Friend got a quote for Sonos Install

[Nixxuz]

You can but running raceway everywhere is not the proper way to run wires. To me, painted raceway looks only slightly better than exposed wires.

Yeah, and if you are having a new house built, sure, make the investment. But I have a 100+ year old house. You can install raceway to be pretty unobtrusive. It doesn't have to run horizontally right along the middle of a wall. Add in the fact that's it's 20-50X cheaper than having someone come over and rip up my walls, and I think I'll be fine with raceway/running wire behind baseboards or crown molding.

 

[BamaBilly]

Yeah, and if you are having a new house built, sure, make the investment. But I have a 100+ year old house. You can install raceway to be pretty unobtrusive. It doesn't have to run horizontally right along the middle of a wall. Add in the fact that's it's 20-50X cheaper than having someone come over and rip up my walls, and I think I'll be fine with raceway/running wire behind baseboards or crown molding.

Yeah I’m not judging you for using raceways at all. I own a wiring business and have for 20+ years so I always get it in the walls. I do not rip walls up to do so either but no, it’s not cheap.

 

[mashaffer]

Just a thought. With copper wire you never have to worry about the manufacturer discontinuing support.

 

[Tim 700]

Here is his quote, I was told $5500, it's actually a little less and this quote includes installing some cameras and some extra T.V. work I was unaware of.

I guess this installer went with Sonos because of ease of operation for the home owner, as this is new construction of a family / T.V. room with exposed walls.

 

[Jarred555]

Damn all this discussion about installing raceway is hilarious
Real men go in attics and run fish tapes down walls don'tcha know

 

[Bill Ferris]

Damn all this discussion about installing raceway is hilarious
Real men go in attics and run fish tapes down walls don'tcha know

And the good ones take pride whilst doing so, at least the guys that strung 5 Cat 6+ feeds to 6 rooms in my house in 2009 did with wall plates at each end, and certified the circuits for frequency bandwidth proof with a $ 5,000.00 Fluke real world certifier and provided me with a multi-page written computer report.

 

[Old Guy8]

Damn all this discussion about installing raceway is hilarious
Real men go in attics and run fish tapes down walls don'tcha know

Dancing on ceiling joists in attics is in my past. For young and nimble, with good balance.

 

[safebet]

Dancing on ceiling joists in attics is in my past. For young and nimble, with good balance.

True story. Younger more nimble fellow Ham friend helped string an antenna up there a few months back. Had to sweep the insulation along the way.

Brother gave me his whole Sonos system when he moved, Playbar, Play 5 pair, Play 1 pair, sub, connect amplifier, some bridge stuff. Sound quality was just not as good as I have become used to and I didn't care for the proprietary nature of the system. The playbar found a new home but the other pieces are just taking up space. The black "O" shaped sub is pretty cool but no means to connect to it other than through Sonos. Maybe see it in Barter Town next...

 

[Old Guy8]

True story. Younger more nimble fellow Ham friend helped string an antenna up there a few months back. Had to sweep the insulation along the way.

Brother gave me his whole Sonos system when he moved, Playbar, Play 5 pair, Play 1 pair, sub, connect amplifier, some bridge stuff. Sound quality was just not as good as I have become used to and I didn't care for the proprietary nature of the system. The playbar found a new home but the other pieces are just taking up space. The black "O" shaped sub is pretty cool but no means to connect to it other than through Sonos. Maybe see it in Barter Town next...

Last year, I bought a Bryston BP20 preamp, power supply and 3B power amp etc, at a garage sale. Passed on some mid size Maggies. He had gone to a Sonos system to please his wife. Had to have been a downer.

 

[THF2]

I’m with @Bill Ferris on this topic.

I will take hard wiring over any wireless connections any day.

That said, the best and most cost effective time to install the A/V and computer network wiring is when a house is being built and everything’s exposed.

So, that asks the question “What does this have to do with the OP’s original topic on the quoted cost of installation and what Sonos is all about?”

Like I said earlier, I am a big fan of hard wired everything. Even if I ultimately chose the Sonos system for it’s convenience (which there does not seem to be any disagreement about), I would still run the wires while the framing was exposed as I would want to keep all of my options open (especially as it relates to computer connectivity of which direct Ethernet connection using CAT 6 wiring is far superior to even the most expensive WiFi routers).

Will this result in additional spend? Yes. If I changed my mind down the road and wanted to buy a vintage or current high quality hifi, I would be prepared.

 

[sqlsavior]

IMO, if he's not already a 2-channel or HT person, making him into one is unlikely. If he's been a conventional wired audio person already, then I would suppose that he knows what he wants. At one point it looked like he was getting some wiring too. I sure would with new construction.

 

[Tim 700]

Great responses.

I almost offered to wire his new construction myself and install what I perceive as a good system, but I didn't want the hassle since he can afford any system he wants.

I've run miles of wire in my home, and let me tell you, it's been brutal with lath and plaster, I guess that's been offset a little by the balloon construction.

I recommended this installer solely based on a friend who used him.

I was surprised the installer went with the Sonos since it's new construction, and my friend makes some serious coin, but I think the point is Sonos is easy for the non audiophile.

That being said, I don't think this friend of mine is aware of the difference in sound quality since he probably hasn't been exposed to much "hi-fi."

I just see it as a giant waste of opportunity with exposed walls.

 

[THF2]

The big power cord? It's not a 10/3, it's just a tiny 18/2.

I'm well aware that no audio is truly wireless. Like I stated in my first post, I was a Sonos dealer for years, offering their products alongside hard-wired centralized systems from just about every manufacturer; Elan, Savant, Control4, Russound, etc.

Is Sonos better than hardwired, centralized systems? Maybe, maybe not. Is it better for the end-user? That's up to them. But audio performance is just one facet of the equation for end-users these days, along with convenience, cost, aesthetics, ease-of-use and reliability. If those weren't real world concerns for millions of users, then Sonos, MusicCast and Heos wouldn't exist. However, in that space, Sonos is the big player and the biggest reason has been their App. It just works and users enjoy that, albeit at the expense of better fidelity that may be offered by more complicated systems that users deem unnecessary in their own minds.

i built a house in 2007.

my requirements were to run speaker and network cabling to each room even though all of the rooms might not be active on day 1.

I used an Elan /Yamaha setup with touch panels in each of the active rooms to allow the playing of different sources at the same time in multiple rooms.

The wiring bunch (which BTW cost 5k at that time just for the materials!) was about 10 in. in diameter that terminated into specially built closet.
Note: there are few things I pat myself on the back for but for some reason, I had the foresight to put a back door to that closet which allowed for full access to all of the connections into the electronics. Also, said access door was in the garage which provided additional cooling to the electronics stack.


The speakers were the larger wall mounted B&W’s with a Sunfire woofer for the downstairs.

Finally, the master remote control was a Crestron. The only way to change any of the configurations or adding to it was to have a tech come out to the house with his laptop that had proprietary Crestron software to do the changes, always for a fee.

This was considered top of the line at time.

Sold the house and when the new owners took a look at the wiring config and setup, they immediately went out and bought a complete Sonos setup.

Go figure…

 

[SLTHORP]

You can but running raceway everywhere is not the proper way to run wires. To me, painted raceway looks only slightly better than exposed wires.

I disagree, the raceways look better than cables hanging everywhere, much better.