had one in every room).

I then aked him the price, which was £180. I responded 'well that
means £360 because you need 2 to get a stereo image'.

His response was ' there are two speakers in each unit'.
Yeah, really. One tweeter and one base driver. Stereo
image with 1 Sonus Play 1, my arse.

Have we all lost our way..
 

Never heard of that, is it a speaker mounted in a piano accordion?
I would not mind if they showed it compared to a modest old fashioned
stereo system and used the space reduction and convenience angle, rather
than pretending its something it clearly is not.
I bought an Amazon Echo dot. Works fine through a traditional stereo. Of
course most of the stuff it plays use lossy compression but it does a good
job, and its cheap and easy to use, why would I buy their speaker version at
over double the cost then?
Exactly.
Brian

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"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2017-09-20, Andrew wrote:
On 20/09/2017 16:26, Brian Gaff wrote:
A friend was extolling the Virtues of his new Sonus whatever it was, but
to
me it sounds like aa small speaker in a box with artificially enhanced
bass
all on one note.
It cost a packet too, but has some kind of convoluted distribution
system
via wifi.
I do wonder if, Imprressive and different is the currency today,
rather
than accurate in any way. Brian


I visited the new J-L at home at Chichester recently and there was a
Sonus

Sonos.

You're welcome.

rep giving 'advice' to shoppers.

firstly he rubbished blutooth. Well, sort of OK but the aptX version
is better.

He then demonstrated how the output could be switched all around the
house (assuming you had one in every room).

I then aked him the price, which was £180. I responded 'well that
means £360 because you need 2 to get a stereo image'.

His response was ' there are two speakers in each unit'.
Yeah, really. One tweeter and one base driver. Stereo
image with 1 Sonus Play 1, my arse.

Squeezebox is cheaper and better.

--
Today is Pungenday, the 44th day of Bureaucracy in the YOLD 3183
I don't have an attitude problem.
If you have a problem with my attitude, that's your problem.

Have we all lost our way..
 

Brian Gaff wrote:

its not really hi fi

I think that's the point of most of these portable speakers, they sound
better than tinny little radios etc; you stick one in the kitchen, the
bedroom or wherever and fling sounds to them over wifi or bluetooth, but
you're not going to sit down in front of them and listen.

Have we all lost our way..
 

In article ,
Andy Burns wrote:
its not really hi fi

I think that's the point of most of these portable speakers, they sound
better than tinny little radios etc; you stick one in the kitchen, the
bedroom or wherever and fling sounds to them over wifi or bluetooth, but
you're not going to sit down in front of them and listen.

Not having such a device, presumably they introduce a delay? So if you can
hear the same prog from another room, a PITA?

--
*If vegetable oil comes from vegetables, where does baby oil come from? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Have we all lost our way..
 

Dave Plowman wrote:

Not having such a device, presumably they introduce a delay? So if you can
hear the same prog from another room, a PITA?

Depends where the source is, tends to be for online streaming rather
than a "relay" for an in-house device. With the chromecast you can set
up groups of devices, then stream to an individual device or a group.
There is the ability to add a delay to individual devices, but I've
never needed it, it might come into play if multiple wifi access points
or repeaters are in use I suppose.

Have we all lost our way..
 

On 21/09/2017 08:22, Brian Gaff wrote:
Never heard of that, is it a speaker mounted in a piano accordion?
I would not mind if they showed it compared to a modest old fashioned
stereo system and used the space reduction and convenience angle, rather
than pretending its something it clearly is not.
I bought an Amazon Echo dot. Works fine through a traditional stereo. Of
course most of the stuff it plays use lossy compression but it does a good
job, and its cheap and easy to use, why would I buy their speaker version at
over double the cost then?
Exactly.
Brian


I think it was made by LOgica and was highly revered as a streaming
device. Now obsolete AFAIK.

Have we all lost our way..
 

I think the only reason they exist is that if you stream stuff from a radio
station in the lounge use FM on the portable and Dab in the bedroom the time
delay causes the whole thing to be completely unlistenable sometimes by many
seconds. This way one presumes you have a central source and then use radio
to send it around to all parts. However many people seem to be under the
impression its the best quality, and though some is not absolutely crap Hi
fi stereo it certainly is not, at least not to my ears.

Its the kind of sound we used to get from a mini stereo but with the
speakers in the wrong places!
Brian

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"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
Brian Gaff wrote:

its not really hi fi

I think that's the point of most of these portable speakers, they sound
better than tinny little radios etc; you stick one in the kitchen, the
bedroom or wherever and fling sounds to them over wifi or bluetooth, but
you're not going to sit down in front of them and listen.

Have we all lost our way..
 

I have a passing interest in all of this, and bought a wireless speaker
- similar to a Sonos (Cambridge Air) - but returned it for a number of
reasons. I think their popularity is because of:

Convenience - all in one box, compact and no wires (except perhaps mains
and ethernet).

Connectivity - especially Spotify. Also home based music storage (NAS etc)

Control - pretty comprehensive control options - certainly more than
buttons - available via 3rd party and dedicated smart device apps

Sound quality - I think the market for these things is for people who
want to listen to music and speech, and place fidelity beneath the
things listed above. Of say the twenty or so people that have listened
to my hifi (so know a decent sound is possible), only one has a
traditional source-amp-stereo speaker setup.

I'm not sure about stereo. Maybe people aren't that bothered? I have a
friend-musician who actually hates it - not entirely sure why, other
than music sounds better without.

My experience of the Cambridge was that the sound was the least of the
worries - the faff and lack or reliability actually getting it to play -
and keep playing - what I wanted just ruled it out. A radio-cassette
would have been better. I'll probably end up using a radio-streaming
device - I have one (Roberts 83i) in my study and it works pretty well,
playing my main sources - NAS, DAB and internet radio. But the sound's
not much at all, and it won't play lossless files like flac.

On the TV - I have a sound base - a cheapish (£100) Tannoy and think
it's great. I take it for what it is and appreciate that my lounge isn't
a room dominated by sound reproduction equipment (actually it is, come
to think of it, but that's not my point!). It also gives me decent
dynamic range late at night - not possible with a hifi (for me, terraced
house).

On cash - yep, eye rollingly disappointing. But those lucky enough to
have a disposable income might be forgiven for thinking there's little
else to do other than respond to hype and spend. Apple's reason for
being, some might say.


On 21/09/2017 08:18, Brian Gaff wrote:
Yes exactly what I was thinking, and Google Amazon and apple speakers seem
to have a similar claim. In at least one case they seem to have speakers in
them facing sidewards and phased weirdly, This is the old idea we used to
see in those Ghetto blasters to 'enhance' the image. It is certainly
ambient, but stereo in the correct sense of the word, no its a compromise
due to size and the fact the speakers are together.
Funny old world.
They also do a sound bar for tellies, and this actually sounds OK but once
again its not really hi fi, but impressive compared to the crap speakers in
the tv of course, mind you the one I saw cost the same as the whole tv did.

BLimey, and people say they are strapped for cash.
Bose seem to have gone down the same route.
Brian



--
Cheers, Rob