Sonos ZP80 Digital Music System Bundle

by Sonos

Product Details

View the complete manufacturer spec sheet [1.10mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000F8FC9G
• Item model number: BU80
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,668 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 18, 2005

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

For those looking for a simple, powerful, and stylish way to play all your favorite music, all over your house, here's the answer: The Sonos ZP80 Digital Music System Bundle, which includes everything you need to set up the system of your dreams. Make your favorite audio devices part of a wireless, multi-room digital music system with two Sonos ZonePlayers 80s (ZP80s) and a Sonos Controller. Connect your ZP80s to your home theater, stereo, PC with powered speakers, tabletop radio, and more. Then, control the music on the devices with the wireless Controller. To hear more music in more rooms, just add on.

Watch a demo of the Sonos Digital Music System.

With optical and coax digital outputs -- as well as analog RCA inputs and outputs -- the ZP80 makes all the right connections. The ZP80 Digital Music System Bundle ships with two ZP80 units. View larger.

The ZP80 is designed to be a part of a complete Sonos Digital Music System. Setup is easy, too. See how it works.

The bundle also includes the powerful Sonos Controller (view larger). Use it to control all of your digital music, as well as your settings.

Pair your ZP80 with your bedside radio. View larger.

Connect one to your home stereo or home theater system. View larger.

And don't forget the home office! View larger.

The bundle ships with Sonos Desktop Software, which makes system setup a snap, while also giving you complete control of your music system. View larger.

The ZonePlayer 80
With the ZP80 you can wirelessly stream the music you have stored on your PC or Mac to your home audio equipment -- your home theater receiver, stereo system, powered speakers, and more. Just connect a ZP80 to any amplified audio device in any room, and that device is instantly and seamlessly part of your wireless music system. You can even play the same song in different rooms or different songs in different rooms.

With up to 32 ZP80s set up in your home, you can use the full-color Sonos Controller to wirelessly control all those devices from the palm of your hand. Sonos liberates the digital music that's stored on your PC, Mac or network attached storage (NAS) box and wirelessly streams it to any ZonePlayer in any room. You can access music stored on up to 16 devices on your home network, plus Internet radio, subscriptions to online audio services like Rhapsody and Audible.com, and even music coming from an external audio source, like your favorite CD player.

You can also use a ZP80 to retrofit a conventional multi-room audio system with home-run speakers or as a wireless extender to increase the wireless range of your Sonos system. No matter where or how you use the amazingly compact ZP80, the digital and analog outputs will deliver superior sound to every room. And because it's designed to minimize noise and distortion, the music you hear will sound virtually identical to the original.

The ZP80 features optical and coax digital outputs for superior audio quality, so it's ready to connect to your high-end home theater or stereo system. There's even an analog audio input for connecting a CD or MP3 player directly to the ZP80, and you can listen to that music on all the other ZonePlayers in your house.

Sonos In Depth
The ZP80 is just one part of a complete Sonos Digital Music System. To make your system complete, you'll also need the Sonos Controller, which is included with this bundle. With a wireless Sonos Controller in hand, you'll have instant access to all your digital music, plus Internet radio, subscriptions to online audio services, and even music from your favorite CD or MP3 player. Use the Sonos Controller to access your entire digital music collection and Internet radio from the palm of your hand. Turn off the upstairs music while you're downstairs. Change the song in the kitchen from the den. The controller's full-color 3.5-inch screen lets you see album art, browse playlists, get detailed track info, and more. To start listening, just pick a room, pick a song, and hit play. The Controller also allows you to queue the right tunes for the right moment; you can build, edit, and save playlists right from the palm of your hand.

With Sonos ZonePlayers in the rooms of your choice, you can play the same song in different rooms, or different songs in different rooms. As mentioned, you can have up to 32 Sonos ZonePlayers throughout your house -- from the bedroom to the backyard. Connect your first ZonePlayer to your router and all the others work wirelessly. To expand, purchase more ZP80s, or choose the ZP100, which features its own built-in amplifier. Or better yet, choose both for the ultimate in multi-room music.

If you choose to extend your system with a ZP100 you can use your own speakers with it, or connect a pair of Sonos SP100 Loudspeakers, which are aesthetically and acoustically designed to look great with your Sonos Digital Music System. You can also add more Sonos Controllers to your system to give more people in your house access to your music library.

Sonos Setup
You don't need to be a professional installer to set up a Sonos system, or a technical wizard to use it. Sonos was designed to work right out of the box. All you need is a high-speed Internet connection and a router to get started. Then, unpack your components, lay them out in your home, and the result will be music to your ears.

Software
Sonos offers desktop software for PC and Mac that's as simple to use as the Sonos controller. Designed with a user interface to accommodate a larger screen, the Sonos Desktop Controller software for PC and Mac will guide you through both set up and music sharing. It offers all the same functionality as the Sonos Controller, but instead of being in the palm of your hand, it's all on your desktop.

