When you talk about wireless speakers, the name SONOS is bound to come up in the conversation. The company pioneered the wireless whole home speaker category and continues to lead the market. At Big Picture Big Sound, we're reviewed pretty much all of the Sonos speaker line-up, including the Play:1, Play:3 and Play:5; even the 5.1-channel PlayBar surround sound system. And while the sound quality and feature set does vary as you move your way up the line, all Sonos speakers are powered by the same Sonos app. And this app gives you instant access to your own digital music collection as well as the most popular streaming music services (Pandora, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, Google Play, Deezer and more), from a simple easy-to-use interface.
The one drawback of the Sonos ecosystem has been its price of admission. The least expensive speaker - the Sonos Play:1 - sells for about $200 - you'd need two if you want to set up a stereo pair. But from Thanksgiving Day (November 24, 2016) to Cyber Monday (November 28, 2016), you can pick up a Play:1 for $50 less - $149.99 - in black or white. Here's a link to it on Amazon where the sale price will be available during the promotion:
The Play:1 offers surprisingly good sound for a small speaker. And though it is wireless, it does have a power cord to drive its beefy on-board amplifier. You can use one on its own in a small bedroom, kitchen or bathroom, or you can pair up two of them for true stereo separation. Setting them up is about as simple as clicking a couple of buttons in the app then pressing a button on the speaker itself and giving your new speaker a descriptive name like "Master Bedroom" or "Slave in the Basement." Once you've added the speaker (or better yet, speakers) to the system you can then choose whether to play the same music everywhere, or allow individual users to listen to different music in their own respective rooms.
Sonos speakers rarely go on sale, so if you're looking to spread a little wireless music joy this holiday season, you might want to take advantage of this offer while it lasts.
One more time, in case you missed it, here's the link: