[BikerDude]

Hello all

I need to further develop my media solution

I am planing to add speakers to one of my laptops i use in a room and i am considering sonos speakers to be paired with that laptop. I trowelled the forum and i found old threads on this subject that may or may not apply to the current environment. Kodi 18 is installed on this laptop. This would be a test for this solution for my 2nd HTPC development in a dedicated media room. 

I posted a similar thread in the addon section of this forum however no one has responded. hence me posting it here

I have
1 HTPC that is channelled via a stereo system Mostly used to listen to music
1 new HTPC that i would build a 5.1 environment (next spring) mostly used to watch video
2 laptops one (the one mentioned here above) to listen to music and a second one which will be used for Music and video

Is the integration of sonos play3 possible ?
if So
how?

Thank you for your responses
Best regards to all

[BatterPudding]

To get audio to other rooms in my small house I use Bluetooth adaptors.

This works for me as the single centralised KODI PC is in the front room, so bedrooms are above through thin floor.

It still pushes to the back of the house through three thick walls.  So works well.


I'm a cheap guy who doesn't like dumping cash on locked in propitiatory systems like SONOS.

In my cupboard I had some spare 2.1 speaker sets from a PC.  (Altec Lansing and Yamaha sets).  This would of course work even better with a real HiFi in another room.

All you need is a spare Line In (phono or headphone jack).

I then bought some of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Strea...01CZVCYU0/

Attach that device to the LineIn of the speakers.  That now gives you BlueTooth enable speakers - but at a higher quality of speaker.  (And no tracking software.)


Turn on the Bluetooth in your KODI PC and connect the PC via the OS.

Now on my KODI PC I have a choice of the 5.1 surround system in the front room, or a couple of clicks of buttons in the KODI settings and I swap to speakers in the other rooms.  Works well  (And works even better if using something like Yatse as a remote)

[BikerDude]

To get audio to other rooms in my small house I use Bluetooth adaptors.

This works for me as the single centralised KODI PC is in the front room, so bedrooms are above through thin floor.

It still pushes to the back of the house through three thick walls.  So works well.


I'm a cheap guy who doesn't like dumping cash on locked in propitiatory systems like SONOS.

In my cupboard I had some spare 2.1 speaker sets from a PC.  (Altec Lansing and Yamaha sets).  This would of course work even better with a real HiFi in another room.

All you need is a spare Line In (phono or headphone jack).

I then bought some of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Strea...01CZVCYU0/

Attach that device to the LineIn of the speakers.  That now gives you BlueTooth enable speakers - but at a higher quality of speaker.  (And no tracking software.)


Turn on the Bluetooth in your KODI PC and connect the PC via the OS.

Now on my KODI PC I have a choice of the 5.1 surround system in the front room, or a couple of clicks of buttons in the KODI settings and I swap to speakers in the other rooms.  Works well  (And works even better if using something like Yatse as a remote)

Thank you for responding

I am considering either sonos or bose. I like your set up and i am trying to mimic the same situation. 

I i understand you correctly in your kodi music settings you selected the passthrough option naming your speakers. and you selected those speakers as default in your window sound setting. If so then Kodi does not really care what speakers its playing to as long as  they are recognised by your operating system as default.

Once again thank you for your suggestion

[BatterPudding]

As you can tell, I am not really a fan of those over priced big name things like Sonos.  Was using one at a client's house the other day and it made me laugh at how limited it was compared with KODI.

The Bluetooth doodah I linked above means ANY amplified speakers can be converted.  You don't have to put up with the tracking and lower quality of a Sonos setup.

What made me laugh at that client's house is they had an expensive "Control 4" all house system in place.  And Sonos had changed the API in use and stopped half the features working... that could have been a serious issue for many people.  Lucky in this house they only use a Sonos to connect a record player to the rest of the system.  (They had a very weird company do their initial setup...)



Back to KODI and multiple speakers.  It works so well it is almost comical.  KODI can access anything Win10 can.  And Win10 can happily have multiple speakers attached by different methods and all be selected via the volume control down next to the clock.


First, when setting up, make sure the Win10 OS can cleanly play to each set of speakers.  On my KODI PC I have a choice of Bluetooth Kitchen speakers, Bluetooth Bedroom speakers, HDMI connection to my Yamaha AV amp and 5.1 speakers (via nVidia graphics card), Bluetooth headphones, Analogue from the old RealTek onboard.

Once they are all playing fine through Windows control panel and VLC I know all is ready to go.


When you start up KODI it takes the list of available speakers from the Win10 OS.  And now lets you choose which ones to listen back through.


KODI can select different speakers to the Win10 OS.  So it is quite possible to have the Windows PC playing YouTube via the AV amp and KODI pushing its output to the Kitchen over bluetooth.


I am pretty sure KODI can only play to one set of speakers at a time, but that can be swapped independent of the Win10 OS default.

WSAPI is the better choice usually as this better handles the surround 5.1 stuff.  Though with Bluetooth to other rooms you'll be limited to stereo.  Ideal for music.

You are nudging me to go fix something on my own system now.  I know it is possible to use a remote control to swap the speaker outputs instead of diving into the settings.  When I get that working on my system I'll post the links\notes here.

[Karla2019]

In my case the solution is single centralised KODI PC is in the front room, so bedrooms are above through thin floor.

[BikerDude]

Hello 

Thank you all for your suggestions. a centralised kodi solution is the way i will go. In the case of amazon echo I would be able to "group" speakers together and i can create multiple groups. 

I currently one echo in my office. I will buy an other one and create one group for all speakers and one group for each speaker. In this way I would be able to play all or just one speaker. This is apparently also available in sonos and bose.

so i will try baby steps and slowly develop the solution 

one again thank you

[HelenaRachel]

Here are how I connect my Sonos to Windows 10：
Click “Start” and open “Settings”.
Click the “Network & Internet” icon.
If you are connected by WiFi, click on WiFi. ...
Select the name of your network on the right side.
Click the switch for “Find devices and content” to turn it on and make this connection “Private”.
And also l got how to se​​​​​​t up a Sonos system on Windows 10： https://docsbay.net/how-to-set-up-a-sono...windows-10
Hopefully any of above helps！

[BikerDude]

Thank you HelenaRachel


I get the connection for sonos to a win 10 unit. my issue is more with connecting sonos to KOdi. As i mentioned here above i manager to connect echo speakers and i was hopping to use the same method to connect the Sonos. 

The goal is to have one media player/manager, one media source (my NAS) and listen to music based one KODI (playlists) throughout the house at the same volume  (as set for the individual room) this can be done by setting on each speaker the volume setting most appropriate for the room.


My understanding is that i can input the playlist into the sonos player and this is almost enough. 


I read many forum entries on the subject but they all date back to 2017. I was hopping things would have developed further since

rgds