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How-To: Get a Sonos-like whole-home speaker setup on a budget

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Sonos speakers offer some of the best features in the game, but they come with one drawback: it’s expensive to get the whole-home setup that people love so much. The cheapest speaker, the Sonos Play:1 comes in at $200, while the Play:3 runs $299, and the Play:5 goes for $499. And remember, to get that whole-home setup, you’ll have to buy at least two speakers. While the Sonos speakers definitely offer the added benefit of being easy to use, it’s hard to justify spending so much if you’re living on a budget. Thankfully, there are a couple of other ways to get a whole-home speaker setup at a fraction of the cost…

For both of these options, you’ll need Apple’s AirPort Express. If you want two speakers simultaneously playing the same music, you’ll need two AirPort Express units, if you want three speakers simultaneously playing the same music, you’ll need three, and so on and so forth. Apple’s AirPort Express is currently available for $70.99 certified refurbished on Amazon with a 90-day warranty, or for $99 directly from Apple.

The next thing you’ll need for both of these options are speakers. Many of you probably already have at least one Bluetooth speaker, and the good news is, as long as it has a 3.5mm headphone port on it, it’ll work. Bluetooth speakers range in price wildly depending on brand, size, and sound quality. It’s important to note that bigger does not equal better in many cases, nor does more expensive equal better. It’s also important to note that you can use any combination of speakers, so I’d recommend getting more powerful choices for the larger rooms in your home and smaller options for bedrooms, bathrooms, and whatnot.

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We’ve extensively covered the best Bluetooth speakers in the past, but here are a few options:

It’s important to note that if you want to stay with UE, you can create a whole-home setup with its speakers and accompanying app, although you’ll be relying on Bluetooth, which has some range limitations.

Once you have your AirPort Express units and speakers, you’ll want to plug them in at various points in your home, ideally strategically spread out so that your entire home is covered by the sound. You can use the AirPort Express either as a router or to extend the network provided by you current router. Setup is done via the AirPort Utility app on iOS. Then, connect each speaker to the 3.5mm headphone jack (you’ll need a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable) on the back of the AirPort Express.

Now, from you your iOS device or Mac, swipe up to access Control Center, then tap the AirPlay option. You should now see any AirPort Express device you set up. Tap one of them and you can start playing music through that speaker. What we’re trying to do, however, is play through all of the speakers at once. It’s not blatantly obvious, but there are actually two ways to do this…

Option #1

The first, and arguably easiest option, centers around using the Remote app on iOS, iTunes, and Home Sharing, First, you’ll need to set up Home Sharing. There are two ways to do this. If you already have Home Sharing enabled from your Mac, you can open the Remote app on iOS and you should see your iTunes library. If not, tap the ‘Settings’ button in the upper right corner of the app, choose ‘Add an iTunes Library,’ open iTunes on your computer, and look for the Remote icon along the top. Then, enter the code shown on your iOS device and you’re golden.

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Now, on your Mac, choose the AirPlay button in iTunes along the top. Next, choose the ‘Multiple’ tab, which allows you to choose to play the content through multiple AirPlay devices at once. Here, select all of the speakers through which you want your content to play. These can be computers, AirPort Expresses, or Apple TVs.

After you’ve chosen which speakers you’d like the music through play through, you can now use the Remote app on iOS to browse all of your iTunes content, including tracks saved from Apple Music. Tap one to play it, and it will instantly start to play through all of the selected speakers. You’re essentially telling your Mac to play music through all of the AirPlay speakers, and using the Remote app to control what plays on your Mac.

The one downside here is that your Mac has to be powered on for this to work, but personally I keep my Mac mini powered on at all times as it acts as a server for the most part so this isn’t an issue for me.

Option #2

Screen Shot 2016-03-08 at 7.52.54 PMThe second option to play and control music on multiple speakers through your iPhone or iPad relies on a third-party app, AirFoil. AirFoil essentially takes what Apple offers with AirPlay and beefs it up. While Apple has forced the developers to somewhat limit the functionality of the app, it’s still possible to accomplish our goal with a little workaround.

The first thing you’ll need to do is download AirFoil from the developers’ website. While a free trial is available, the full version costs $29. Once you download and open AirFoil on your Mac, you’ll see all of your AirPlay sources and a source option at the top. Choose ‘System Audio’ from the source list and enable any AirPlay devices through which you want the music to play. Then, on your iPhone, swipe up to access Control Center, then tap the AirPlay option. You should see a new source for your Mac. Select it.

After you’ve done that, go to your music app of choice and chose a song. It should now play through all of your enabled AirPlay sources. One benefit of this solution is that you can use services like Spotify and YouTube, as well as Apple Music.