Use the software to set up your system, as well as music sharing. It also helps you set up music folders on your hard drive so they can be shared across all ZonePlayers. The software provides control of your Sonos Digital Music System from your desktop, and you can use it to add and edit your choice of Internet radio stations.<

Rhapsody and Sonos
Now you can hear more music, in more rooms with Sonos and Rhapsody, the #1-Rated Digital Music Service. Sonos connects directly to Rhapsody via the Web, so you don't have to download an application or even turn your PC on. Instead, all that music (millions of songs + ad-free radio) is instantly accessible from the palm of your hand—to play in any room you choose.

With the Sonos Controller you can browse the entire Rhapsody Music Guide, everything from Top Artists, Albums and Tracks to New Releases and editorial recommendations. You can even view track information and album art. And whenever a new song is released, it's in your hands and ready to play—in the bedroom, bathroom or backyard.

Rhapsody features
Instant, plug-and-play access to millions of songs and ad-free radio on your Sonos system

• Discover new music right from your Controller—browse by genre or check out the charts, then build your own library of favorites and create custom playlists
• Get album and playlist recommendations based upon the songs and artists you've chosen.
• Over 100 professionally-programmed commercial-free radio stations spanning dozens of formats
• Customized radio stations based on your favorite artists

Free Rhapsody 30-day trial The minute you took your new Sonos® system out of the box or updated your software to Sonos v2.0, your free 30-day Rhapsody® Trial was ready to go. Now, it’s your turn to start listening to all those songs, all over your house.

Simply pick up your Sonos Controller, hit the music button and you’ll see the Rhapsody Trial. Now select the Rhapsody Music Guide and browse for your favorite artists, albums, genres, and more.

What's in the Box
Two Sonos ZP80 ZonePlayer 80s with power cords, ethernet cables, Sonos System Setup software CD-ROM (Windows 2000, Windows XP SP2 or Mac OS X v10.3 and v10.4) and Sonos Digital Music System documentation; Sonos Controller CR100 with AC adapter, power cord, and controller documentation.

Product Description

Sonos Bundle BU80

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent device, July 26, 2006

By 

P. Grace "paul_grace" (Belmont, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sonos ZP80 Digital Music System Bundle (Electronics)

Got a Sonos set up today, it's a smooth system. It can draw on a file server without software running on some PC. It's the first system I've tried that actually works (Roku, Linksys, Netgear, blah blah blah are pretty poor). It time-syncs music across "zones" (you can group and unbroup sets of players) so it sounds smooth all over the house (tuning each volume level/EQ independently). It uses 802.11, but it's own subnet, so youi don't let it in your umbrella. One station connects to 10bT and bridges from your network to its network. I gave it it's own user name with restricted rights to my network (just the music server) just in case there are holes in its security. It also has line level input at each station, so you can stream audio back out from any remote location. Will haul in internet stations with or without subscriptions.

Disadvantages:
Won't display video/JPGs to a TV (no video output)
The PC client (for remote control, easy playlist editing) won't spit out audio (so your PC is not part of the party, which is kind of lame)
The click wheel doesn't work as well as apple's
Unknown security issues

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fulfills the promise of digital music, July 9, 2006

By 

R P (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sonos ZP80 Digital Music System Bundle (Electronics)

Wouldn't it be great if you could access all of your music at any time in any room of your house and control it all with one central remote -- without rewiring your house? Well, now with Sonos you can and I have found that it works well.

The way it works is that you store your music on a computer and the Sonos system will bring it to every room in the house where you have a Sonos satellite unit. The units are wireless networking devices and amplifiers, so you plug them straight into your speakers in the rooms. They generate their own wireless network so don't worry about having a network already. (By the way, you can also plug a CD player or other source into the Sonos and route that into the speakers as well.)

In a phrase, the Sonos is like an iPod that controls your whole house.

Anyway, I feel this is sort of like a Tivo -- you don't realize you need it but once you use it and you can have access to all of your music and control your whole house from anywhere in the house, you won't want to go back for sure.

There are two ways to do it. Either you can rip all of your CD's to mp3 or if you have moved beyond CDs you can get a subscription music service (Rhapsody and Yahoo offer this now) and have that feeding your PC. Either way, the Sonos will get all of that music around the house.

The controller device (you only need one and it controls the whole house) is very convenient -- it's basically an iPod for your house. I found it very intuitive.

The set up was very easy.

I have found the sound quality to be very good. I don't feel I am making any sacrifices here. Mind you, I am not a super super audiophile running things through gold cables but it always sounds good to me.

Once in a while there is a hitch and something isn't working for a while. This is very unusal but in the interest of full disclosure it is not unknown. I personally believe this is 98% attributable to the Rhapsody system but anyway, it's not as 100% reliable as say a CD player. Anyway, the Sonos has never failed to come through on an important occasion so it's very much in my good graces.

I highly recommend the Sonos system.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the price, January 28, 2007

By 

Russell (Oneonta,NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sonos ZP80 Digital Music System Bundle (Electronics)

The other good reviews cover it pretty well so I'll just add what I see missing..

As of version 2.x of sonos' software you can share music through windows media player.. So if you buy songs from an online store other than iTunes ( who doesn't work with anyone ) then you can play your DRM protected music.

One more thing I haven't seen anyone taking about... It doesn't connect to your wireless network, it creates one of it's own. So you have to plug a zone player into your wired network. Keep that in mind when concidering how many zone players to buy.