Once you get AirFoil setup, everything works pretty seamlessly. What I like to do is, every time I’m done with my Mac mini for the day, I quickly open up AirFoil, change the settings to ‘System Audio’ and my AirPlay speakers, and I’m good to go for the rest of the day.

Wrap-up

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While Sonos may offer a more seamless experience, using either one of these methods to get a whole-home audio system is considerably cheaper and more customizable. One of the primary reasons to go with a setup like I’ve mentioned is that you can upgrade your speakers at will, without having to change the whole setup. Whereas, with Sonos, you’re stuck with the same speaker unless you want to shell out money to get an entirely new one from Sonos.

You also have to take into account that in addition to enabling Bluetooth speakers to act as AirPlay speakers, the AirPort Express will extend the range of WiFi in your home, which is a nice added bonus.

Using an AirPort Express + Bluetooth speaker setup as opposed to a Sonos set up gives you more customization options at a much lower price. While a pair of Sonos Play:1 speakers will run you $400, you can get 2 AirPort Express units and two Bluetooth speakers for under $300, with the option to change or upgrade the speakers down the line.

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Comments

  1. Jay Bizzle - 8 years ago

    I really hope that airplay (for audio) gets some apple love this year. I have the ‘perfect’ setup in a small apartment and still it’s not rock solid.
    Occasional drop outs, delays across speakers (that sometimes self right).
    It’s fine.
    But it’s not awesome.

    • Jurgis Ŝalna - 8 years ago

      How congested is the wifi around you? I live in a place with lots of network interference and occasionally Airplay is unusable.

    • Those are just some (of the many) reasons why Sonos does not support AirPlay. Sonos gets a lot heat for that, but just as Apple doesn’t allow their iOS to run on just any phone, Sonos to wants to control the quality of sound that comes out of their speakers. As many of the comments below state, better to save up, bite the bullet and go for Sonos. Start with one speaker and grow from there. Just don’t forget to “pair” your Sonos speakers (L & R) when you grow into having 2 speakers together in one room. Makes all the difference. I have run across several friends who didn’t know about that in their settings.

  2. mlanders1433 - 8 years ago

    I’ve been using multiple AirPlay speakers with music streaming from iTunes for years. It’s always worked great

  3. tedcnyu - 8 years ago

    The AirPlay solution works but it’s not as good as Sonos. As Jay Bizzle says, there are occasional drop outs and delays; the connection doesn’t always work the first time, and occasionally it doesn’t work at all. The second problem is that, as Chance Miller notes in the post, the only way to play over multiple speakers using iPhone or iPad is via the Remote app. In my experience there can be a lot of lag with Remote; it’s not nearly as zippy as controlling a single speaker over AirPlay via the iOS Music app, which itself isn’t that zippy to begin with. AirPlay is the poor man’s solution; I’ve still got Sonos envy.

  4. Christopher Armenia - 8 years ago

    I use mostly Apple TV units. Every television in my house has an Apple TV attached to it and either a sound bar or 5.1 system. I also have an AirPort Express in the kitchen with the Bose Soundlink Mini plugged into it. I AirPlay from iTunes/Apple Music on my iMac to several or all of them simultaneously. Top it off with some Philips Hue bulbs and it makes a nice little setup.

  5. daving313 - 8 years ago

    I just actually got tired of dealing with dropouts of AirPlay and pairing multiple Bluetooth speakers and went with a pair of Sonos Play 1s, SO worth it. So easy, sounds so good. Nice also it doesn’t stream from your device.

  6. Cory © (@Nardes) - 8 years ago

    Yay for Andrew McMahon!

  7. crutchcameslinking - 8 years ago

    I’m glad to see I’m not the only one having problems with multi-speaker AirPlay dropouts and out-of-sync issues. AirPlay has worked flawlessly for me for many years until recently ….and no other interference causing devices have been added to my home. It’s been extremely frustrating.

  8. Ara H. (@ARAinLA) - 8 years ago

    Sonos and be done. Bit the bullet long time ago and started small, even used Best Buy 0% financing to buy a Play 3 when $ was tight. Wonder how the Chromecast audio works for the same purpose but have not heard anyone claiming it’s a Sonos killer yet.

  9. Am I missing something here. Why do I need bluetooth speakers for this to work. Can I not just use any conventional speaker that has a 3.5mm jack?

    • J.latham - 8 years ago

      Anything with 3.5mm will work with this setup safaris I know. I used to use and Apple Hi-Fi on and AirPort Express back in the day and AirTunes/AirPlay worked fine.

  10. Johan Gunverth - 8 years ago

    I use a SPDIF-to-Bluetooth bridge (TosBlueX) to get even closer. With this I don´t need a cable between the Airport Express and the speaker. Just a short optical cable between the old Airport Express and the Bt transmitter which both are hidden.

  11. David Sheddan - 8 years ago

    Ditto on the delay- i had an airport setup in the house for a few years, and from front to back of my apartment it never stayed in sync (even with the airports connected over cat6) – I replaced with a 4 room/zone Sonos setup over the last year or so, and the difference is night and day. Still wish you could use the Apple Music app to play to the Sonos system rather than the slightly clunky Sonos integration, but that’s a minor issue.

  12. dailycardoodle - 8 years ago

    I was just having a play. AppleTV / sony surround set-up, Phillips speaker and my MacBook – they were all about of sync enough to sound horrible.

    • Aaron C (@rncry) - 8 years ago

      It’s likely the TV or surround setup may be introducing extra delays.. there are some settings on the AppleTV settings app which you can use to alter the delay which might help.

  13. amazingrugs - 8 years ago

    You forgot to factor the cost of a Mac into this.

  14. I have tried both Apple Airplay, Airport express, Apple TV and the Sonos Solution. The Sonos Solution wins hands down. Bluetooth is compressing the music, so it does not sound as good. Bluetooth’s range is at 30′ on average, whereas WiFi on Sonos has a lot greater range. Apple’s iTunes interface has become messed up. Sonos software on Mac or PC reminds of a good simple layout iTunes. Sonos software on the iPad and iPhone is even better than the Apple Music App. Really, it’s true! With Sonos Connect, I get great quality music to my 2 channel stereo system. Throw a Dac in there and it’s even better. Apple airport express cuts in and out in some people’s homes for music playback. Sonos provides a boost to keep the speakers off the main wireless grid. Is the pain of streaming wireless music worth going on the cheap? The Sonos Connect and Connect Amp are great products for your in-ceiling speakers and your existing book shelf speakers. Take that chance if you will but Sonos has done a great job on hardware and software. Better than Apple! Apple should have bought Sonos a while ago. You want’ smooth good quality music playback do you not? Apple has provided music to the masses but not good quality music. When did quality of music take a back seat? Turn that around and demand Apple do music better :)

    • Aaron C (@rncry) - 8 years ago

      The bluetooth bit in this article is a bit misleading.. you’re not actually using bluetooth in this setup (so the sound isn’t being compressed, it might just be the speakers you’re using aren’t as good as the sonos ones! :))

    • J.latham - 8 years ago

      Agreed a purchase of Sonos would be a great move by Apple. Come back into audio accessories big time with Apple Beats headphones and Apple Sonos speakers. Get all of those audio engineers jiving together for some sweet audio innovations ;)

    • As far as I’m aware there is no need for bluetooth speakers and no bluetooth compression is taking place.
      Also, Sonos is great until you want to listen to something else from my computer. The up side of Airplay is that I can stream pretty well anything from any iOS or OS device to the surround system. I have far more sources of sound than just what Sonos supports.

  15. Aaron C (@rncry) - 8 years ago

    I was really hoping when Apple bought Beats they would finally bring out a Sonos killer which integrates with Siri and HomeKit etc… or at least allow the new AppleTV to stream to multiple AirPlay devices.

  16. I just use Chromecast Audio and Spotify with bluetooth speakers from Amazon. I spent a total of about $200 and I have music in three rooms of my house. I know that Spotify might not be a solution for everyone, but if you’re using a streaming service anyway it could save some money.

  17. onefreetrajectory - 8 years ago

    I have never even considered Sonos due to the cost and have been using Airfoil for years. I concede Sonos may be better quality, but for me, its not worth the cost for a single Sonos speaker or the variety of Airplay / Bluetooth speakers at the end. My main audio system is where I expect quality… not in small rooms or the garage / deck out back.

    One alternative I have used that was not discussed is the use of the Airfoil – Speakers app for iOS as a substitute for an airport express for a non Airplay or Bluetooth speaker that is not in range. Many of us have older iPhones or iPods that run iOS. I have used them to run the Speakers app that will make them available and show up in the Airplay menu in iTunes or in Airfoil. Volume can be controlled independently etc. like any other Airplay speaker.

  18. onefreetrajectory - 8 years ago

    For clarification. When using the Airfoil Speakers app, I then connect the iPhone / iPod to a speaker using bluetooth or the 3.5mm jack. i.e. Harmon Kardon Sound sticks with sub.

Author

Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com